broadwayboy

Sorry to hear about your experience at this hotel. I know no amount of compensation is enough for a bad vacation, but I felt the compensation they offered was quite generous.

cbellero

Many people ask for comparisons between this hotel and the Elements hotel. I stay at the Elements and toured the Sthala. I added my two cents in the Elements thread. Pretty much Sthala is better if you want slightly better quality, are willing to pay the price and deal with traffic.

I toured the Sthala hotel today, but did not stay. I liked what I saw. I also learned that the hotel is planning on eventually building a restaurant on the other side of the bridge. This could be a good addition. I took a whole bunch of photos during my tour of the hotel, but most of them match the ones taken by other reviewers. I will try to add only the ones that I believe add additional value here.


Entrance to Spa


Couples Massage Room


Floor Overlooking Reception with Lots of Artwork 1


Floor Overlooki2g Reception with Lots of Artwork 1


Lobby


Lobby Flowers


Gym


Rooftop Bar

Outdoor Seating Area near Bar


Bridge to Village and Perhaps to New Restaurant One Day 1


Bridge to Village and Perhaps to New Restaurant One Day 2

GalaxyChris

Your photos look nice... but the hardware do NOT match the software.

I experienced this place with my family early July.

breakfast was the worst quality of all my SPG stay for the current year.

Insects in the food, quality of product sub-par, service close to non existing. Even the bami goreng was so-so.

Try to order a drink, you will be lucky if somebody bring it back to your table before the end of your breakfast without 2 or 3 reminder. The staff is everywhere doing nothing.


They organise private event, so one day the bar is privatized another day it's the main pool, so no access.
​​​​​​
It's very expensive to get a taxi from the hotel to Ubud center (close to same price like Grab from DPS Airport to hotel !)
So you need to use Grab or the crowded open Shuttle from the hotel who stop at night.

Elite recognition inexistent (they upgraded me to the room I paid for...)

I will probably never be back

Bravada04

Interesting! Thanks for the pictures and the feedback. I have no idea what to do? Element or Sthala...........It pretty much comes down to flipping a coin now I think.

Bravada04

Just finished our recent 4 night stay here and am really glad we chose this place over the Element in the same area. I have nothing but good things to say about this place!
We arrived with a fantastic welcome and were shown to our upgraded room on the top floor corner overlooking the river...WOW!!! what a fantastic view - just lovely. Room was fine - very clean and maybe on the smallish side but not problems at all.
We found breakfast to be just fine? It's breakfast and they had everything you needed - made to order eggs and all the other regular stuff that you see at breakfast. We would be welcomed immediately and seated with service being very good!
Hotel has some great architecture that makes it unique and every staff member that you see always says "hi" and are attempting to please you. We spend every evening on the rooftop bar during happy hour and ate their twice also - we had the place to ourselves one night overlooking the sunset - it was awesome! We found the food to be good - the portions could be somewhat larger but everything else was good.
We spent time at the pool everyday (they have two pools) and loved lounging in the small infinity part overlooking the river and such. They have a bar open with bar service etc.,
We used the UBUD shuttle twice which was very convenient!!! Loved it cruising in the open air cooling off a bit. FYI there is nothing around here to walk to in regards to restaurants etc., Trust me we tried it! LOL
On the Friday morning we signed up the for Explorer walk at 07:00 a..m. Nice part of the morning and walked through the yards and streets of the local village and such. Nice little walk for about 1.5 hours just strolling through the local community - got back and had breakfast.

I would have no issues in recommending this place. Very nice, good service and quiet!! Just what we wanted on our second stop of our vacation. Service and employees were excellent!

FQ415

I stayed Sthala 4 times. Experience there is excellent so far. They did upgrade my room and I had my evening cocktail every visit.
breakfast is average but the local food section in breakfast is worth to try. I like their Nasi bebek in ala carte menu (deep fried duck serve with rice.)
you can skip the spa because the quality is not worth the price. You can have better quality spa experience with lower price in town.

haribo2014

Stayed 3 nights in Sep 2022. Highly recommend this hotel, especially if you prefer a quieter place in Ubud, outside of the city center.

