pbarnette

So... Have a week beach vacation coming up in August. Deciding between St Regis Bali and W Koh Samui. August is obviously the best time for Bali, but decent for Koh Samui too.

Anyone have opinions? Looking at the Jungle Oasis at the W and the Pool Suite at the St Regis. Privacy is paramount. Thanks for the help.

DHAST

Interesting predicament. I've never been to Samui, but have been to Bali plenty of times. While I haven't *stayed* at the SR, I've toured the property and enjoyed Sunday brunch there. If you stay at the SR, you absolutely must do Sunday brunch at Boneka.

Things to think about:

St Regis Bali is in Nusa Dua. Not my favorite region. If all you are going to do is park your butt on the resort and never leave, Bali is a long way to go for that. If you want to get off the resort, Nusa Dua is rather isolated.

How do you plan on getting there? Samui is a pain in the butt, Bangkok Airways used to have a monopoly on the route, but looking at flight schedules, it looks like TG has muscled their way in, as well as Silk Air. It appears to me though that your only option on points would be *A, either through BKK or SIN. Coming from BOS, I guess that means you have to go through NRT first.

I suppose I should note that *A will get you to DPS as well.

If you're a 1W and not a *A guy, you're going to get as far as BKK or HKT and buying a separate ticket to USM. If you go to DPS, CX will get you all the way there, albeit not in F from HKG-DPS.

So... you know how I'd pick? I'd think about what my larger itinerary is. If you're going to explore the better part of Thailand on a mutli-week vacation, then I might try the W. If you plan on being more stationary and don't want to hotel hop, I'd stay at the SR and take day tours throughout Bali. If you're just going to park your butt at the resort and not leave, then I might not go that far in the first place.

Oh one other thing... you say privacy is paramount. What vibe are you looking for? I've been to both the SR and W in Bali for brunch, the vibe I'm looking for would determine where I booked. W="cool, hip, trendy." SR="Quiet, relaxed, laid back."

KENNECTED

Would this existing thread be helpful?
Bali Honeymoon - St Regis Bali Resort or W Retreat & Spa?

Dr. HFH

IIRC, PG built, was the first carrier to fly to and may still own (literally own the airport) USM.


PG also flies nonstop between HKG and USM; and you can use CX codeshare numbers on these flights.

EuropeanPete

USM is pretty easy to get to nowadays. BA will also ticket you direct to USM, in cooperation with PG. There are also various other flights to USM, like from KUL.

MSPeconomist

Are you a W or StR sort of guy?

Why not consider other (Starwood) hotels on Bali, such as the W?

pbarnette

Thank you for the advice.

Yeah, it is far. But this is actually a two-week trip. The plan would be to do some time in Ubud as well (probably at the 4S), plus another destination (maybe Borneo for some wildlife). But we do want some relaxation time and, while I actually don't think that much of the beaches in Bali or Thailand, properties like the W KS or SR Bali (e.g. private pool, etc.) either don't exist or would be prohibitively expensive closer to home. But we have looked at something like the Viceroy Riviera Maya or the Banyan Tree Mayakoba as an alternate. The issue there becomes what to do with the second week. We are also considering Hawaii, and splitting between the Andaz Maui and the SR Princeville, but neither offers the kind of over-the-top private rooms like the choices in Asia.

Haven't fully decided. We are sitting on a business award to HKG and would add on flights from there for cash to wherever. Alternatively, we might simply buy tickets to somewhere in the region, maybe SIN (best J pricing), and tack on from there. If my wife wins the argument, we may tough it out in coach or PE, in which case, we may route in and out of DPS.

I've actually been to Samui before, and it is easy enough to get there for our purposes.

We are pretty much exclusively OW and ST. We don't really fly *A, as UA stinks and LH has a lousy J product, so we don't find them a good option ex-BOS. Doesn't mean we wouldn't shell out the cash for a *A flight if we could find a good fare, but we don't have miles enough to book an award or upgrade.

Vibe doesn't really matter. We prefer something smaller and aren't looking for a Vegas-style pool party, but I doubt that is a risk at either location. I would generally prefer the more modern design of a W, but that preference wouldn't factor into my decision.

Thanks. Had seen it before. It helped me zero in on the SR vs the W.

We looked at the others. The W looks nice enough, but at double the size of the SR and 3x the W KS, we lean toward the others (unless someone thinks we should reconsider). The other Bali properties are fine, but the rooms aren't really as luxe as we are probably looking for and they are bigger properties.

no1cub17

Does MH interline with PG? I.e. would we be able to check in at DPS on a DPS-KUL-BKK-USM itinerary with last leg booked with PG? We're in a similar predicament - want to spend time in Bali/Ubud but also do a beach getaway - and Thailand seems to be the place for that.

EuropeanPete

Air Asia now do a direct DPS-USM flight, though it's not cheap. MH's subsidiary FireFly also does a convenient ATR-72 flight into Subang near Kuala Lumpur, though not too good for interlining into KUL flights.