Chedi Ubud Still Good After New Management?
 

The Chedi Ubud used to have a solid reputation on this board and have just saw that it changed management.
Does anyone know if it's still good or if standards have slipped?
I know there are plenty of other options in Ubud but am specifically curious.

As they kept all their Management Staff from before there should not be so much changed - also they passed through the LHW qualification.
Chedi was also solid choice for Ubud!

I disagree - I think that now the owners are running it, most of the staff remains, but attitudes are not the same, although I believe Chef Dean is still there, so the food should be good.. The hotel had started to decline quite a while ago. I cannot imagine that self-management will improve things.

The hotel was also not beyond the Top5 Hotels in Ubud before, and you are not able to compare it with, eg. Mandapa.
However, it is still a beautiful Resort with an international luxury approach, and as a Leading Hotel, they have to meet luxury standards.
I think a lot of things will change anyway after COVID as hotels are running with less staff and also costs are cutted down.
My Experience is that when you have an owner-run hotel, this brings in the personal touch, which could be a big Plus for a Resort in a location like Ubud.

I think that sometimes things improve under owner-management, but not always. I can think of numerous hotels that were taken back by the owners and no longer remain in the same league as before. Equally, LHW standards are not exactly consistent!

Let´s see how it will develop. They still have Deasy Swandarini as GM. She led Ritz Carlton Bali before. As the Ex-Chedi has only 20 rooms, it might work out. But you are right - there are many examples where owners took it over, and everything went down.

We were at the Chedi at the start of February, not long after the management change, service and the resort overall were excellent. Occupancy was low, given Covid was in its early stages, but with such a small room count, I don’t think it was a driving factor. Service was so warm and genuine, it was old school hospitality, they just wanted you to have a great time, seemingly with no consideration for cost. Absolutely no nickel and diming here. For comparison, we were at Amankila a couple of weeks later, service and food were far superior at the Chedi. As a side note though, Amankila this time round was really quite disappointing.

What disappointed you about Kila? I was actually planning on doing Ex Chedi + Kila in the same trip.

Amankila remains an incredibly beautiful resort and in theory is a great combination with Chedi, we just had lots of issues this time around.

Some would be issues anywhere - food was really average (at best), no service at beach club pool for over an hour from 5pm towards 6pm (they were setting up the private beach dinner and basically ignored us because they wanted us to leave because they were concerned of having the complete privacy for the dinner). This beach club issue became the biggest problem as it basically undermined everything you go to an Aman for (in my opinion).

Others more just noticeable compared to the super high standards Aman have set themselves - lots of holes in bed sheets one night, saw the room cleaners twice in one day, upselling...

Then since you were originally asking about the Chedi, there were also just some things that became obvious that could be better having just come from the Chedi - the Chedi afternoon tea is an experience, the afternoon tea at Amankila seems like an afterthought in comparison. The service at Kila comes off as trying too hard sometimes - I don't care if every staff member doesn't use my name every time. I know this is the Aman way, but again compared to Chedi where they don't use your name all the time, but just focus on genuine care, the difference is highlighted.

Finally, the beach was a disaster during our stay. There is nothing Kila can do about this, just unfortunately the amount of rubbish coming into the beach was awful, making the beach unswimmable for very large periods.

Most of our issues came in the first couple of days of our stay, the second half of the stay was much better. Amankila remains a stunning resort, just having been there a couple of times I'm not in a rush to go back.

What a massive difference from our stay just in November!

Weather/currents etc can make such a huge difference too (any rain when you were there? Trash on the beach and rain go hand in hand). The beach was in pristine condition when we were there (barely any rain for MONTHS at that stage).

Food - Shane has sadly left (but onto great new ventures himself) and that may go some way towards explaining food, but it shouldn't dip to the levels it did.
No excuse for poor service, we had great service throughout though. Not a fault at all and truly exceptional.

Curiously I had a few guests who stayed around some holidays in mid/late February to early March just before the virus started raging through who absolutely loved it - but from their photos I do recall seeing the weather was sunny and the beach was looking in great condition.