Just completed two nights at Sthala. In contrast to some of the prior reviews, I found the hotel pretty disappointing.

The problem is perhaps that I’ve been to Bali many times, including some villa rentals in Ubud. If you expect something comparable – and the pictures on the Sthala site might lead you in that direction – you’re in for a disappointment. The Sthala is a concrete block, more on the level of an airport Four Points than an Ubud villa, plopped in a pretty location.

The hotel was close to capacity when I stayed (high season and a holiday weekend), so I was given a pool view room. I think all the rooms are the same interior-wise (what differs is the view), and again, Four Points is probably the best comparison – fairly basic furniture, not too large. It’s worth mentioning that the hotel has an enormous number of rooms with not great or really crappy views (of walls, several levels below the pool, etc), so if you don’t have status, consider that in high season, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll find yourself in a room without view (or even daylight).

There’s not much to do in the immediate vicinity of the hotel – the local village, but walking around is challenging – so unless you’re going on one of the tours put on by the hotel, you’ll probably be getting a driver or taking the hotel’s shuttle to Ubud town. We did the latter, and we were stuck in traffic for almost an hour; on the return, the shuttle came 30 minutes late, and the trip again took almost an hour. (This isn’t the hotel’s fault, of course). Ubud town has changed a lot over the past 20 years, and really isn’t on my list of recommended places anymore.

We had breakfast at the hotel twice, and it was just ok. Very busy, poorly organized (food running out and no effort to replenish, tea order forgotten or very late), and with a pretty mediocre selection. (The hotel was fully buffet when we were there, no option to order from a menu). We also ordered room service once, and it took almost an hour to arrive and was lukewarm at best. And happy hour drinks at the bar – very beautiful sunset, but the drinks were pretty weak. The staff were very friendly, but often not very capable or helpful. We carried our own luggage up the steps, nobody took our drink orders, nobody helped us load luggage in the car and saw us off, even though in all cases several people were standing around.

Some posters have said, finally there’s an SPG place to stay in Ubud. Well, yes, I guess. But: this hotel really doesn’t have much of a Balinese feel, and it is horribly, horribly overpriced on points. How it can be a Cat 5 is beyond me. I have never seen it run above $100, and it’s often much lower. I originally made a C&P reservation when it was Cat 3, and even that wasn’t worth keeping, because their “opening rate” for my stay dates was 950k IDR, and I was able to BRG it for 800k. So points redemption is a stunningly bad deal, and the almost 1000 points I earned (with promos and some food/drink) certainly wouldn’t make me choose this place over a better option in Ubud.