I am not aware of any renovations happening here but the room I stayed in last time was an old one and it was fine (more than just fine actually). I would not label them as 'dated' or 'worn'.

On another note, are we able to confirm that brekkie is comped for plats now?

AFAIK all rooms have been renovated a few years ago, the bathrooms had a partial makeover.

They replaced all of the carpets between Christmas and New Years 2010 (yeah, crazy to do that work during the busiest time of the year!)

Dont all the rooms have wooden floors, with only a small carpet around the bed ....

Mrs. G. and I spent a couple of nights at the Laguna during our week in Bali. We redeemed and spent most of our time out touring the island with our driver. Got upgraded to a nice executive suite that was very comfortable. We did spend a little time at the beach and enjoyed the tree covered lounge chairs. Overall, the resort has a bit of a dated mega resort feel, but the room was nicely updated. The lack of free breakfast for Plats is disappointing.

We had one service hiccup and it was pretty major. I asked for 3:30 check out, which they gladly honored (or so we thought). When we returned to our room at 3 p.m. to pack, freshen up and check out, there were two maids in our room turning the room over for the next guests. They stayed in the room and continued to clean, vacuum, etc. as we packed and one even walked into the bathroom as I was changing clothes. They were unapologetic and seemed annoyed that we were still there. I didn't complain at check out since the agent spoke limited English and we were on our way to the St. Regis and anxious to start that portion of our trip, but I plan to e-mail customer care to let them know.

The Laguna served its purpose for us (a place to sleep and get a little beach time), but I certainly wouldn't consider it a destination resort.

Hiring a driver
 

My wife and I will be spending a few nights at the Laguna in October. We'd like to hire a car and driver for a couple of days to see some of the sights outside of Nusa Dua. Looking at the The Bali Concierge website, it looks like I can hire a concierge for USD 100 a day plus USD 70 for a van.

Questions:

1. Does anyone have experience with The Bali Concierge for this type of service? I'm already sold on their VIP Airport Service.

2. Are there other viable options? Different companies?

3. How far ahead of time are we expected to book for this type of service? Ideally I'd like to book once we arrive based on local weather conditions.

Bali driver
 

I think a number of people here have used Dewa Marco and his team of drivers and been quite pleased. I'm not sure what the benefit is of hiring both a concierge and car. You should be able to get a nice car and driver for about $50 total (even the more expensive cars shouldn't be more than $70 a day with driver). Save the rest for a nice lunch or dinner at La Lucciola in Seminyak.

Since they changed the visa on arrival process (now much easier than it used to be), I wouldn't spend money on any VIP arrival treatment.

In terms of timing, I've called to arrange a driver the evening before using skype. If you specifically wanted Dewa Marco, you might need to make an arrangement further in advance.

If I were to go back to Bali, I would stay on whatever hotel La Lucciola was attached to.

That lunch we had may have been the best lunch ever due to the food, breeze, and lovely beach.

La Lucciola as far as I know isn't affiliated with any hotel, but is right next door to the Samaya (which I believe really renovated some of their villas on the ocean side of the property). The Breeze restaurant at the Samaya is another spot I wouldn't miss.

Once you start thinking of all the Seminyak based restaurants and shops, the W Seminyak starts to become an appealing property.

The Laguna is a nice property if you essentially just want to stay in Nusa Dua, otherwise I would look elsewhere.

Can you expand on this? We'll be arriving on CX785 from HKG. My understanding from other threads on FT is that the arrival time of this flight is one of the busier times at DPS.

We arrived around 7:45 pm last month. I was worried about long lines and contemplated doing the VIP arrival thing. In the end, I didn't and I'm glad since it took maybe 5 minutes for us to get through. Of course, YMMV.

Arriving also at a supposedly busy time of the day a couple of months ago have gotten through the visa on arrival process in less time than it took for the bags to arrive on the luggage carousel.

The local non-hotel going rate is USD 20 for half day and 40 for full day for an average car (something like Honda CRV), and USD 60 gets you a Landcruiser.

La Lucciola is great for breakfast, and of course being on the beach and next to a temple makes for good views ... but for food it has been bested by some newer restaurants such as Sardine. But don't short-change the local food, which costs 10% of the name restaurants. For example Warung Eni on Petitenget not far from La Lucciola has great food and it is hard to spend USD 10 per person for dinner there. Plus La Lucciola could be in Europe or any other continent just as easily, the only Balinese touch are the waiters. They do make a killer panacotta (almost worth flying to Bali just to eat that, esp. from Singapore).

I would never in my lifetime skip the VIP service if arriving on CX785. It isn't worth taking the risk. You are tired, you are HOT (very little ac in airport), and you are arriving with multiple widebodies around the same time. You could easily emerge right behind the last passenger from a Thai 747. Bali is cheap enough, you won't miss the $30 per person. I've made it from CX785 to curbside in under 30 minutes with the escort, and the immigration lines were LONG.

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