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20 Years Later, Bali's Amandari Resort Still Doesn't Have TVs But There is WiFi
Time to wish the luxurious Amandari resort on the tropical paradise of Bali a very happy 20th anniversary! There are a bunch of special events happening during October to celebrate the anniversary, including a photo exhibition, some joint events with the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival, screenings of old films on Balinese culture and some special meals on the actual anniversary weekend, 21-23 October.
A recent visitor to Amandara asked a very sensible question: is it still luxurious twenty years on? The resort was closed for three months earlier this year, but the changes were not all that extensive – even the décor, after some discussion, remained the same, because they wanted to continue the links to the traditional culture there.
Tags: Hotel Yoga / Bali Hotels / Turks and Caicos Hotels / Bhutan Hotels / → All Tags
Get Your 'Downward Dog' On With COMO Hotels' Yoga Retreats
If you want a vacation that's good for your body and soul (and probably doesn't involve too many fancy cocktails), the yoga packages that the COMO Hotels are putting on might be the thing. With four more week-long retreats scheduled for 2009, it's just a matter of picking which corner of the world you want to jet to in order to practice yoga for five hours a day — with experts, of course, in a romantically relaxing setting.
The exact details of the yoga retreats depend on which destination you choose, but they all include six nights' accommodation, the yoga training, various meals and airport transfers, plus several include some cultural excursions as well. You can choose from the Parrot Cay on Turks and Caicos (an October course), Uma Paro in Bhutan (July 12-18) or COMO Shambhala Estate in Bali (mid-December).
Package prices range from $3,515 in Bali to $5, 681 at Parrot Cay. And while the yoga idea does sound like a great getaway vacation, we are a little concerned that there may be a bit too much emphasis on the whole health thing — they even want you to eat healthy organic food the whole time. That's fine for some, but we still think a proper beachside vacation should include a few indulgences.
Tags: Reader Reviews / Bali Hotels / Fashion Hotels / Snapshot / HotelChatter Flickr Pool / → All Tags
Bulgari Resort in Bali Not Exactly the 'Pinnacle of Modern Luxury'
Every so often we feature a hotel review from one of our readers that we feel should be shared with the rest of you dear hotel guests. These reviews are highlighted because they are timely, about cool hotels in cool places and are relatively level-headed. Think you can submit one just like this? Send it in.
We fished this snapshot out of the HotelChatter Flickr Pool and, upon first glance, this photo of an Ocean Cliff Villa at the Bulgari Resort Bali looks gorgeous, no? From the looks of this photo, we'd be down for staying here.
But, um, reader who submitted the shot — hotel maven lyh1 — sheds a little bit of light on fashion house Bulgari's Bali property — and we were let in on a secret: it may not be as awesome as we think it is.
Tags: Snapshot / Bali Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / → All Tags
Find Paradise in a Villa at the Four Seasons Bali Jimbaran Bay
A couple of readers (full disclosure: our parents) hit up Bali this week, and though they were not kind enough to take us with them, they were generous enough to send some snapshots of a villa at the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay to show us what we were missing.
Standard rates for just a room at this resort start at 680 USD, while a villa like this one will run you upwards of $1,800. The spa, with a collection of Ayurveda-inspired treatments, is not to be missed.
Two more snaps after the jump.
Tags: Holiday Inns / Bali Hotels / Hotel Openings / Beach Hotels / → All Tags
Bali Hai Is Calling You ... To The Holiday Inn
It's too bad Bing Crosby isn't around to hear about this: a Holiday Inn is opening in Bali in March! Not only will the Holiday Inn Baruna Bali be the first in the tropical area, but it will feature perks like direct beach access and a departure lounge in which guests are encouraged to chillax before their flight home.
Expect it to have all the exoticism you desire from Bali, like public areas with thatched roofs and tropical gardens, paired with the practical business side of a Holiday Inn (hello, wifi). This could be huge for family reunions and the Knights of Columbus.
