Banyan Tree Ungasan

My wife and I had the absolute pleasure of staying at The Umana Bali for five nights during our honeymoon, and it was hands-down the highlight of our entire Southeast Asia trip. From the moment we arrived, we were blown away by the beauty of the resort, the warmth of the staff, and the overall atmosphere of calm luxury. Each morning began with an incredible breakfast—fresh, flavorful, and beautifully presented. The restaurant staff were always welcoming and attentive, making each meal feel like a special occasion. One of the true standouts of our stay was dinner at Oliverra—the food was simply breathtaking, with rich flavors, thoughtful presentation, and a view that made the experience even more magical. Our villa was immaculate and peaceful, offering the perfect blend of privacy and comfort. Whether we were lounging by the pool or exploring the property, everything felt curated for relaxation and connection. We can’t recommend The Umana Bali enough. If you're planning a trip to Bali—especially for a special occasion—this is the place to be. We left feeling truly refreshed and grateful for such a memorable experience. We’re already dreaming about coming back!

The Umana was the pinnacle of luxury. As a Diamond member, I was upgraded to an ocean view villa. The villa was amazing! I did not expect it to be as large as it was. I’ve visited smaller houses. There was definitely more space than I needed for one person. I could have comfortably shared a room with some family members. I have to give a shout out to the breakfast team. They worked so hard to make every moment feel special. And most importantly, our concierge, Richard, made our vacation feel like a truly magical experience. He knew what we needed before we did. He wore an amazing smelling cologne that you can only buy in Indonesia. Seeing as I was leaving in 2 days there wasn’t enough time for me to have a bottle shipped to the hotel. On my last day, Richard presented me with a gift. It was a bottle of the cologne that he ordered special. I was floored. At checkout we were all also presented with Umana silk pajamas nestled inside a beautiful large leather envelope. They made us feel so special. We are already booked to return next year. If you get a chance to stay at the Umana, expect nothing but the best! Lastly, if you are worried about the monkeys, don’t. They were super cute and kept to themselves.

The Umana LXR is located in its own little part of Bali (unlike St Regis, Mulia, Apurva Kempinsky — which are all on a row along a bigger road). The grounds are beautiful and the villas are huge and spacious, with the bedroom opening right onto your personal pool, which has a hot tub attached to boot! Because the resort is beautiful and spread out, they will send buggies to take you anywhere you’d like to go on the grounds — the gym, breakfast, dinner, etc. Foodwise, Umana is a solid 4*. Great dishes prepared with fresh ingredients— we had this experience both at the breakfast restaurant and the Mediterranean dinner restaurant. Staff is friendly and kind. 4* as food, service and ambience are very good, but not WOW (which would make it a 5). Because the Umana is a bit off from everything else and Bali traffic can be challenging, plan about ~30-45min minimum if planning a nice meal outside of the hotel. Amenities and activities-wise, they have free daily yoga class, the massage was amazing (one of the best we’ve had), gym has good weight-lifting equipment, and we enjoyed the guided village walk. You are assigned a curator before arrival who can arrange reservations and programming and answer questions. My curator was helpful and responsive in making reservations. So, what is the key thing missing? For truly wonderful hospitality experiences I’ve had, there is a seamless care of the customer from reservation, through check-in — and feeling of the staff is there to take care of you. With the Umana, it felt like each person I interacted with was friendly and cared, but it felt like they had a script limited to their scope and anything beyond that scope felt like it went into the ether. There are a series of small details that just made the experience feel not entirely seamless: * I booked two rooms and somehow despite all the email confirmations coming to my email and being paid by my credit card, the rooms and greetings were booked to my guest’s name. It’s a small detail, but started the stay with an incongruity. * I had asked for the extra bed to be set up in the living room, but it was set up in the bedroom and took several hours and 2 phone calls to get it moved. * They had left welcome coconuts (lovely touch), but one was leaking water and even though we mentioned it to them and they said they’d send someone to clean it up, no one ever did * they had a lovely turn down gift (but no note to go with it, so I had to call to see if it was a gift or not something we should take home). I point these out because I see the potential for greatness! And if they were to take care of these small details, Umana would be 5-6*! There were two bigger issues, (1) upon arriving at my next hotel, I discovered that one of my luggage handles had been damaged in transit. A big challenge with the Umana is that there is the front desk and the curator who are there to help take care of programming and procedures— but it also feels if there’s anything outside what’s in the procedures, you (the hotel guest) is just out of luck. I emailed both my curator and front desk about this issue on who I can follow up with, and it has been total silence. I suppose I will try to follow up via the Hilton side of comms, but I would expect some connectivity / follow up on who to get in touch with. (2) at ~2 or 3am for one of nights, the fire alarm went off blaring very loudly and disturbingly. This went on for at least a good 5 minutes. There was no follow up — during the night or next morning. When I went to the staff to inquire about this, they tried to avoid talking about it. I just felt that it lacked accountability for quite a significant disturbance to our experience. In the course of a stay, there will be small and bigger things that come up. Umana would be 5-6* if they ironed out the details and have that seamless coordination/ and feeling of accountability by the staff. Instead, I felt there’s friendly staff but there were, in this stay, at least 2 normal course hotel stay items that seemed outside of their power and will disappear into the ether or take a few hours to get confirmed approved — which made it harder to really be able to relax and enjoy what was otherwise such a beautiful, paradise of a location and resort.

Villa is awesome. Looks new and comfortable. Beach club is very beautiful, and gym is also good with some basic functionality. Drama did a great job to assist us solving problems very quickly and efficiently. Although some unexpected issues happened, but Darma helped us handle them very well. Overall we have quite a great experience!

We stayed at the Umana Hilton LXR resort in Bali for a week and it was incredible! The whole experience was first class. The staff are wonderful and so thoughtful. Luphon and Nuka, as well as everyone, go out of their way to take care of you. Everyone is kind and friendly and goes out of their way to ensure you have an amazing experience! The food was delicious, every meal was great! I can't recommend this property enough. We will definitely return next time we are traveling in this area.