IC Bali Jimbaran Master Thread [merged]
Jan 26, 2019, 8:00 pm
#1276
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: EWR
Programs: Free agent flyer, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 365
after we discuss with our superior and for this particular visit we are very pleased to offer a preferential rate of USD 120 +21%VAT/room/night for you to have room upgrade to our Club InterContinental Room inclusive with Club Benefits.
Jan 27, 2019, 12:29 pm
#1277
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
The evening offered a delightful space but a dismal food offer: drinks were pretty basic, and it's best to avoid the Two Island wines "made in Bali from imported grapes".
Far more fun to spend the evening in the beach shacks next door.
We were not at all impressed by the dysfunctional club rooms. And yes, yes they are being refurbished, but slowly: and in the meantime they'd still like to generate silly money for those tired old rooms.
Jan 27, 2019, 1:21 pm
#1278
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Shanghai and Bavaria
Programs: Spire RA, 1865 Voyager, Bonvoy Titanium, FB LP, LH SEN.
Posts: 3,104
I find the bashing of this property and the club very hard to understand. I somehow feel sorry for those who sit at a private beach area in the sand enjoying fabolous service watching the sunset with a selection of about ten different wines and varying hors d'oeuvres - and all the do is whine.
The hotel's grounds are fantastic, so is the beach. The club is an exclusive area, away from the crowds. If you're looking to get drunk and filled up with staple food, yes, Nusa Dua Marriott options are probably better - and cheaper options. I'm very happy that crowd is not at the IC club.
I've yet to find a better hotel for our needs in Bali - and private villas don't count as hotels.
Raving about the tourist trap restaurants next door is also very hard to understand.
Club renovations are not done "slowly", but coming in a big bang.
The hotel's grounds are fantastic, so is the beach. The club is an exclusive area, away from the crowds. If you're looking to get drunk and filled up with staple food, yes, Nusa Dua Marriott options are probably better - and cheaper options. I'm very happy that crowd is not at the IC club.
I've yet to find a better hotel for our needs in Bali - and private villas don't count as hotels.
Raving about the tourist trap restaurants next door is also very hard to understand.
Club renovations are not done "slowly", but coming in a big bang.
Jan 28, 2019, 12:14 am
#1279
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: London
Programs: Hilton, IHG - BA, GA, LH, QR, SV, TK
Posts: 17,008
I find the bashing of this property and the club very hard to understand. I somehow feel sorry for those who sit at a private beach area in the sand enjoying fabolous service watching the sunset with a selection of about ten different wines and varying hors d'oeuvres - and all the do is whine.
The "Club experience" is over-hyped and over-priced. Of course YMMV, and yours clearly does.
The club lounge itself is a delightful space, but the atmosphere was a Surrey golf club on an open day.
The wine list must have been drastically reduced for our stay, and the hors d'oeuvre selection was not at all pleasing to the eye or the palate. We happily ditched the lounge over the remaining nights to take our (free) drinks at the sunset bar before moving on to a perfectly enjoyable evening of seafood in the neighbouring (modestly over-priced
) beach shacks.Cuts to this and that haven't helped the value proposition of the "Club experience". The extant club rooms are drab: the two we shifted between were plagued with faults.
The barrage of vaguely well-intentioned-but-pointless emails and calls before, during and after the stay simply irritated: the silliest had to be a torturous in-car call on the way from the airport telling us they were expecting us. I'm sure some people love this sort of attention while others find it annoying: I could only wish they diverted the effort they put into exploiting communication technology into resolving the myriad little things that went wrong over our short stay. Management needs a kick.
Jan 28, 2019, 10:41 am
#1280
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AA EXP, IHG Diamond, IC Amb
Posts: 5,511
The Club here is the worst value of any IC in the world. Lol
i stay here a couple times per year and I did the Club one time and haven’t since.
Get a good room with breakfast (Stay Longer Pay Less is my go-to rate).
I’ll be staying here again this month if anyone needs anything checked.
By far one of the best values for an IC in the world.
i stay here a couple times per year and I did the Club one time and haven’t since.
Get a good room with breakfast (Stay Longer Pay Less is my go-to rate).
I’ll be staying here again this month if anyone needs anything checked.
By far one of the best values for an IC in the world.
Mar 15, 2019, 2:47 pm
#1281
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,368
New to IC Bali but find ourselves there in a few weeks (make that sound like a hardship .... it's not) ...... looking for input on great places to eat around the area?
Top end, street level, and anything in-between we are totally open to and try.
Have been suggested one called Cascades at the Viceroy but seems a bit of a hike to get to. What do you think? Worth to integrate into a trip? Worth to travel to regardless of the hour drive? Or over hyped?
After many years working out of a head office in Amsterdam, I have to confess to liking the Rice Table format ... know that's not strictly core format Indonesian fare but all the same it appeals and would like a great candidate in that arena as well.
Any ideas and suggestions from seasoned hands very welcome.
On our trip to IC Koh Samui I asked the same question and was handsomely rewarded with suggestions that we acted upon and did not regret.
Top end, street level, and anything in-between we are totally open to and try.
