Originally Posted by
Jermyn
My best stay at any property ever, was a private villa rental in Bali.
Resorts are the antithesis of the Bali experience for me, although I understand that priorities can shift if you have a family in tow and require access to a kids club etc.
Never stayed at an Aman before but have stays at both SS and Noi coming up.
I will be shocked if the service is anywhere close to what I experienced at Villa Bulung Daya.
The only problem is that it gets booked up all the time now. Would love to return.
(My review for those who are interested:
Villa Bulung Daya)
The villa within a resort concept appears to offer the best of both worlds but the price is often many multiples of the private option, unjustifiably so in my opinion.
Again, the biggest factor against private villas is lack of consistency - you really don't know what you're headed for. I have stayed at many a private villa across Bali, Phuket and Koh Samui and it's a very mixed field which is also usually reflected with price. There's a reason many 3-8 bedroom villas in Bali cost what the Aman charges for 1 night for a 1-bedroom "suite", sans pool. There are also villas across all three that are more in a price-line with the Amans.
The other key factor for many is lack of facilities. Villas can be far too isolated in terms of people, they're in their own little bubble and you're stuck with those you know, both good and bad - this can also hurt F&B options in terms of what the chef is capable of.
Some/many villas don't have service staff overnight (some do of course). Can you get that meal at 4am?
But in the end, it really does depend on what the end user is after. Everyone is different - and while even on FlyerTalk (luxury hotel forum) everyone is quite different, I'd say it's a much more homogenous group than comparing across TripAdvisor, Trivago, Booking.com, Hotels.com etc or even comparing the average T+L or Conde Nast Traveler reader with a Flyertalk Luxury Hotel forum member.
Most resorts are also not Amans (or its ilk). When you say resort, I think you're imagining something more similar to a Ritz-Carlton Nusa Dua or a Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay Bali vs an Aman or its ilk.
Again, it's not for everyone - everyone's personal preferences are different. I know of many who prefer a Ritz-Carlton Nusa Dua to an Aman, which isn't to say they are wrong, it's just what they prefer.
Similarly, I'm sure there are many who prefer private villas to an Aman resort, or prefer AirBnB to "5-star hotels" or prefer backpacking and staying in hostels to staying at any hotel/paying more than USD 10/night.