Andaz Bali

I was looking for an Amex FHR hotel to spend my $300 semi-annual credit.  I was solo for one night here in mid-August.  This hotel seemed like the best fit for me, in my case. I booked the basic room, called the 'King Bed Deluxe'.  The night before my check-in, I inquired about any available upgrade for my FHR booking. The hotel staff replied the next morning by email to (essentially) tell me that they were fully booked so an upgrade was unlikely. The hotel is quite some distance from the airport.  A good hour. I decided to book a Premium Grab and I think it was a wise decision. I arrived at 12:30pm but was told that my room was not ready yet.  I ended up grabbing lunch at one of the Andaz restaurants and then sitting by the pool for a while. There is also an outdoor covered/cooled lounge (essentially the lobby) with self-service nuts/cookies where a barista serves you any of a variety of coffees and juices for free. Plenty of guests appear to hang out there while waiting to check-in.  Around 3pm I was able to check in. At that time the staff reminded me about my USD $100 FHR credit; they also said that my 4pm FHR checkout was granted.  Before I talk about my room, let me talk a bit about the premises. It is expansive!  If you want to walk around a tropical forest/garden during your stay, this is the hotel for you. It probably takes 10 minutes to walk through the entire grounds. And then if you want to include the next door Hyatt Regency, which you will also have access to (more on that later), then there is about 20-30 minutes of walking for you. Needless to say, the tropical garden/forest is beautiful and well-maintained. You'll find staff constantly taking care of the premises, sweeping, watering plants, trimming trees, you name it. The King Bed Deluxe is a pretty room, without any stray marks. (I mean, the hotel is only 5 years old.) The bathroom has a nice "Amazon" shower and two vanities. There is also a nice balcony big enough for 2-3 people to hang out.  However, the Deluxe King bed room's design is still not very good.  On the Hyatt website, they show just the bedroom area and the bathroom area. What they don't show you is that the actual toilet is about 6.5 feet from the corner of the bed. Yes, of course there is a door for the WC, and it is a heavy door from floor to ceiling. But it still doesn't offer much privacy... The other flaw with the room is that there is no chair or desk. There is a fabric sofa, which is 3.5 feet deep until you get to the sofa seat back, but if you are sweaty and wearing shorts and you just want a convenient place with a seat back to sit down, you have nothing inside the room. (The two small ottomans are just not satisfying.) The truth is that there is space to put at least a chair in the room, to the right of the bed.  There's a lot of wasted space there. If, for whatever reason, you want more WC privacy, don't get the basic room. The pools are not a "slam dunk" for everybody. I was interested in sunbeds next to the pool (where I would not have to fight the sand) and to enjoy nice views of the ocean waves at the same time. You won't find seats like that at the Andaz. In fact the vast majority of the outdoor seats at the Andaz are beachside with sand. There are many more seats by the pool at the Hyatt Regency (which you can enjoy, if you are an Andaz guest), but you still don't have good views of the ocean. So, if you are looking for dramatic views of the ocean while you sit in sunbeds by the pool sans sand, you are basically out of luck at this hotel. The other part that is a bit of a downer at the Andaz is that there are a variety of other small pools that you will see as you walk around, but they are private for the villas. Not a big deal, of course, but just be prepared for that. My $100 FHR credit was a bit tough to spend, as a solo traveler, because food was quite inexpensive. If you are traveling solo, and staying just for one night, I'd strongly suggest scouting the food prices, roughly planning your meal/in-room dining costs, and then seeing whether you want to get a spa treatment. I had a nice dinner on check-in day, a cheesecake and two coffees before check-out, and a 30-minute back massage at the spa, and it still came out a tiny bit less than my $100 credit.  (Don't forget, breakfast is free for Amex FHR bookings. And also, note that the $100 credit must only be used at the Andaz; in spite of being a 'sister property', the $100 cannot be spent at the Hyatt Regency next door.) Of course, if you want a 1-hour (or longer) spa treatment, then that $100 is very easy to spend. :-) Ahhh... breakfast. The breakfast is in a pretty location, but there is no buffet spread. Instead it is unlimited ordering off the a la carte menu. All that in itself is still good. I liked the prawn omelette and the focaccia muffin the most.  But I found some items to be pretty mediocre too. For example, I'm Asian but the "soymilk/youtiao" dish was not very good--more creative than tasty. And also note that the coffee is weak; if you order an Americano, if I were you, I'd go ahead and ask for an extra shot of espresso on the side. Probably the biggest qualifiers of this hotel are twofold: First, when nighttime comes, the hotel grounds can come across as uber-romantic. The lights scattered across the grounds make the place look really magical... which is great if that's what you are looking for.  I must admit that that nighttime vibe, complete with a kind of smooth jazz over live music, is not the most Bali-esque atmosphere you can imagine. (Certainly, you shouldn't expect the fast-beat bongo drum music that you might get at other Bali resorts!) Second, there are quite a lot of kids at this resort. Much more than, say, the W on the West coast. This Andaz resort has a bunch of kids activities available, so naturally there are gonna be a lot of young families with kids. Nothing against that market segment, but if you really don't want to deal with little kids swimming in the pool next to you, then either book a room with more pool privacy, or book an entirely different hotel (i.e. not the Andaz). Knowing what I know now, if I were to book this place again, say, this time with my wife, I'd go ahead and pay extra to directly book the suite.