- Titanium upgrade to the highest category non-suite room (river view). View of the river just below is beautiful.
- Complimentary shuttle bus to and from Ubud city center. 20-minute ride departs every 2 hours.
- Service is excellent - proactive and responds quickly to any requests. Went above and beyond several times during our stay.
- Free daily activities (ex. guided walking tour of the surrounding residential area)
- BOGO cocktails 4PM-6PM and 9PM-10PM at the rooftop restaurant. You can taste the alcohol in the cocktails.
- Two pools, on the smaller side, but clean and plenty of chairs to lounge.
- Good quality breakfast with mix of Indonesian and western options. Staff also came around to offer additional dishes that change daily.

Excellent stay. Great value. Love the relaxed feeling of being right next to the river. Will return.

ExpatSomchai

Just finished a stay at the Sthala in Ubud, Bali. This dated back to a reservation which was made during the pandemic and the hotel kindly put the booking on hold until we were in a position to travel again.
Was upgraded to a River View room which was beautiful. Staff cannot be faulted and took exceptional care of us. Welcome gift choice of points or a wood carving as breakfast was included in our room rate.
Food was excellent quality and keenly priced. Could not fault the stay. The hotel offers a shuttle bus into town which was also very convenient.

karenkay

it's been nearly a year since someone has posted here, has anyone stayed recently who can speak to titanium benefits? breakfast?

is the shuttle bus still running, and/or are there still no local restaurants in walking distance?

mr kk and I are considering a visit, but we don't love eating all our meals on the resort.

maisondubonheur

Stay there for the second time few weeks ago. You do pay what you are getting for.

We had an early check-in at 10am, no issue and granted a 4pm late check-out....hotel was 100% full, so they don't try to play games...good!

They have only 2 suites...so forget about those, but each time we got upgraded to a River view.

Breakfast is on the basic side...but it is in par with the level of the hotel.

Staff is super nice...shuttle is still on, still no food walking distance.

I believe this hotel is a honest one when it comes to Titanium recognition. They give you what they can!

We had dinner sat Kubu...amazing and pricey...Ambar was way less impressive...

karenkay

was just here for a couple nights, 'upgraded' using SNA to a lovely river view balcony room. Staff is warm and friendly, tries hard.

sthala is, as maisondubonheur mentioned, not in walking distance to anything. there's a coffee shop across the road, but that's it. if you look on google maps you'll see things that look like they might be promising, but the road in front of the hotel is crazy busy with no sidewalks and multiple potential hazards...I wouldn't walk to anything (and I'll walk pretty much anywhere).

There’s a regular shuttle to town—every two hours, you do need to reserve—and a number of hotel-sponsored activities. yoga two days a week (tues/sun, currently) with a local balinese guy teaching. I took a class, it was great. Happy hour two for one BOGO drinks at the bar 4p-6p.

Breakfast is fine, many Indonesian and western options along with an egg station, and a bunch of Indian options, including excellent masala tea. If you’re a nuts and seeds and granola type person, there are no nuts or seeds anywhere on the buffet, or in the kitchen, I was told ‘due to allergies’. there’s a cooler in one corner with yogurt parfaits, meats and cheeses. bacon is available on request.

I wouldn't have added to the thread for the above, but the following is germane to anyone thinking of staying there anytime soon:

there's an enormous construction project happening next door to the hotel…'new life bali, 3/2 bedroom villas'. we were told the heavy earthmoving equipment only goes from 9a-4p. It’s LOUD. Trackhoes, dump trucks dumping huge loads of rock, cement mixers, etc. you can hear it from inside your room, and from the lobby, and the bar area—although they’ve turned the music up to uncomfortable levels to try to drown it out. the hotel has done a nice job putting some kind of wooden barrier interspersed with plants across the formerly open balconies on the walkway side, so at least you're not looking at the trackhoe and the cement mixer as you navigate the open air halls..but the noise is not conducive to a restful time in your room.

I don’t know the hotel well enough to know if there are rooms that don’t back to the construction, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone stay there currently, unless you’re hard of hearing, or noise really doesn’t bother you. i’m not terribly noise sensitive, but this was nonstop and grating.

We had two five night reservations back to back—one points, the second cash—and ended up leaving after only two nights. We might have left after one if I could have made an earlier decision about what we’d do instead. Hotel graciously returned the points for the remaining three nights.

yscleo

Any recent stay experience?