FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve

May 9, 2023 | 4:08 pm

#21

outgoing

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

Here now so I plan to document our experience over then next three days. We're here on points + FNC for three nights. Booked basic room - reserve suite ~~and this is what we got. Folks who got upgraded one category up might have been lucky then~~ (see explanation below). Given that the hotel is like 50% occupancy I was hoping for an upgrade but I do understand that they are not obliged to offer this. One thing I can say is that you might consider paying for an upgrade b/c the basic rooms are not that great view wise (or at least the one we got). I should have reached out to them about this pro-actively. In their communications they did not mention any cash upgrade opportunities - just ask. The room is fine but the problem of the reserve suite we got is that it is in a building closest to the cliff and so basically there is no view whatsoever. We're on second floor out of three and we are basically staring at the roofs of the suite buildings ahead. I'd thus suggest that you avoid buildings 4 & 5 and go for buildings 6 & 7 if you are not in the villa: https://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotel...iew/resort-map.

Ok, b/c of the mess up with the water and few other snafus, I mentioned that we'd be happy to move the rooms (it was also my b-day trip FWIW so maybe this helped). Our butler then showed me two rooms: (1) reserve suite in the front buildings (fine enough - ask for this if you cannot get a villa as it has much nicer views) & (2) one bedroom villa by the river. The latter is a tripple (quadruple?) upgrade which he also mentioned in my face - a bit unprofessional but I will take it. Long story short: pay, beg, argue, luck out with f-up in your room but get the villa. The hard product of the villa is amazing - it's miles ahead of the suites. It's not like beach vs. OWV in Maldives but rather like presidential suite vs. regular room in a hotel. It has the largest private pool we've ever experienced that ends towards the river, a separate office/hang out space, garden, bedroom/bathroom building and outdoor shower. Just magnificent as you can see in the photos. It's also very private and very quiet which I cannot say about the suites as per the issues below. Service, aside I think this is actually worth paying 1800 USD per night for the hard product (although I do not know how it stacks against other high-end luxury in Bali as this is our first time in this part of the world). Build quality is good enough that if you keep your doors closed you don't get bugs inside (I know that was an issue mentioned in the Alila Ubud threat). They also spray before you get the room so we counted only 2-3 bites throughout the whole stay.

Issues with the reserve suite we were in for the first night: (1) it seems that it's almost impossible to get cold water in the shower (they fixed it); (2) some plugs by the bed don't work (they fixed it); (3) as nice as the rooms are I question the build quality - there is clearly someone on third floor above us and you can hear it if they drop something on the floor or move the chairs (this is not fixable; just avoid and pay/beg for an upgrade to villa). I think at this price point this is unacceptable. We addressed #1 the second day and got upgraded for the last two nights for this. Toiletries and unbranded but feel very high quality. You also get some snacks in the room as a freebie and they are good - these are replenished nightly. All items in the minibar are chargeable but the prices are reasonable - you pay for the booze what you'd have paid in the restaurant. Funny enough beer is almost the same price as Coke

You get still (bottled) water for free and it's plentiful - you can also ask them to bring more and no problem.

The property itself is stunning and you'll have a jaw drop once you reach the reception area. See the photos.

Pre-arrival communication was great although they did mess up information on the (very limited) Marriott benefits. Note that 4 pm checkout subject to availability is actually a published perk here (but not on Marriott web page). We got it no questions asked given the low occupancy. Given the nice upgrade they gave us and to limit the hassle we just decided to overpay and take the hotel car to Andaz. That was a mistake b/c our driver turned out to be sick sniffling, sneezing and coughing the whole route - I'm glad we still had our N95 masks. We booked all the excursions and dining prior to arrival. Despite it being a dry season now it's actually raining so they might have to cancel some of our excursions. They seem to be flexible on re-arranging though. The rain subsided and we did all the excursions we booked. They are expensive and some of them are more vs. less worth it imo. We liked the biking the most which was the cheapest but most fun in our opinion - we are avid bikers though. Rafting is fine - just do it outside of the hotel and you will probably pay half of the price. The VW tour is fine although nothing mind blowing - they do take you to some less touristy spots though and take care of everything. The cars are also old: it's fun but expect a bumpy ride (no seatbelts either if you are a safety first person).

