0bsidian

I apologize for subjecting the board to another Bali thread - but I did not find these answers elsewhere.

I am organizing a trip to Bali for the end of January 2017 and have two questions:

1) Is Alila Uluwatu still worth it, or do the development / expansion works hinder enjoyment of the property? I have never been to Uluwatu before.

2) For those who have stayed at Amanusa or Alila Soori (now just Soori) during wet-season / January, is this a waste of time? I am well aware of wet season and unpredictability of weather - but what about the actual beach and sea water (or garbage situation)? Is there even a remote chance of enjoying some time on the beach, or am I better off avoiding the beach completely?

This will be part of a wider trip including Ubud (Chedi Club or FS Sayan) and potentially Amanwana / Amanjiwo.

quitecontrary

We are here now - wet season and I think you need to be somewhere you have a view of the beach which is still interesting even if it's raining. At the moment generally only rains for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

0bsidian

Thank you - by "we are here now", do you mean Amanusa, Soori or Bali in general?

quitecontrary

Sorry I meant Bali as I thought the main point of your post was regarding Bali in the wet season!

uclabruin82

0bsidian,
Did you end up staying at the Soori? Would love to hear your thoughts about how it is being managed now that it is no longer Alila. Currently considering going there or Amankila (even though I assume most on this board would go with Kila).

Kagehitokiri

deer, ngfan, xracer, Ozchinois postive re under alila villas
others i believe including MacMyDay positive re uluwatu
some posts here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...orts-bali.html

may be good to do soori before nearby planned project
soori is currently more 'remote' similar to amankila
although aman may eventually add villas to amankila
soori also has a few beachfront pool villas, like legian

Cityflyer10

Im curious too. Some research seems to indicate they are renovating the rooms (TA shows up reports of water and other damage to rooms)as owner seems to be in charge of management now. Any idea on what exactly they are doing and timeline for completion? Thinking of splitting stay to add some days there...

0bsidian

Did not end up at Soori in the end, however did Alila Uluwatu (as well as a few of the Indonesian amans which are favorites).

We actually did not like Alila Uluwatu at all. This is surprising, as I usually am a fan of modern looking properties like this.

First and foremost, I felt like it was an example of what happens when you give form the priority over substance. There are several architectural decisions that significantly hinder the day-to-day enjoyability of the room, in my opinion, just a few examples off the top of my head:

• The lighting system is quite complex and user-unfriendly, with a variety of knobs distributed across the room. It took me three days to learn how to use them
• My mom and girlfriend had problems opening the very heavy room doors
• The shower projects water across all the bathroom by default and cannot be closed off

Food was also quite mixed. Dinner was great (Amanjiwo levels), but breakfast was probably the worse breakfast I ever had at a luxury property.
Service was OK, but a notch down the typical FS / MO standard (let alone Indo Amans which are on another level).

Also, while swimming in the pool, we noticed we had company in the form of an asian water monitor:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/.................iSVJ

Kagehitokiri

thanks re uluwatu! did they offer the choose which level of service? if no, may be a change. if yes, may reflect increasing focus on sizable expansion and event revenue.

0bsidian

They sure did - we opted for the butler option (i.e. the one with most service).
I was actually surprised by Uluwatu, since I had heard great things by some amanjunkie friends, but our experience didn't live up to the expectations.

I don't think it's a bad resort, just not on the same level as some of its competition on the island.

I think you are unto something with regard to expansion / event revenue - not sure if related, but the restaurant was packed with external guests both nights we stayed there.

Kagehitokiri

unfortunate, and even past reports discuss events, pre expansion construction
also timing, 2014 alila sold minority stake, 2015 alila sold majority stake (corporate)

yes, all reports i mentioned were before 2014 minority sale. wow.
wonder if soori owner actually ran into problem with new ownership.

chinmoylad

I think Alila Villas Uluwatu suffers from being almost 'too popular' - it's a 'daytripper hotel' (having been a daytripper there myself!).

So it hasn't helped at all, in my opinion, that they've gone and expanded it with the monstrosity of the suites next door.