Short review
Value for money: 5/5 (Excellent)
Services: 5/5 (They tried hard to make the stay enjoyable)
Bedroom: 4.5/5 (Very spacious one bedroom apartment suite)
Bathroom: 3.5/5 (Spacious, but seems dated; weak water flow)
Breakfast: 3/5 (The varieties were ok, but many flies due to the open-air concept)
Facilities and amenities: 4.5/5 (A good range of facilities and amenities available)
Pros
- Excellent service from the staff
- Self-contained facilities
Cons
- Flies in the breakfast area
- Some of the buildings or facilities looked dated
Long review
Novotel Bali Nusa Dua is a 5-star hotel located in a tourism complex managed by the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). The landscape of the complex is amazing with beautiful gardens and greeneries wherever I looked.
My family and I arrived in the hotel by taxi. The lobby uses an open-air concept, so it was rather too warm and humid for me. I prefer fully air-conditioned rooms in this kind of tropical places. The lobby is not as grand as I expected, which is the usual norm for 5-star hotels in Indonesia or many Asian countries. The check-in staff, however, were friendly and welcoming. Refreshments were quickly provided for us. Another staff then showed us to our room, which was only a short walk from the lobby.
Within this short walk, I noticed that the resort style hotel has lush vegetations throughout its complex. Although this is common in Bali, it was always a refreshing sight to wake up to or to simply wander around the hotel.
Our room is a one-bedroom suite. At about 90 sqm, the room is spacious for us 3. In the living space, there is a comfortable large sofa. The dining area is again spacious, and the dining table can easily accommodate 4 people. The kitchenette is located around the corner. Unfortunately, a microwave was not provided. This room also has a large balcony facing the pool. A small bed and a couple of chairs were placed in the balcony, making it a perfect spot to relax and immerse in nature.
The size of the bedroom is fairly small compared to the living space. We had to keep our luggage in the living room in fact. The bed, however, is large and comfortable. Ironing equipment, bathrobes, slippers and a safe deposit box were placed in the wardrobe next to the bed.
The bathroom is spacious and, at first, looked nice and serene. The touch of wood here and there also adds some warmth. Upon scrutiny, I could see some signs of ageing around the bathtub. Some of the tiles around the bathtub appeared stained as well. The bathtub itself is deep, which is great. However, the water flow was slow, so it took a very long time to fill it in.
We ordered room service several times. Generally the dishes were nice and reasonably priced. They start the lunch service at noon, which was unfortunately a bit late for my daughter. Buying non-hotel food is a bit challenging here because of the self-contained concept of perhaps all the hotels in Nusa Dua.
Now let’s go outside the room and review the hotel facilities. The breakfast area, the Square restaurant, is also not enclosed. Although the temperature was usually acceptable in the morning, the flies were everywhere. It was annoying to keep waving our hands to keep the flies away throughout breakfast. They placed a candle on each table, but it did not do much to deter the flies.
The food selection was ok, but I expected more from a 5-star hotel in Indonesia. The 2 main tables in the centre of the room served the main dishes, usually comprising Western dishes and Asian dishes. Chicken porridge was always available along with a soup dish, such as soto.
These 2 tables were surrounded by various food and drink stations, including the egg station, cold dishes, dessert station, juice table, and tea and coffee making facilities.
The swimming pool is spacious and has 2 levels. It is also surrounded by greeneries, which truly makes the place look tropical.
There is also a kiddie pool located next to the kids’ club. The kids’ club itself offered various activities for kids, so parents can enjoy some free time without their kids. Unfortunately, kids under 4 have to be supervised by their parents. The place looks old though.
Near the kids’ club, there is a playground.
Other wellbeing facilities include In Balance Massage and Spa, and a gym. They also have a daily activity program for guests.
If you need some bakery or coffee, then Pause Café at the back of the hotel is a spot that you need to explore. It was styled with French café in mind to bring the authentic experience of a coffee house in France.
There is a minimart a short walk from Pause Café. This is very handy to buy drinking water, a precious commodity in Indonesia since you can’t drink from the tap. It must be noted that this minimart is located outside the hotel vicinity.
The nearest shopping mall is called Bali Collection, an open-air mall with clothing and various shops, supermarkets, and a good range of dining options. It is open-air, so again it was warm and humid when we went there. We tried one of the open-air restaurants and were attacked by flies, which was annoying and disgusting. Learning from this experience, in the next trip here, we chose an air-conditioned and enclosed restaurant. There is a free hourly shuttle bus connecting the hotel and the mall. Walking is actually manageable, but it was rather difficult for us with a 20-month old in tow.
Enjoying the beach is definitely a must when visiting Bali. Novotel Nusa Dua has a private beach called 2.28 Beach Club for this purpose. The name 2.28 means 2 minutes and 28 seconds, which is the time needed to get there by the shuttle bus provided every 15 minutes by the hotel. It is a nice place to chill out and enjoy the amazing ocean view. The Beach Club also offers various Asian and Western cuisine and cocktails. One afternoon we were invited by the hotel to enjoy free drinks here with several selected guests.
Finally, the hotel also provides a taxi service to the airport with a very reasonable price (IDR250,000).
We enjoyed our stay there, particularly due to the excellent services offered by the hotel staff. It’s true that they can’t compete with other 5-star hotels in the complex, such as Sofitel or Westin. However, in terms of value for money, Novotel Bali Nusa Dua is excellent. It has all the facilities and amenities so that guests can simply stay in the hotel and relax. The breakfast experience was the only negative that we had as I elaborated above.
