I haven't stayed at the Laguna, but I didn't overly enjoy the St. Regis. The restaurant staff were all fantastic, and the food was wonderful (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Prices are insane. Like Hawaii expensive, not even just Bali expensive. I found the resort lacked any life though. It just felt dead. The rooms were fine, although nothing special really. A Platinum member booked with Virtuoso, and only got upgraded from the basic room, to the same room with a Sea View, even though it seemed pretty quiet around there. Nusa Dua is meh at best.

 

Any reason not including Westin (Cat 5) or RC (Cat 6) which are also in Nusa Dua?

 

Just didn't seem as nice as the other 2 or have the service levels of the more premium brands. Also since I was looking at paying cash, the category wasn't as important to me as it would be for an award booking.

I don't know Bali at all, but it seems from FT that theres not much love for Seminyak or Nusa Dua.

 

Not true. I love Seminyak for a great holiday break. The Four Points Seminyak is a lovely hotel offering suite upgrades to Platinums with nice walks to lots of restaurants and Potato Head (I didn't like the W nearby apart from its excellent breakfast). I've avoided Nusa Dua because, apparently, you could be anywhere and I don't see the point going to Bali if that's the case. Depends what you want on holiday.

 

I also love Seminyak. I�ve stayed at the W (which I personally enjoyed as I was young and there with friends. Plus they had an amazing breakfast!) as well as the Legian (not associated with any program, but a truly fantastic hotel). It also doesn�t necessarily feel like the real Bali, but it has lots of great restaurants (Nusa Dua does not), lots going on, and just a better overall feel. It�s easier to walk around, and can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be.

 

For the "real Bali" does it make more sense to be up in Ubud then?

 

I mean, all of Bali is touristy. Ubud Itself is super touristy. But i�d day it is closer to smaller villages and �real Bali�. I was just there in February, and truly regretted booking my 3 days in Nusa Dua (the weather wasn�t great, which didn�t help, but hey, it was rainy season). Couldn�t wait to get out of there, and get up to Ubud and back to Seminyak. I find Ubud to be central and easier to venture out to places with less people.

 

As a tourist, you will doubtless feel that Ubud is "real Bali". We stayed some years ago at Kayamanis which is in a a super-luxury collection of private villas on the edge of a local village just outside Ubud. We were woken by the sound of dogs barking and cockrells crowing and enjoyed a fine-dining breakfast overlooking the forested ravine. It was exquisite. Quite whether any "real Balinese" ever have this authentic experience didn't occur to us as we soaked up the traditional US$500 a night atmosphere. We also enjoyed the authentic evening cultural dancing show that was spontaneously put on by locals for our pleasure and enjoyed spying on the wild monkeys David Attenborough-style as they consumed stolen biscuits and coke in their natural habitat of the Monkey Forest.

"Eat, Pray, Love" has a lot to answer for. I guess that any real Bali experience has long since been overwhelmed by the mass tourism no matter how it's dressed up unless anyone knows of a homestay somewhere sufficiently remote. My advice: do a two-centre stay in Ubud and Seminyak. I love holidays in both.

 

Good properties in Seminyak? Seems the W is polarizing, love it or hate it.

Not opposed to hopping around the island but also not the most relaxing.

 

I mean, the W is a absolutely a quality property. It is more a matter if you like the W type of atmosphere or not.

 

Never been huge into the W vibe of being loud, dark and small rooms. Though plenty of W properties are known for not being like normal W properties.
Any idea if W Seminyak is part of STARS and what those benefits would be?

 

Per Loyalty Lobby blog Marriott are running a sale for the upper tier Bali properties under the promo code LRR
Prices are attractive and include resort credits. Seems to be that you pay now and then can rebook for stays between now and May 31 2021

The big issue I see is what happens if Covid prevents you from going by May 31st. Clicking through to make a reservation says its non-refundable rate which means too much risk in my mind.
Last I heard Bali will not open for tourism until Oct/Nov this year, and that too could slip.

 

Great promo code, thanks for posting. I believe you meant to say May 31 2021?

 

W Bali's rooms are not dark, nor that small. The only part that is "dark" is the bathroom.

 

unless you end up on the top floor, where the ceiling is a lot of glass. Then it is quite bright.