Similar thoughts. I definitely think the layout of the grounds and overall resort plan is much superior at IC Bali. Phuket is an odd site plan dictated by what they were given to build the resort.

IC Bali definitely has staff shortages and they know it and are trying to fix it, but such is the same for many hotels there and beyond Bali I would reckon. They went down to 500+ staff from a few thousand (2k IIRC or similar) during Covid and ramping up with well trained resources is extremely challenging as everyone is competing for staff, especially in the so called 5* / Luxury category. Same as hire cars and drivers (good, experienced ones) are still an issue as well and hence all the complementary shuttles we had for Club look unlikely to make a return any time soon (leaving cost aspects aside even).