Service is just over the top for our taste. I find it awkward that six people during the dinner ask me how it is but then once I need a check I have to wait for it like 10 minutes cause there is no one around. We only had "butler-like" service in St Regis Maldives before and we found it much more relaxed, personable and individually-tailored there. Also, English of most of the staff here is not that great. This actually became a bigger deal over the stay as we just could not understand what we were eating or what we were seeing during the excursions. Plus whatever they say seems to be learnt by hard. When I started asking about taxation or rice production or property rights or the religious composition they could not really express themselves. Given that you're paying 2x (if not more) for everything here in terms of excursions/food, you'd certainly expect more. I'm not a native speaker myself so I have sympathy for these issues, but it's not really about accents or what not, you just cannot understand what they are saying and this is a problem. Almost all people working here are local and we only saw two "white people" as resort staff. I think they just need to attract more hospitality trained foreigners - perhaps as transfers from some of the other high end Marriott properties. Transfers like that was our experience in Ritz Kyoto and St Regis Maldives. I still find it very awkward that some of the staff addressed us as per king and queen - I know it's a cultural concept but still weird for us. I'm very much a big fan of "relaxed luxury" which we experienced at e.g., Alila Ventana Big Sur or St. Regis Maldives or Waldorf Astoria in Cabo rather than what feels like "servitude luxury". Just too much and together with language barrier it does feel very colonial which we did not like. On top of that there are service f-ups as per below.

Our first dinner was in Sawah Terrace and it was good but not mind-blowing; especially given the prices. Highlights: the coconut soup (one of the best dishes I've had in my life) and fried rice were very good; coconut salad was ok and interesting; tuna satays were outright meh. Drinks were good though. Kubu for the second night was proper but again nothing mind-blowing especially at this price point. We did the shorter tasting menu with basic wine pairing + water/cocktail and it totaled 400 USD for two. Food wise: tartare and beef wellington were very good, cod was good, the rest was kind of meh and berries in my dessert were still fully frozen. It's also the first restaurant where I've experienced premium wine pairing as subbing only two (out of 6 I think) wines rather than the whole list - the wines are also not listed on the menu so you don't really know what you're buying. There is also no sommelier or at least s/he did not come talk to us. The cocoon setting is fun though. Ambar, last night, was a disaster and I don't recommend. They sit us down in a smoking section w/o informing us about this (I have lung problems) and then people around us started smoking. We were reseated once we raised this issue but b/c the whole bar is an open concept it really does not matter where someone smokes. We ate our sushi (proper but nothing special), yakitori (Kyoto street food quality), and ramen (which was actually very good), and got the heck out of there. They did offer complimentary round of drinks and some free deserts for the smoking issue. We took the drinks and said no to dessert. Drinks are actually cheaper in Ambar than in all the other restaurants at 180K vs 220K and they are of high quality. There was also a band playing and it was terrible. It was supposed to be jazz but they played everything from Michael Jackson to Nirvana and the vocalist lady absolutely butchered Smells Like Teen Spirit. They were also very loud and we could not really talk. When they told them to stop smoking by us the vocalist lady just said to me "sorry dude" which I found weird (especially that everyone else bows to you).

Breakfast is complimentary and good. Not as expansive as in Maldivian resorts but you have your noodles station, asian entrees, sushi, cheese, bread and pastry. Fruit section is a highlight especially if you come from non-tropical country: dragonfruits and papayas were some of the best I've ever had. Coffee is good and they also offer you juices of the day which were very good all three days.

Overall, I have mixed feelings. The set up of the property is amazing and jaw dropping. The hard product of villas is probably the most luxurious we've ever experienced but the upgrades are an issue. Just pay or beg for it. The basic suites are not worth them money/points in my view - especially those w/o a view. Food is ok but not mind-blowing. Service was just outright annoying for us but that could be a personal preference. I do appreciate though that in places like WA Cabo or St Regis Maldives they adjusted to our relaxed attitude (while also treating other guests with more of a bow-in-front of me attitude). People are different but at this level you should get a good feeling for what your guests need/want in terms of the treatment. English is a problem irrespective though. I don't really have a comparison with other properties in Ubud Bali but this property seems to be more expensive than Four Seasons and Aman so you'd expect more. Overall, after the upgrade, they still don't make it to my top 3 hotels list b/c of the soft product. Considering the upgrade and the exponential increase in hard product quality, I would rank them at #4 below Alila Big Sur, St Regis Maldives, and Al Maha. They did jump over PH Sydney, WA Cabo, Ritz Kyoto, Alila Napa, FS Guangzhou, and PH Beijing from among the luxury properties we stayed at.