54austin

We did when we were there a year ago, but there were some other factors (issues with our room and my partner's dietary restrictions) that I assume made it possible. PM me if you want more details.

Jaimito Cartero

I was years ago, by speaking with a manager.

I still got bored with the breakfasts here pretty quickly, but that's probably me.

Jaimito Cartero

I was looking at a Hyatt site yesterday, and they have the Andaz as opening in 2018.

chuck1

I am Diamond and stayed there this past weekend.
I asked to have breakfast in the restaurant. It was granted because my DSU room was in the West Village and far from the club. In truth, it wasn't that far in the sprawling resort and the restaurant wasn't all that much closer. I never made it to the Regency Club for breakfast (only stayed one night) but did have drinks there. I can tell you the atmosphere was far more pleasant than the buffet at the Garden Cafe. It was loud and crowded and the buffet was pretty low quality.
There was a short wait for a table too and lady just barked your room number when the table was ready. It felt like a busy morning at the IHOP.

I would also recommend pre booking the transfer on Golden Bird website. It's the same company as the hotel and if you do it online it's less than 1/2 the price.

Jaimito Cartero

I believe that the direct cost from Golden Bird is about $15-16 from the airport. You can book easily at the airport, too. I've never waited more than 5 minutes.

apple1122

Hi,

what is the difference between blue bird and golden bird? are they the same company? is one better than the other one?

Also, I still cannot decide whether to book Grand Hyatt Bali or Conrad Bali (am diamond member at both hotels), the reason stopping me from booking Grand Hyatt Bali is due to the breakfast and lounge quality....has the food quality for breakfast improve lately?

thanks!

Jaimito Cartero

Blue Bird and Golden Bird are part of the same group. It's the best taxi/transportation company in Indonesia.

Blue Bird=Normal Taxi
Silver Bird=Luxury Taxi (Usually Mercedes, not in Bali that I know of)
Golden Bird=Private Vehicle (SUV's, Vans, Toyota Innova, etc)

Neither the Conrad or Grand Hyatt are perfect properties, but I'd certainly give the edge to the Hyatt. Especially since the Hyatt has pretty easy suite upgrades with a DSU, and the Conrad just wants to milk you for a lot more money for a suite.

apple1122

thanks!

yea I would really like to book a suite as well. but since we are 4 people, we will need at least two rooms (one suite and one standard room, or two suites/standard rooms).

right now, I booked two standard rooms at Conrad Bali for 29000 points each night for each room. I read from Conrad Bali flyertalk thread that the breakfast and lounge offering are a little better. But I am swinging back and forth on which one to stay!

cruisingmickey

Just arrived today and the resort is beautiful at night. I'm also diamond with Hilton and was wavering back and forth with Conrad Bali. I opted for GH because of the suite upgrade. Yes, the breakfast sounds like it's better at the Conrad, but it's breakfast. I prefer having a nicer room since I'm spending more time in it. Ask me again next week and I'll see if I change my mind.

I also had issues with being harassed while deciding to hail an uber/grab. These drivers are no joke and it was harassment and it made me feel really unsafe. It cost about $7-$8 usd one way for a grab when I eventually got one willing to take me to the GH. The airport has their own taxi company and they were charging 250k idr. News to me, but apparently Blue Bird, uber and grab are not allowed to pick up at the airport.

If you decide to hail a car, use grab and go to the departure upstairs to wait for your driver. My driver parked and he walked over to where we were standing and pretended he was our friend since the taxi mafia was following us. After verifying it was him, we walked over to his car. The taxi mafia wanted to charge us $20+ and wouldn't leave us alone and kept saying GH is far. We weren't glued to our phones either so it's not like we looked like were trying to hail grab/uber.

Lesson learned for next time. I thought I was prepared for this, but I guess not. Either arrange transport beforehand or do what I did above. Also, pay the 11k for the toll to avoid traffic. We got to the GH pretty quickly and our driver was awesome.

apple1122

Thanks! please do update your stay/review for Grand Hyatt Bali! We are visiting Bali in late Feb.

cruisingmickey

I read some hotels in Bali don't allow uber/grab to come pick up guests. Does anyone know if grab/uber are allowed to come on the property to pick up guests if I try to hail one?

Just went to the lounge happy hour. It was pretty nice besides the fact that I got 4 mosquito bites within 5 minutes of sitting down. Bring bug spray! The hotel doesn't provide any. There are also no candles or incense in the club area to ward them off nor are there any in the rooms when I asked. The guy had no idea what I was talking about... The room I'm in has some mosquitoes so please plan accordingly if you are allergic.

On the menu tonight: sliders, something that resembled a chicken falafel that was pretty good, a pasta and a seafood soup. For drinks: beer, wine, juices and soda. The place was pretty packed when I arrived around 6. Hours are 5-7.

The cocktail hour was much better than the breakfast. Breakfast was pretty limited. They had potatoes and sausages and you could help yourself to that. You could also order pancakes and eggs. There was a bread/pastry table along with various yogurts and juices in the fridge. You could also order juices and coffee with the server.

cruisingmickey

Will do! You can also PM me next week and I can give tell you what I think. First impressions, not one of my favorite Hyatt's, but my reasons are probably subjective so I don't want that to affect your opinion. I'm here for 7 nights.

Just did the Grand Hyatt Erawan/Park Hyatt Siem Reap so it sucks a bit to go from those breakfasts to the breakfast here...

Jaimito Cartero

Many Uber drivers know not to say they are Uber drivers when they pick up. If you have an Indonesian SIM card, consider calling the driver, or walking to the hotel entrance to meet the driver.

The last I was there they did have Bluebird taxi service which isn't too expensive unless you are going far.

gspurr

Has any "Globalist" stayed here since the changeover to World of Hyatt? I have a paid stay here for 3 nights in May and was wondering if it was worth using a suite upgrade certificate or hoping for an upgrade to a suite without using a certificate.

Jaimito Cartero

From memory, people lately are being upgraded (with DSU's) to their basic suite. Unless the hotel is really full, I'd try for the Globalist free upgrade.