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Old May 7, 2023 | 6:05 pm
  #989  
outgoing
All eyes on you!
15 Years on Site
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: SEA, ATL (wish it was still ORD)
Programs: AA EXP, UA Silver, Marriott Titanium (LTP), Hilton/IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist (marriage perk)
Posts: 584
I'm here now. So far so good I have to say. It's not the most luxurious resort I've ever been to but part of this is also the size. It's just big. Even at 8 am you can feel the breakfast restaurant filling in. We took their car from the airport. It's fine price wise: it seems you pay about 2-2.5x of what you'd have paid for grab. If there are multiple flights coming in you might have to wait for the Conrad representative to come back to the exit after shepherding other guests. This is what happened to us but then just text them and he'll come back.

Breakfast is free for diamonds and it's of ok quality (again don't expect StRegis Maldives but it's not Holiday Inn either) e.g., juices are a bit watery. You'll be fine and full. There is both buffet and a'la carte. Coffee is good. We did Suku for both days and there were actually changing dishes over the two days so you might not even get bored with food. We did dinner in Rin. Got couple of rolls of sushi and drinks. They were good but nothing memorable. Tasted more like Genki sushi than a more high end restaurant stuff. The East Lobby happy hour is good with free flowing alcohol but again don't expect high end stuff here or very well made cocktails. It's free though

We got upgraded from a deluxe ocean king to an ocean king suite. This is after I texted them if it would be possible given that we booked ocean front room. Originally we were in the conrad suites. The rooms are fine. Large and clean. Sings of wear and tear here and there but in a good condition overall (especially given the climate). AC is doing its magic. Toiletries are by Byredo (Mojave Ghost) but I'm a bit suspicious if they are original. We really like the Byredos that are available in some Luxury Collection hotels and we purchased them ourselves before. The ones we had were made in Sweden or made in France. The ones here are made in China and made in Malaysia. Could be a local distributor for APAC or just a knock off.

Asked for 2 pm late checkout and it was not a problem. For the car to Ubud they quoted us 750 while Grab seems to be 415 and thus we'll likely get the hotel care given how well they treated us. Just as a comparison Ritz Mandapa quoted us 1680 for this journey which is more than 2x of what Conrad wants (and not in a super fancy car either but in Toyota).

One awkwardness of the hotel is that you cannot charge things to your room unless you made a deposit. That was weird and I had to go back to my room to get a credit card after dinner at Rin. Lesson, carry credit card with you and make a deposit at check in.

Staff is great throughout and very attentive. Definitely a highlight. Some of them knew our names and they even knew about my paranoia re mosquitos and during the happy hour they brought bug spray for us. We had some nice chats with folks in a relaxed atmosphere which we very much enjoyed. Also if you do tours and/or diving they will just pick you up from the lobby.

This is our jet lag hotel before going to Ubud but if I liked pool/beach resorts in humid tropics I'd definitely stay here again. No complaints whatsoever given the price point and can highly recommend. This is especially given that Hilton is usually more stingy on things than Hyatt and Marriott. One drawback, that the hotel cannot control, is that a lot of people (both tourists and locals) smoke cigarettes. Unfortunately you can smoke and vape on the grounds so long you're outside. We had to move twice during the happy hour b/c of people smoking around us.

Last edited by outgoing; May 9, 2023 at 3:42 pm
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