Originally Posted by
HadesNL
Just to end with small gossip from the tamtam....
The hotel has completed most of its renovations and refurbishments.
The only thing left to get a complete make over and might need to close for a period is the current Club Intercontinental lounge.
The owners have not yet decided if to keep the current layout, switching from elegant Balinese to post modern Philipe Stark I Mei Pei golden ME palace style or to try sonething totally different.....
Word has it that the current Club Intercontinental lounge is getting to small to cope with crowds when in peak festive / holiday season about > 150 rooms have a stay combined with annual lounge pass. Especially during breakfast...... afternoon tea & evening presentation is slightly more manageable as revenue Club Intercontinental guests + specialty suites prefer the ambiance + facilities of the Club Intercontinental pool (which is excluded for lounge pass holders as it is not a physical lounge as in the T&C)
So the question posed by observations & experiences to the new GM & owners concerning long term viability is:
- do we extend the presentation times
- do we reinstitute as overflow area back at Sunset Grill & Bar (prepandemic) but now only for Club Intercontinenral revenue guests + specialty suites
- do we allocate an alternative experience at the Jimbaran conference center if meeting roons stand unoccupied by booking
- the upper level of restaurant Bella Cucina can be used as Club Intercontinental overflow area : adults only
- should we follow Marriott's Bonvoy example and negotiate with IHG corporate to exempt resorts across the group
- the hotel operates as one of the few IHG hotels DLS +/- as in Club Intercontinental lounge & Singaraja Space: dual lounge system
* should it explore the possibility of being the first IHG hotel to implement TLS ++/+/- : triple lounge system
building / creating a even more premium luxury ++ lounge experience for revenue guests only
fold the Club Intercontinental pool access, rename it and add to the new ++ lounge
owner still owns a plot of empty land next to the hotel: a new ++ wing & ++ lounge + extras can be a possibillity
examples as benchmarck were put forward to the GM & owner to consider mimicing or be inspired by :
Regent Taipei: https://www.ihg.com/regent/hotels/us...rg/hoteldetail
* names both it lounges without "club" moniker (Taipan& Balcony) so management decides freely independent of guests/bookings/resources
Intercontinental Tokyo Bay : https://www.interconti-tokyo.com/en/
* created a ++ lounge : "Nagomi" so distinctly exclusive premium unique that guests are willing to pay any price: profit center
https://www.interconti-tokyo.com/en/.../nagomilounge/
This explains partly why there is no consensus reached yet about letting lounge pass holders upsell to include Club Intercontinental pool access.
It all is dependent on the upcoming direction, strategy, long term planning between GM, IHG, Owner..... expect end 2024 / beginning 2025 hopefully some more news .....
So you now know why .......
Really good series HadesNL. A little envious about how lucky you were with the weather, a rarity for late December. Definitely El Niņo worked in your favour. Interesting that the lounge is overcrowded at times. it may be a matter of the profile of people going at those certain times and weather. This September during Australian school holidays, occupancy was very high in the club area but the lounge was never really full and there were loads of people that we saw in the club pool that never set foot in the proper lounge. That was also my experience in 2022 September school break. They do struggle at breakfast but this is with just a few tables ( most people go for the other venues). Breakfast at the lounge is not great (bar the more relaxed setting) and it needs overhauling.
Interesting that you prefer cocktails by the pool. Maybe it is me but I just feel the waiters are far better in the proper Club lounge compared to the pool area. While well intended in the pool area, the ones at the Club are fantastic and so are the girls at the desk (Monica comes to my mind). They are amongst the best in the network.