kamchatsky

I am looking at doing a side trip from SIN to DPS in 4-6 Jan. I have never been to Bali (or Indonesia) before, and I am looking at the almost endless number of hotel options.

I thought about using my points to redeem 2 nights, instead of paying cash as it is peak season there due to Xmas and Aussie school holidays:

- IHG (Gold): 72K:
. Hotel Indigo Seminyak (60K points)
. IC Bali (70K + co-pay 90USD total)
. Holiday Inn Resort Baruna (or Benoa) Bali (50K points)

- Marriott (Gold): 80K
. Ritz Carlton Bali Nusa Dua (80K), or
. Courtyard Bali Seminyak (40K), or
. Stones, Autograph Collection (60K) or
. Courtyard Bali Nusa Dua (60K) or
. Marriott (Vacation Club) Bali Nusa Dua Gardens (50K)

- SPG (Gold): 28K (and can transfer from Marriott to SPG)
. Le Méridien Bali Jimbaran (20K)
. Sheraton Bali Kuta Resort (32K)
. Sthala, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel, Ubud Bali (32K)
. The Laguna, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Nusa Dua, Bali (32K)
. The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali (24K)
. W and St Regis is too expensive in points to consider.

- Hilton (Gold): 37K: Not enough points for 2 free nights except HGI Bali Airport which is not where I want to stay anyway.

Which one of the hotel above is the best option, the best bang for your points? Or should I even give up looking at using points and just pay cash (around $200AUD+ per night around that time for average hotels)?

Annalisa12

I'd also consider what location you want to be in rather than just "bang for points".

http://travelwithbender.com/travel-b...-time-visitor/

I prefer Seminyak. Close to good restaurants, nightlife and the beach but it's not a zone like Kuta is for drunken teens on their first trip from home.

kamchatsky

Thank you Annalisa12, it is a tricky one as I really don't know what to expect there. I will be going down myself in this trip, so family friendly hotels is not required

If comparing with say Phuket, I would prefer to be at say Karon Beach, Khao Lak, etc, and avoid central Patong .... So that should rule out Kuta I guess.

But given this is the first time there my guess I would settle somewhere between quietness to all out party town .... Too quiet then I may not get the vibe ....

But from reading the blog, sounds like I should be staying between Seminyak, Jimbaran, Nusa Dua?

IAN-UK

You're probably putting too much thought into this

Essentially, Kuta's a bit of a dump (but fun at times), and the Legian end of it is truly ghastly. Seminyak is one of the nicest mainstream bits: busy but with pockets of calm. The big names south of the airport seems to specialise in Disney comes to Bali resorts: some people love them.

I'd go for Seminyak on a first visit. Plenty of everything within reach, and some touches of class thrown in.

erik123

Seminyak if you are a beach person and Ubud if not. Shop around as some hotels offer very good rates that can beat the points value.

Annalisa12

I prefer Karon Beach too than Patong. I want it fun but not crazy. You sound like you are like me. So if I love Seminyak maybe you will too.

I like Seminyak as it has the beach with deck chairs, close by bars for food and drink. You can eat/drink on your deck chair or go and sit in the bar to eat. Lots of fabulous restaurants and "Eat Street" where my favourite is Ginger Moon. Obviously a favourite of everyone as it is so crowded. It's close by to lots of things and even if you have to drive somewhere, say to see what Kuta is like, it is fun watching the world go by.

In Seminyak you'll still get a great vibe with great nightlife, but without the craziness of 18 year olds blind drunk and stupid.

kamchatsky

Thank you Annalisa12, erik123, IAN-UK, sounds like I should be around Seminyak for my first trip .....

So I have narrowed down to the following hotels:

- Hotel Indigo Seminyak (60K IHG points)
- Courtyard Bali Seminyak (40K Marriott Points)
- Ritz Carlton Bali Nusa Dua (80K Marriott Points)

The last one is because it is a Ritz Carlton, and the room is 100sqm each using points! However I did hear that RC is quite isolated and Nusa Dua is quite boring comparing to rest of Bali ...

So I have booked Hotel Indigo Seminyak and Courtyard Bali Seminyak ..... Courtyard uses fewer Marriott points than Hotel Indigo (on IHG points), however Indigo looks like it is closer to the beach, and Indigo has much more Balinese feel to it than Courtyard.

Also Courtyard costs around $200AUD per night, and Indigo costs $423AUD per night on the night I wanted to stay. So looking at using points it looks like Indigo is "much more value". However as Marriott Gold I may get free breakfast at Courtyard and nothing at Indigo.

Has anyone tried Courtyard and Indigo before? Which one would you pick?

Annalisa12

Not stayed at any of those but have stayed at a private villa near Camplung Tanduk and we passed the Courtyard Marriot Seminyak daily. The hotel is near the bench end and we'd always see the Marriott golf cart scooting down to and from the beach with guests on it. It would take minutes. It took me 10 minutes to walk but I am a slow walker. You barter for the use of a deck chair for however many hours you want. Restaurants/bars serve you as you lay on the beach. The guys with the deck chairs continually re-arrange your chair to make sure you have the best angle for the sun.

