IAN-UK

Not so sure the hotel is blocking Grab: indeed they swear blind they are not. Could be Grab has negotiated some black spots around the resorts

Go and its offshoots work just fine, pick up at the hotel, so get the app installed!
IDR600K to the airport against three of four times that for the hotel car they'll push you towards.

Only problem is that most app cars seem to park up by the Bintang supermarket, so can take some time to get to you. And some might call and ask you to cancel if the traffic is hopeless (a wedding made it super-hopeless for a while last week).

IAN-UK

Strange hotel. The architect has tried to wring the maximum out of a long, skinny, awkwardly shaped plot. In design its lovely, the decor delightful, but the necessary compromises make the place very difficult to navigate, and mean that only a very few rooms will get even a sideways glimpse of the sea.

Ineffectual signage makes the navigation even more difficult.

The rooms are delightful: I'm talking Oasis rooms, but I think these offer only a higher floor and better view than more basic rooms. Size is fine, and the layout tremendous, creating space for a small dressing room/walk-in wardrobe. Excellent, effective, near-silent aircon plus a ceiling fan. Bathroom equipped with shower only, but for me that's a massive, space-saving plus.

The only room irritations come from the gimmicky nick-nacks:

• a mechanical juicer: for a glass of juice I'd need to go out to buy a kilo of oranges, find a knife, then create an enormous mess. If you want to give guests an orange juice there really are easier ways to do it.
• cute cups with no handle: yup, cute enough, but not so smart for drinking tea. Tea cups evolved handles for a reason.
• screw top tins to hold tea bags, ditto sugar. Need to shake the things out because you can't get fingers inside to grab the bags
• odd gold-painted bowl taking up shower pace. Equipped with a plastic ladle. Get rid of it: a seat would be a better use of the space.

Staff are robotic. Languages skills sometimes good sometimes poor. Request for a map of the area earned me a brochure about trips to Lombok.



Management needs to take more control

My arrival didn't attract the attention of bell-boys. Half a dozen of them continued in conference around the concierge desk while i walked past with my bags.

Check-in at 3pm. They invited me to sit down while they "prepared my welcome pack" and offered a coloured drink and a cold towel. ...? Give me my room key!

Check-out was a 20 minute wait while they got someone to check my mini-bar. Refused to take my word that there had been no consumption, and wouldn't release my card deposit until they were sure I wasn't lying.

The main pool looks good, but i can see conflicts developing with the limited number of loungers. Music is too loud though: perhaps part of the "hip" image the hotel is desperate to project.

Breakfast is set at a silly price. There is far better value and much better service available at hotels and cafes only minutes' away

All in all verdict: my room was selling for close to $400 (after taxes), and for that sort of money I'd expect a slicker set-up. Standard room prices are in the $300 ball-park. Not sure who would pay that sort of money for a cute but amateurish operation. But on points it was fine. A lot of guests seemed to be on group packages, at what I guess are much reduced rates.

demue

I'm quite confident that some of the security team combined with the car / transport desk are in it together with the "local cars / drivers".

Our Grab guy was shouted at when he reached the gate, made turn around and they kicked his door (I had just arrived at the lobby and saw / heard it).

We had to take the car from outside the gate and when I asked the guard what this was about (in Bahasa mind you), he sheepishly claimed that Grab is not allowed. When asked rhe transport desk they echoed it. The Bluebird we booked subsequently could come in after I had called down and informed them.

As you said, no management oversight to note. Never meet anyone higher than an assistant manager during a 4 night stay. Decent on points, but a no go for those cash rates they dream up most of the time. Way better options around for that kind of money.

IAN-UK

Both the Bluebird (via Go) and Grab apps were blocked. Simply got the message "don't serve this area". I didn't try the direct Bluebird app.

Go-Car worked absolutely, totally and perfectly well: no problem at all for the driver to pick me up at the steps from reception. Nobody batted an eyelid.

The Go-Car driver told me Grab has fenced off certain areas from its service in order to avoid conflict with taxi drivers. I have no idea if that is true, though it sounds sensible.

