Arrival into Ngurah Rai Airport (DPS) Anyone who has been to Bali before knows that one of the worst things about the whole experience is arrival into the airport. While immigration and customs is not too bad (though expect drug sniffing dogs), once you exit the secure area, Bali's taxi mafia can start you off on a sour note. If you don't have transportation arranged, or try to use Uber/Grab, you will be accosted by dozens of drivers trying to take you for an exorbitant fare. For reference, airport to Kuta or Seminyak should be between 80K-120K IDR (USD $6-9). They will attempt to take you for 200K to as high as 500K. Pre-booking with your hotel is an option, but that will also run you 200-500K, but you'll get a nicer vehicle at least. Not worth it for me, though. My advice: try to hail a Blue Bird taxi who is dropping someone off (one of the well-known reputable taxi companies in Indonesia, who always use the meter) by going to the departures level. Or, download the My Blue Bird app in advance, and use that to call a taxi. Use the WiFi in the airport before you fully exit the customs area where you have peace and quiet, they will know to pick you up from departures as the mafia really makes life unpleasant for them on the arrivals level. Uber and Grab drivers in my experience are generally too afraid to pick up at the airport (drop offs are no issue). Also, expect to pay in cash (or Blue Bird drivers can add to the fare in the app if you pay by credit card) 4K IDR for airport parking/access. Once you have run the gauntlet, Bali in general is laid back and the people are quite friendly! I was able to use Uber, Grab, and My Blue Bird to pay by credit card 95% of the time. Grab will often find a driver faster than Uber or My Blue Bird. Uber generally took the longest but was the cheapest. Check In One of the reasons it takes a while to get a taxi at the Four Points Kuta is that the property is only accessible via small streets that were not designed for cars. As they are two-way (though generally I found drivers only went one-way down certain roads), and there are pedestrians (usually tourists) and motorbikes, it can be slow to navigate for them. Also the main road, Legian, is often backed up with heavy traffic. Once you arrive, your taxi will be checked for IEDs (which I found to be common in Indonesia), and then friendly and helpful bellmen will help with your bags. Everyone is offered a welcome drink, and if elite, recognized. Whether you get an upgrade is another story . The hallways and common areas are all open-air, which is nice at night with a breeze, but can be quite hot during the day. The property has two pools: a main lagoon pool and a smaller side pool that's right outside the kid's playroom. My second trip my room opened up to the small pool, and note that it can also get pretty rowdy there as kids will be playing there. Room I have stayed at this property twice, and was able to get upgrades to the Leisure Suite both times (though had to wait a couple days to move rooms the second time). I also stayed in a lagoon access room, which sounds nice, but as others have noted-- gets very loud and people sometimes go out there first thing in the morning. Only took pictures of the Leisure Suite, which are more or less the same throughout (based on the two different ones I've seen), but the may be mirror images, there's a left oriented one and a right side oriented one. Every room seems to have some sort of view to the pool. I believe every room has a balcony as well, where you can hang swimsuits to dry.The aircon worked quite well, and while I preferred the shower set up of the lagoon access room, the tub in the Leisure Suite was fine. I'm not a fan of the toilet style, but they were clean. While we are talking about toilets, one important piece of advice: to avoid Bali Belly, avoid tap water. That means ice (unless you are certain it's filtered/purified), and even while brushing your teeth. I avoided it on my second trip by brushing with bottled water and avoiding non-filtered/bottled water when dining. The water at the breakfast buffet was fine. The bed was comfortable, and the sofa wasn't amazing but was a nice place to relax. In the regular room, all you had was a chair on the balcony and a chair inside the room. The Leisure Suite was more like an executive suite rather than a true suite, but it was spacious and comfortable. Service Service throughout my stays was excellent. Every staff member was all smiles all the time, and even though it was a challenge sometimes to communicate in English, they never gave up Dining During my stays, I enjoyed drinks at the Best Brews bar outside, smoothies from the little area to the left of the check-in area, drinks upstairs on the rooftop, and of course the breakfast buffet. You can also order food/drinks while at the lagoon pool at a sort of swim-up bar. I did not dine at the property for other meals though. Prices were on par with other places that cater to tourists, perhaps a little bit more expensive (10-15%). If you want to go really local, you'll be able to eat much cheaper, perhaps spending only 10-25% of the prices at a place that caters to tourists. As an example, I had babi guling (roasted suckling pig with rice and accompaniments) at a local roadside warung (shop). It was pretty good, and cost a total of 40K IDR if I remember correctly. You'll be spending 100-200K minimum at tourist place. The rooftop was nice, and there's a pool there as well that you can use during the day. AWatch out for mosquitos! The breakfast buffet was quite good, had a lot of variety, and a mix of Western, Asian, and Indonesian options. There was also a made to order egg station, and often there would be a made to order noodle soup and pancakes/waffles as well. While it would get pretty busy, there was always enough seating, both inside with a view of the pool, and outside by the road. Oh, and the coffee is decent, especially given it's Indonesia where they grow much of the world's supply! Location The location is pretty central in Kuta depending on what you're looking for. It's walking distance to the Beach Mall (which is adjacent/connected to the Sheraton), as well as nightlife on Legian. Otherwise, the immediate area doesn't have too much other than guest houses, convenience stores, and souvenir shops. Also the streets are very small so it's hard to get taxis. If you're here for the beach, it will be a 15-20 minute walk to the beach. About 45 minutes to the airport, but with traffic it can be more than an hour. Gym One thing that's important to me when traveling is access to a decent fitness center. Gotta counteract all the holiday calories somehow! This property has a decent fitness center, except for the fact that the walls are 100% glass and it looks right into some guest rooms. Probably more awkward for the guests than me though. It has enough to work every major muscle group and has cardio machines. It was never too busy while I was there. One issue was the aircon was weak on my last stay, but I saw maintenance working on it. Spa There wasn't a spa that I saw on my first stay, but as of December, 2017, there is now a spa located adjacent to the fitness center. It appears they use converted guest rooms for the spa treatments. I didn't try any services but generally in Bali it seems that a traditional massage at one of the smaller shops costs about 100-150K for a 60-90 minute treatment. Overall I like this property as it's a decent value for SPG stays in Bali, and tends to be the most affordable option. I've also stayed at Le Meridien Bali Jimbaran, which had slighty better hardware, but was poorly maintained in the bathroom and had slow internet. I also had some service issues there with management that would make me think twice about staying (long story short, they ruined a dry-clean only suit by washing in water and drying, and then were extremely difficult to work with to come to an ok resolution). Unless you need to be in Jimbaran, I'm not sure that it's worth the premium. In low season it can be as low as upper 700K IDR, on average it's about 800-900K IDR it seems.