Have been suggested one called Cascades at the Viceroy but seems a bit of a hike to get to. What do you think? Worth to integrate into a trip? Worth to travel to regardless of the hour drive? Or over hyped?
After many years working out of a head office in Amsterdam, I have to confess to liking the Rice Table format ... know that's not strictly core format Indonesian fare but all the same it appeals and would like a great candidate in that arena as well.
Any ideas and suggestions from seasoned hands very welcome.
On our trip to IC Koh Samui I asked the same question and was handsomely rewarded with suggestions that we acted upon and did not regret.
Last edited by Atacama40; Mar 15, 2019 at 2:53 pm Reason: content adjust
Mar 29, 2019, 7:46 am
#1282
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: AA LT Plat, UA 1k/1mm+, National EE, IC Plat, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 2,605
I have stayed at this property 4 times now. In total, I have probably spent about 40 nights there. I have always been only a Platinum Ambassador.
- In 2012 (The first time we traveled to this property i), I had booked a Singaraja duplex and I did not receive an upgrade. Our 6-day stay went great and we vowed to return soon.
- In 2014, I had again booked a Singaraja Duplex but we were upgraded to a Bukit suite. I will spare you the full drama, but on check-in, they said they had upgraded us from the Bukit suite to an even better suite (I had a fairly good idea that was a lie) and they then led us to the Garden wing and wanted to settle us into one of the small Garden Wing Suites (smaller and less functional than the Singaraja Duplex), which I protested. It took 4 hours!!!! for them to rectify the issue with a wave of bad proposals coming t me from management throughout. Only my persistence is to thank for the fact that we ended up in a Singaraja Duplex for 4 nights and the Bukit Suite for the remaining 8. To this day, this is the worst check-in experience I have ever had (and I have traveled a metric crap ton on business and personal matters). We did enjoy our stay though, so need to blacklist the property IMO.
- In 2016, we stayed here again. This time, I had booked a Club Duplex and we were upgraded to an Uluwatu Suite. We really enjoyed our stay again and thought the Club benefits were worth the extra money.
- In 2017 we stayed here last and I had booked a Balinese Suite this time. We were upgraded to a beachfront Jimbaran Suite. Again, we enjoyed our stay, but for the first time, I noticed some new features I didn't like.
Fast forward to this year...we are going to Bali again and Jimbaran is our preferred spot. I was already hesitant about booking at IC Bali again due to several issues (explained later) but naturally, I decided to give it a look. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find ANY club suites many months in advance. Clearly, they would not have sold out this far in advance, so I figured refurbishment is likely the culprit. So for the first time, I booked us elsewhere in Jimbaran. This, combined with the Mark Hopkins being unavailable for our Xmas SF trip, meant that for the first time since 2012, I did not renew my Ambassador status.
I won't go into detail about each stay, but I want to point out a few trends I noticed in the 5 years between 2012 and 2017 because none were good for the customer experience...one trend that is obvious if you have gone to the IC Bali for years is that it has become incredibly crowded. And I mean CROWDED. The pool bales are taken early, even at the Club pool, and the main pool can get crowded during the middle of the day. That also makes securing a dinner reservation at the Pool resto more of a requirement than it used to be. The condition of the rooms is still nice enough, but they look very worn and tired, even the really nice ones like Jimbaran and Bukit Suites. The IC Bali has also been courting large corporate gatherings/groups and while I consider myself very worldly, well traveled and multicultural, the behavior of the participants of these corporate travel groups is just incredibly disruptive. We had several incidents during our last stay or two that made the trips slightly less relaxing, including the dearth of breakfast spots at times before the corporate groups go into their sessions. If there was a 9am session, having breakfast at Tamangita Terrace was almost impossible between 7:30a and 9a.
On the positive side, the IC Bali mostly took great care of us during our stays (save that 2014 check-in disaster). There are many things about this hotel that will be memories my wife, kids and I will always remember. There is little that compares to sitting at the Club pool at sundown and having a drink while the ocean turns yellow, red, pink and orange over the horizon. Or doing the same at the Sunset Bar while watching the kids play in the ocean. A civilized breakfast at the Club Lounge is also a great memory I have, as are the many fantastic dinners at Jimbaran Gardens while listening to the waves crash nearby. Or lying by the Club pool with a book and wasting the day away doing nothing. The IC Bali will always have a special place in my family's memory.
Unfortunately, the recent changes/trends combined with current rates will mean that there is no way I will stay at the IC Bali for some time to come at best. This time we will try staying at two different resorts during our stay and make new experiences as a family.
- In 2012 (The first time we traveled to this property i), I had booked a Singaraja duplex and I did not receive an upgrade. Our 6-day stay went great and we vowed to return soon.
- In 2014, I had again booked a Singaraja Duplex but we were upgraded to a Bukit suite. I will spare you the full drama, but on check-in, they said they had upgraded us from the Bukit suite to an even better suite (I had a fairly good idea that was a lie) and they then led us to the Garden wing and wanted to settle us into one of the small Garden Wing Suites (smaller and less functional than the Singaraja Duplex), which I protested. It took 4 hours!!!! for them to rectify the issue with a wave of bad proposals coming t me from management throughout. Only my persistence is to thank for the fact that we ended up in a Singaraja Duplex for 4 nights and the Bukit Suite for the remaining 8. To this day, this is the worst check-in experience I have ever had (and I have traveled a metric crap ton on business and personal matters). We did enjoy our stay though, so need to blacklist the property IMO.