If you turned left at the front of the Marriot you'd go down Camplung Tanduk which is full of bars, sports bars, restaurants, massage places and shops. Lots of mini marts too if you want to purchase drinks for your room at a fraction of resort prices. Lots of currency exchange places too. We always take Australian dollars and exchange them there for a far better rate.

Our regular hangout was the Lucky Day Sports Bar. Nice normal food without a big price tag and a fun atmosphere. We would often share our table with other holidayers and we met some great people and had a great time. If you are alone it is an easy way to meet people.

We'd also catch a cab - a Bluebird - who use the meter, for a few dollars and go along Raya Seminyak for more shopping and tons of restaurants. A Vietnamese restaurant Bo and Bun is a favourite of mine. Once you get used to how much things cost you can use any taxi if you know where you are going to negotiate the fair. I usually just tell them what I am willing to pay.

I went in to the Courtyard lobby to look around. It looked nice and new but I like hotels that are more Balinese in Style. I want to feel like I'm on holidays not staying at a hotel in Sydney.

I just googled the Hotel Indigo and I do prefer their architecture over the Courtyard. I google mapped it and it is in an area near a lot of other hotels so I don't know if the area contains lot of little restaurants and shops. If both areas are the same I would choose Hotel Indigo.

Both would be an easy cab ride, depending on taffic to "Eat Street" which is a great street to walk along, shop and eat. Our favourite there was Ginger Moon.

kamchatsky

Thank you Annalisa12 for such detailed information about Seminyak! That is really helpful! ^

Looks like I will be staying at Hotel Indigo in this trip! Now I am looking forward to it! I will try to walk down to Camplung Tanduk for all the food!

erik123

To be honest 60k is very poor value and the Indigo is in a good but not great location. If it were me I'd pay for a hotel closer to the center of the action. Lot's of options that will be good at $100-150.

kamchatsky

erik123, given I don't have any idea about Bali, what hotels would you be suggesting then?

erik123

For only two nights I would care more about the location. You are going to be spending your time at the beach clubs/bars/restaurants. so pick anything close to Seminyak square within your budget that is highly rated.

Please note that the beaches are not much to write home about and two nights is not a lot of time to taste the atmosphere. You might be better off in Ubud and/or another destination.

RustyC

Seconded. I was unburdened by points concerns but still got a nice air-con place with TV, tile floors, ensuite, etc., for $20s in Kuta some years back. For Ubud it was a cottage with fan and a mandi with breakfast delivered to the porch for $10. Maybe it's too spartan for some, but I got the strong sense that the 3-star sweet spot on rates was among the lowest globally if you shopped around and weren't bound to a particular brand. Unless you've got more hotel points than you could ever spend I'd save 'em for places where supply/demand doesn't favor you the traveler so much.

The amount of time you have is way too short, so I'd do either/or with the beach or Ubud. IMO Ubud is much better for all the nighttime shows and daytours like Besakih. That's all uniquely Bali, whereas the beach areas are much thicker with foreigners and too many hawkers and others trying to make a living off the trade. I wouldn't rate that experience as superlative vs. other beaches like I'd rate Ubud vs. other cultural centers.

kamchatsky

For me for this trip I am looking for relaxation and take it easy.

For me the challenge is that Bali has so many resorts and even within one small area there are tons to choose from. Hence I wanted to stick to the brands I know. I am sure that there are gems out there that is not globally branded but until I get specific recommendations it is actually hard to pick multiudes of hotels (which all have great photoshopped photos). For example, for Ubud I checked in hotels.com and there are many 4-5 star hotels ranging from say $50 - $1500 per night .....

I live in Sydney so Bali is always an easy trip for me anyway if I ever need to go there again.

However with my new flights I now would most likely stay for 3 nights and 4 days instead, so I will most likely look for another hotel to stay on my 3rd night ...

dhammer53

After 6 nights in Ubud, we spent our last 2 nights relaxing at the Grand Hyatt. One afternoon, we decided to go to lunch in Kuta. Big mistake. Kuta is the armpit of Bali. It's like a bad Hollywood movie set. Small beaches (unlike Nusa Dua), that appeared dirty. Lots of chain hotels. Very congested. We kept hearing this is the favorite destination of Australians that like to party, and it looked it. We ate adjacent to the Market when we arrived. It was a 30 minute Uber ride from the Hyatt, and about $5.00 USD. We ate. We walked. We high-tailed it back to the Hyatt. We should have gone somewhere else, or better yet, we should have gone to the nice outdoor mall next to the Hyatt. There were lots of places to eat.

By the way, the Grand Hyatt is roughly $145 USD. If you have any status with Hyatt, the lounge offered an exceptional breakfast and dinner.

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