Advice needed Bali 7 nights

Hi, We will be flying to Hong Kong first for 3 nights and then on to Bali. We will be in Bali from 9/26 - 10/3. I have never been to Asia before. Would very much appreciate any and all advice on what to do and where to stay. It seems that most people recommend that we break up our stay in Bali into different areas.
I am also hoping to use points for some hotel stays, but would not preclude staying a few nights in a property as a once-in-a-lifetime experience (not to exceed $500 a night).
I have 112,000 HH pts, DH has 70K(we both have Gold status). I am using my PC anniversary night for HK IC and have another 80K points between DH and myself(both Plat). We also have 160K UR points and 89K MR points. I also have 74K Marriott points and a free cat 1-4 night (I would expect that not to be usable in HK or Bali). Oh, almost forgot 92K SPG points and am Gold.
Thank you in advance!

I have a similar trip in october. I've been in Bali and I was an Indonesian prior to moving to US. It will be the first trip for Mrs. 9Benua though, thus I tried to get her to see the tourist spot in Bali. A friend of mine who currently lived in Bali suggested me this itinerary

Day 1: Stayed near Denpasar to recuperate. (my flight arrived at 9.00pm)
Day 2: stayed in Ubud, On the way to Ubud, stopping at tampak siring, Gua gajah, + Pura Tirta Empul.
Day 3: Eat Babi Guling (Bali roast pork) at ibu Oka while still in Ubud, continued travel and stayed in Lovina Beach. Stopping at Bedugul and Sangeh on the way to Lovina Beach
Day 4: Lovina beach 5.00am to see dolphin. Start journey back to Kuta/Nusa Dua. Stopping at Kintamani, Pura Besakih and sunset at Tanah Lot. Spend the night at Kuta/nusa dua for the rest of the trip.
Day 5: Go to Uluwatu prior to sunset to see kecak dance and the scenary. Jimbaran for dinner.
Day 6-7: Enjoyed the beach.

Lovina Beach is the outlier, it's far in the north, if you skip that, you can just stayed at Ubud for 2 days and enjoy your visit to the other destinations (Bedugul, Sangeh, Kintamani and Besakih)

Obviously you'll need to rent car + driver for day 2-4. Uluwatu trip is much easier, you probably can drive there yourself. I can't help you with the hotel since I myself will stay at $50-80/night hotel in bali. One of the hotel which impressed me years ago in Bali was Nikko hotel in Nusa dua. It was worth the price paying for to enjoy what they have. There might be better hotel in bali right now.

For Hilton, Conrad Bali seems to be highly regarded, and it's only 35k/nt(less with glon/axon).

For Hyatt, there's Grand Hyatt Bali and Bali Hyatt.
You can transfer Chase UR to Hyatt at 1:1. I think the Bali Hyatt is best redemption at only 5k (cat 1). You could splurge and get suite at only 8k.

For SPG, there's St Regis Bali, but it's "all-suite", so they don't accept points redemption i think?
Room rate around your budget, so if you want to splurge and pay this might be the place. And it's Virtuoso/FHR property also.
edit: I was wrong. They do accept point redemption, but at "higher rate".
Per their site: "There are no standard rooms at this resort; therefore, Starpoint Award reservations must be booked at a higher Starpoint rate through your local customer contact center. Also, since all accommodations are either suites or villas, upgrades for Starwood Preferred Guest members do not apply."
So i highly doubt it's worth it to redeem points. Might as well pay, and get FHR/virtuoso benefit.

Have fun, and please do report back on your trip.
I'm thinking of going to bali myself next year.