- In 2016, we stayed here again. This time, I had booked a Club Duplex and we were upgraded to an Uluwatu Suite. We really enjoyed our stay again and thought the Club benefits were worth the extra money.
- In 2017 we stayed here last and I had booked a Balinese Suite this time. We were upgraded to a beachfront Jimbaran Suite. Again, we enjoyed our stay, but for the first time, I noticed some new features I didn't like.
Fast forward to this year...we are going to Bali again and Jimbaran is our preferred spot. I was already hesitant about booking at IC Bali again due to several issues (explained later) but naturally, I decided to give it a look. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find ANY club suites many months in advance. Clearly, they would not have sold out this far in advance, so I figured refurbishment is likely the culprit. So for the first time, I booked us elsewhere in Jimbaran. This, combined with the Mark Hopkins being unavailable for our Xmas SF trip, meant that for the first time since 2012, I did not renew my Ambassador status.
I won't go into detail about each stay, but I want to point out a few trends I noticed in the 5 years between 2012 and 2017 because none were good for the customer experience...one trend that is obvious if you have gone to the IC Bali for years is that it has become incredibly crowded. And I mean CROWDED. The pool bales are taken early, even at the Club pool, and the main pool can get crowded during the middle of the day. That also makes securing a dinner reservation at the Pool resto more of a requirement than it used to be. The condition of the rooms is still nice enough, but they look very worn and tired, even the really nice ones like Jimbaran and Bukit Suites. The IC Bali has also been courting large corporate gatherings/groups and while I consider myself very worldly, well traveled and multicultural, the behavior of the participants of these corporate travel groups is just incredibly disruptive. We had several incidents during our last stay or two that made the trips slightly less relaxing, including the dearth of breakfast spots at times before the corporate groups go into their sessions. If there was a 9am session, having breakfast at Tamangita Terrace was almost impossible between 7:30a and 9a.
On the positive side, the IC Bali mostly took great care of us during our stays (save that 2014 check-in disaster). There are many things about this hotel that will be memories my wife, kids and I will always remember. There is little that compares to sitting at the Club pool at sundown and having a drink while the ocean turns yellow, red, pink and orange over the horizon. Or doing the same at the Sunset Bar while watching the kids play in the ocean. A civilized breakfast at the Club Lounge is also a great memory I have, as are the many fantastic dinners at Jimbaran Gardens while listening to the waves crash nearby. Or lying by the Club pool with a book and wasting the day away doing nothing. The IC Bali will always have a special place in my family's memory.
Unfortunately, the recent changes/trends combined with current rates will mean that there is no way I will stay at the IC Bali for some time to come at best. This time we will try staying at two different resorts during our stay and make new experiences as a family.
Mar 31, 2019, 7:46 pm
#1283
Join Date: May 2011
Location: South Island, NZ
Programs: IHG Ambassador, Air NZ lowly Jade now, Emirates
Posts: 559
Does anyone know if all the club rooms have been refurbished. Heading here this week and hope we dont get stuck in an older style room. Unfortunately as we have booked two club rooms, the ambassador upgrade to the duplex will go to our elderly parents not us so any thoughts on this to ensure we do at least get a refurbished room.
Apr 1, 2019, 8:09 am
#1285
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: AA LT Plat, UA 1k/1mm+, National EE, IC Plat, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 2,605
Apr 2, 2019, 10:26 am
#1287
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: AA LT Plat, UA 1k/1mm+, National EE, IC Plat, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 2,605
Presumably what they are selling as Club right now will eventually be the Singaraja experience again...if it wasn't such a spectacular location and grounds, it would be easy to dismiss this property entirely...but they do have a few things going for them...
Apr 3, 2019, 5:38 am
#1288
Join Date: May 2004
Location: SIN (LEJ once a year)
Programs: SQ, LH, BA, IHG Diamond AMB, HH Gold, SLH Indulged, Accor Gold, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 7,739
Yup, their saving grace. This could be an absolutely spectacular property, but execution lacks in several areas.
Jun 2, 2019, 7:24 pm
#1290
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: Marriott(LifePlat) HHonors(Diamond) Hyatt(Exploris) IHG(PlatAmb)
Posts: 5
Cant agree more with the others that the grounds of this property are amazing and this is in comparison with the Conrad that in my view simply lacks character. The beach is pleasent and great for morning runs and the location itself is convenient. Smoke from the neighboring restaurants can be bothersome as the coconut husks they are using creates a lot of smoke that can linger up until morning of the next day. Rooms of this property is the biggest drawback - there is no feel of high end resort. To make it worse every day there was discasting smell in the bathroom and toilet from the drainage hole unbearable at times. We did get upgraded after some negotiating on both points and paid portions of our stay (Plat and Amb) and frankly were disappointed after seeing boring Conrad grounds and beach that we transferred to but were glad that no longer had to torture our smell senses.