They seem to have achieved co-existence with Ngurah Rai at the domestic terminal by more-or-less ceding the international one to the taxi mafia.

demue

Back in August the Indigo Seminyak definitely still showed up on the Grab app as a pickup location. After the "episode" described above, we just put a note to the driver in the app to meet us outside on the street and not come into the hotel grounds. We just walked outside a 100m and took the car from there. Bluebird app worked fine if you have an account and you can also tie it to a credit card for the fare to be deducted. IIRC, I think the app generates a code that you need to give to the driver at the start to authorize / validate the charge to the card.

BTW, you meant to say 60K IDR to the airport and not 600K IDR, right? 600K IDR would be vast overcharging.

IAN-UK

The episode I described was this week. My Bluebird account is up and running with credit card attached - yet the Indigo still showed as "area not served" on the app.

So the situation looks pretty fluid, as it was for some time at the airport.

Here in Bandung things have improved enormously at the airport: we now have a Grab stand within (domestic) arrivals, and a dedicated waiting area outside: the airport slaps a 10K charge on pick-ups. Of course, it could all go downhill again.



And yes of course I meant 60K for the Go-Car trip from Indigo to the airport- with a 10K bonus for the guy, who managed to bypass the worst bits of traffic to get us there on time.

demue

Yikes, another reason then in my book to avoid Indigo Seminyak unless on points and other options not coming through. I'm not a huge fan of the property and location (rooms are fine) in the first place and all this transport nonsense won't make it any better. Grab and Gojek is one thing, but getting Bluebird to budge sounds almost scary.

IAN-UK

I do take your point The taxi mess at the end of a stay ruins whatever good impression the hotel made on its guests.

There was some talk of a brand new IC (eventually) coming in Canggu, and some other hotel rebranding to Kimpton.

I don't understand Kimpton, but a second IC would be interesting.

demue

As per IC Bali folks that second IC in Canggu is apparently highly unlikely. It was under discussion for years and nothing has happened (maybe issues with the land acquisition, not sure). In a pre-election year I don't think it would get a revival or be pursued with renewed vigor .

Chinatrvl

The Canggu IC is partially built, but some structure is argued to be too close to the sea on public ground and illegal. Therefore, construction has been halted for years now.

IAN-UK

Sorry to drag this out. But a friend much more technically advanced than I points out that Grab et al can break down when the pick-up request comes from somewhere internal, i.e, not directly on a road. So that might be what was happening from within the Indigo, where the reception, and indeed the pick-up area, are some distance from the public road.

He suggests moving the pick-up point to the road outside, while messaging the driver that you are waiting inside the hotel.



All this came about because i just had the same problem in Pinang, at a courtyard-equipped hotel, where techie friend's advice got me a grab to the airport for MYR20 instead of paying double(plus) for a taxi. I look forward to testing it out in Bali!!

demue

As you said, your experience was more recent, but we were definitely able to select the Indigo as a pick up location by typing the name and not by using the pin to mark the location.

Having said that, setting a pick up point just outside of the lobby / hotel driveway on the road may work just as well.

If the security guards behave in the same way than they did in our case the Grab car won't be allowed in for pick up (never had issues with drop off) and you just need to walk a few meters outside. Manageable, but YMMV.

gottaluvNW

To echo one of the previous points above about traveling with children.
We are 2 adults, 2 kids. Is that a problem since kids stay free but still the room bookings are limited to 1 child only?

Also, any recent data points on being offered or attempts to negotiate a better room against an upgrade fee?
I would love to get one of their pool villas - for the moment they only offer it at the standard price difference between the currently booked room and the pool villa price.
I would have hoped they would be open to "negotiating"... but it does not seem that the reservation agents are given that kind of deal making flexibility.

demue

My experience with the villas is that they usually don't budge and honestly I wouldn't pay the 500-600$ regular rate they ask for those, all without any beach view or similar in case someone is expecting that.

You can get awesome villas all around Bali for less that come with way better views and surroundings. YMMV.

IAN-UK

As a villa would clearly suit you, I wonder if you have considered renting a villa rather than staying at a hotel. Bali must be one of the best supplied places on earth for villas with pool and staff on hand. Prices are not too scary, in many cases they'd compare favourably with the price of just one room at Indigo: compared to two rooms, or a hotel villa , you'd be much better off.