Pros (1) Pool villa is big with huge bathroom and small kitchen. It even has a second toilet near the pool. (2) Breakfast is delivered to you at table and has wide variety and is good. (3) Butlers are responsive on WhatsApp. (4) Free non alcoholic drinks and snacks in room (5) Small stalls around selling snacks. (6) Central square with bars and restaurants is big. (7) Gardens are lush with big trees. (8) Food is fine. Indonesian food is good. (9) Room cleaning is arranged at a time of your choice. (10) Good kids club with attentive staff. (11) Icon mall, a new shopping Centre, is just a 20 minutes walk or 5 minute drive away (12) Airport is less than 30 minutes away by car. (13) Air con thermostat in villa works very well. Cons (1) Got food poisoning after dinner but hotel did offer ginger tea and a doctor. (2) Shockingly for a 5 star hotel, there is no email address in the website or room confirmation email that you can send emails to before your stay. I searched on the internet for an address. Nobody replied for the first address, and there was a reply for the second address. (3) Pool could be bigger. (4) No proper beach. You cannot swim in it as waves are very gentle. (5) Turtle Centre allows people to pay to release a baby turtle during the day. Not sure how they can survive a day release alone. (6) Kids club is only free for 2 hours and there is an hourly rate after that. (7) Public path between hotel and beach is very busy with lots of people.

Absolutely NOT a 5-star experience – Andaz Sanur Garden Suite We booked the Garden Suite for four people, expecting a genuine 5-star experience. Unfortunately, what followed was extremely disappointing. We had announced in advance that we would be arriving late at night. When we arrived, there were only three beds for four guests. One of our children simply had no proper bed. When we asked for an extra bed, we were told there was no bed available. About an hour later, something was eventually brought to the room — but it was far too small for our child to actually fit in. And the most frustrating part? After three out of our five nights, our child is still sleeping in this far-too-small bed. Despite raising the issue, it still has not been properly resolved. For almost €900 per night, I think it is completely reasonable to expect that every guest has a proper bed that they can actually sleep in. The next issue was a bird inside our room. We reported it to reception at around 7 PM, but nothing was done. When we returned around 11 PM, the bird was still there. Staff eventually came, but they could not catch it. The net was too small, and in the end we had to catch the bird ourselves. After the first night, I spoke to someone from management, but they were neither willing nor able to provide a meaningful solution. This morning, I again asked to speak directly with the hotel manager. Initially, our butler confirmed that this could be arranged. Fifteen minutes later, that suddenly changed, and I was told I could only speak to the person responsible for the room. Once again, we felt that our concerns were simply not being taken seriously. The hotel promotes a highly personalized luxury experience, including dedicated Butler Service. Our reality has been very different. We experienced: * No proper bed for one of four guests upon arrival * A replacement bed that was far too small — still not resolved after 3 of 5 nights * A bird left in our room for hours * Staff unable to resolve the situation * Poor follow-up from management * Difficulty even getting to speak to the hotel manager * Fresh products and juices that were not available at breakfast as expected This is simply not a 5-star experience. For almost €900 per night, I expect much more — especially when something goes wrong. Saying “sorry” is not enough. What matters is actually solving the problem. Very disappointing, and absolutely not worth the price.

Fantastic place Beautiful gardens by private beach Breakfast was awesome Room was very thoughtfully laid out with high standard furnishings. One minor issue was there s no enough hot water supply for the lovely bathtub tub The hotel Located in very peaceful neighborhood too Spa massage was a big disappointment.

Gorgeous property, incredible buffet breakfast and service that is out of this world. Plenty of families with kids, but enough private areas for couples/adults to retreat. Loads of quality dining venues, good gym, multiple pools, and a short stroll into Sanur for everything the town has to offer. If you can afford this treat, go for it, you won't be disapppointed.