Thank you 9Benua and tomy77 - very helpful advice. I hope to finalize our plans within the next week. I will report back after our trip..won't be until early-October. :-)

i'm going during the same timeframe. we're doing a mix of both chain stays using points (bali hyatt, conrad) but also taking time and staying at a couple places we consider to be experiences as well as lodging.

for the bali hyatt, you can book a club room (7k points/night) as the club is fantastic.

for the conrad, you'll use a GLON award booking given that it's a category 5.

you can use your marriott points/free night in either HK or bali. in HK, at the courtyard hong kong (we're using a free night her on a 23 hour transfer), and in bali at the courtyard bali. both are category 4.

as for spg, there are many properties in the southern part of the island. the westin (12k-16k/night) and the laguna (16k-20k/night) are next to each other in nusa dua. then there is the w, etc.

you could also use spg points at the sheraton hong kong (12k) or w (20k), and then use IHG points to stay at the IC bali which is also fantastic.

lastly, many people here will scoff at this due to the "low" redemption value, but you can always book a once-in-a-lifetime property through the UR or AMEX travel portal, use points to offset the cost over $500, and then get 20% of those points back.

as always, look all of the properties up yourself and make your decisions. you have plenty of options.

Thank you ahcjar103! How long are you staying on Bali? I have not booked through the UR or Amex portal yet - just been accumulating points. I need to start learning more about what to do with the points besides transferring Amex to BA when there is a bonus. :-) Still so much to learn even though I have been reading as much as possible off and on for years now. I appreciate your advice and the run-down on my options.

We have a similar trip coming up in less than 3 weeks! We'll be doing 3 nights in Sanur at the Bali Hyatt, and then 4 nights just outside of Ubud at Komaneka at Tanggayuda.

If we had the chance, we'd stay longer but I'm fresh out of vacation days! Hopefully we can see enough...

Heh, I actually called yesterday trying to see what "Limited SPG Participation" meant and was told that they do accept free night awards but it was 120,000 SPG points a night! At that amount I figured my points would be better spent elsewhere.

Ended up booking a suite at the Hyatt Bali for 8,000 points a night

I am there for 10 days and booked the Hyatt Bali for all of them. There are other areas I wanted to see but figured I'd just rent a driver for the day. Does that not sound reasonable?

Bali didn't look that big so I figured it would work and Sanur seemed to be somewhat central to the usual 1st time tourist areas, not to mention that Hyatt Bali seemed like a fantastic way to burn through some GP points.

Regarding accommodation, you couldn't do any harm in looking at the thousands of private villas which are everywhere in Bali.

We stayed in a great one in Seminyak and it was fantastic - you can get villas at all price levels. I wrote a review of the villa we stayed in over Christmas last year:

http://flymefunky.com/2012/05/villa-...te-villa-bali/

The place to stay and things to do depend on what you are interested in and you are gonna find in Bali.
In Bali if you want to enjoy the beaches and nightlife you can stay near Kuta or Seminyak, for the culture in Ubud it is
There is no doubt to stay in such accommodation as you desire because there are many choices depend on your budget, the comfort, and others consideration
Many Villas are available too if you like being silence

I boooked St Regis for 30K per night for an early Sep. stay. I believe the 120K per night is for a villa, not a standard suite.

Has got to be, Diamonds get the Hyatt suite for 5000, I can't imagine anyone paying 120000 for a night in Bali, even in Hong Kong and Tokyo they don't charge that, isn't it 25000?

Wait, what? If you're a diamond member you get the suite for 5,000 or is that you book a basic room and hope to get upgraded to a suite?

There is amazing value to be had in Bali. I wouldn't waste your hard earned miles on five star properties. Four Seasons still costs $600/nt in Bali, might as well save that mileage splurge somewhere where no good hotels can be had for under $300-$400.

On AirBNB.com (and VRBO too) you can rent all sorts of villas. For $200 a night (even less, some are only $40) you can get a posh private villa, 3BR, oceanfront views, and staff to cook you amazing meals and take care of ya.

Agoda.com has great deals on places too, sometimes so cheap I can't believe it. I've seen $120/nt going for $30.

There is amazing value to be had in Bali. I wouldn't waste your hard earned miles on five star properties. Four Seasons still costs $600/nt in Bali, might as well save that mileage splurge somewhere where no good hotels can be had for under $300-$400.

On AirBNB.com (and VRBO too) you can rent all sorts of villas. For $200 a night (even less, some are only $40) you can get a posh private villa, 3BR, oceanfront views, and staff to cook you amazing meals and take care of ya.

Agoda.com has great deals on places too, sometimes so cheap I can't believe it. I've seen $120/nt going for $30.