Good Stay After Minor Annoyance

100   Recommended
Luxury Room (Seaview)
June 7, 2016 by

 Map | 8 Reviews | 88% Recommended
Share
Save
Liked:
Location
 
Service
 
Food
 
Amenities
 
Room
 

{{ oRightNav.heading }}

Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua Beach Resort
 Map | 8 Reviews | 88% Recommended

Save

Share

Luxury Room (Seaview)

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Luxury Room (Seaview)

A short review of this property. I won't repeat what previous reviewers had mentioned in their reports, but overall it's a pleasant stay; as good as a huge resort gets. 

I arrived at Sofitel from Amarterra Villas with the complimentary ride from the latter. From an all-villa (all 39 of them), low density property to a huge 400+-room complex was a huge shock to my system :) even though I was mentally prepared for this. That huge concrete structure that's the Sofitel looming on me as the car drove up the driveway had me dreading the upcoming experience. I even questioned if I should do my stay the other way around. 

I asked to be escorted to the Club lounge for check in and was swiftly escorted to the lounge one level down. We were quickly seated, cold towels and cold drinks followed shortly and passports were given out for registration. A lady escorted us to the room, one category upgrade from the basic Luxury room to the same room type but with seaview. As she was showing us around the room and I noticed the dubious looking Sofitel branded bath amenities at the same time she made it known that coffee capsules are chargeable, these definitely annoyed me.

A quick call to the Guest Service had them sending the Hermes toiletries up without question. And the coffee capsule issue was resolved by the lounge staff when I made known to him that I would not pay for those capsules even if I had used them. All went fine. Little lapse of judgment on the hotel’s part.  

As it was my honeymoon, I communicated beforehand on arranging something special for the room, they obliged. That didn't happen on arrival, and upon my probing, I was told it would be set up in the evening during the evening canapes session. When we returned it was still not ready and we had to have a short walk to the beach for them to get ready. Now I do appreciate them taking the effort but the element of surprise for my wife was lost. The execution could have been better. 

Anyway, it's the usual macarons and cake (which says Happy Annivesary, well...thanks) and flower petals on floor and bath tub. My wife loved it all the same. 

 

We spent two nights there and wifey enjoyed it (especially the lagoon pool).

 

I will just sum up my experience:

The Good

- Club lounge service was excellent.Staff addressed me by my name whenever they could. One lounge attendant was very obliging in preparing us bowlfuls of tasty mushroom soup as I was not getting enough of them in shot glasses. Another attendant took time to ask for my feedback where I sounded for my displeasure on the chargeable coffee capsules, it's not about the money but what elite members expect of Sofitel. They promised to look into it and later obliged without fuss.

-MyBed. That was more comfortable than Amarterra one. Room was stylishly furnished.

-Breakfast at Kwee Zeen. Exceptional spread and quality quite high with good service.Wife loved it.

-Overall service level was good. They do try hard to please.

 

The Bad

- Some annoyances which were mentioned previously but were resolved without much fuss. Problems arise from their lack of differentiation between non-club rooms and club-rooms which led to falling short of loyalty members' expectation. 

- Layout of the resort could be better. I felt like I was constantly walking in the resort as it's a huge resort. 

- Depending on your liking, the huge concrete complex doesn't make for lesiurely feel at a resort for me. 

- The main pools feel disjointed with several concrete pillars in the pool that do not make for good swimming and a tad shallow for my liking (it's only 1 metre deep). 

Overall service was prompt and kind. Lounge service was excellent and personable. Everyone greeted you with a smile. It was a pleasant enough stay. Beach wasn't the best (lots of dead corals and broken seashells, dead seaweeds at low tide etc). The beach near the Amarterra was a lot more inviting. If you like huge resorts you'll adore this property. It's the newest property along the stretch of beach. There's a dedicated kids club with tons of activities for them so it's a very kids-friendly resort. They will also love the water slides at the kid's pool. 

391 Comments

This review lives in the Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua thread.
391 comments and Y review
Comment In Thread

Hotels you may also be interested in