Start talking to your bingo buddies now as they're already taking bookings beginning March 1. Opening rates are a very affordable $119 a night, considering how the mangy old Holiday Inn Chinatown in New York City likes to charge upwards of $300. Book directly through the Holiday Inn website here.
Tags: Conrad Hotels / Bali Hotels / Sweet Suites / → All Tags
Conrad Bali Unveils Sweet New Suites
What's better than a trip to Bali? Well, if we had to say, maybe a spacious and secluded suite stocked with a personal assistant. Is that so much to ask?
Apparently not, according to the Conrad Bali. Starting October 1, the lush hotel will open 55 new suites, each boasting at least 360 square feet--which is, ahem, awfully close to the size of a studio apartment in some cities stateside--and surrounded by what sounds like a veritable tropical paradise (think gardens and reflecting ponds).
In addition to access to a personal assistant, each suite will have a separate living and dining room (though let's be honest, they must be tiny) as well as a private terrace equipped with a dining table and daybed (mmm...sunbathing in Bali, how tony indeed). Plus--get this--suites will also include a soaking tub accompanied by a TV. For when sunbathing gets too tiresome, we presume.
No word on whether that personal assistant can fetch you a bride or groom for the Conrad's sweet wedding chapel, but dream big, we say.
Tags: Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Hotel Weddings / Bali Hotels / Beach Hotels / St. Regis Hotels / → All Tags
You're Going to the Chapel at The St. Regis Bali and You're Gonna Get Married
Is anyone getting married soon? If so, might we gently (firmly, unequivocally) suggest you look into a destination wedding at the St. Regis Bali? You may not have heard about it yet since it just opened yesterday and all, but if you want to go ahead and book your nuptials here and invite us, the gesture would be much-appreciated.
The location is good: it's in Nusa Dua on an "elite beach enclave" on the Southern tip of the island. The resort has 79 suites, 42 private villas and two residences -- so, you know, plenty of room for us. There are two restaurants, a bar and a gourmet deli-type restaurant -- so we can keep ourselves nice and busy while you celebrate your wedding with your real family and friends, too.
Tags: Budget Hotels / Bali Hotels / France Hotels / → All Tags
Exotic But Affordable Vacation Picks
Not all of us are traveling the world with celebrity-sized wallets in our back pockets, especially as fears of a recession mount so we are pulling up an old UK Times story on the world's 20 best budget hotels.
It's obviously biased towards British tourists and that means a lot of the listed hotels are in France or Italy, but their aim was to find "a gorgeous place to stay, with stylish service, stunning views and epic bedrooms" that wasn't too expensive, and the results are pretty interesting.
Top of the list is the Hotel De L'Amphitheatre in Arles, France, a renovated 17th-century building in the very town where Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear. Also in France is the Les Deux Freres (pictured) in the small village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. The rooms here are themed, including an African room with leopard-print bed headboard and the Bride room which obviously features a lot of white.
The list also goes as far afield as Bali, starting with the Ulun Ubud Resort & Spa, which consists of 22 thatched cottages in the local style. Also on Bali they suggest the Rumah Cantik on the north coast of the island. It's a very personal four-room hotel run by a Balinese-Danish couple with really cute rooms.
All of these hotels offer rates of between £35 and £50 a night (that's between US$70 and $100) so even with the poor exchange rate, you're not going to spend a fortune but you'll still have a comfortable and finely-furnished place to stay.
Related Stories:
· The World's 20 Best Hotels on a Budget [UK Times]
· Bali Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
· Hotels in France [HotelChatter]
Tags: Cubicle Dreamin' / Bali Hotels / Hotel Infinity Pools / → All Tags
Freezing, Freaked Out New Yorker Seeks Warm Getaway
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven JennM escapes the cold of NYC. Enjoy.
It's freezing in New York this week and there's nothing I can't stand more than having to brave the cold only to arrive at a cubicle. Plus, all this recession talk has me stressed out. I'm not sure why, because I don't work for or follow the stock market, but I know this can't be a good.
Which is why I'm wishing I had a few nights at Uma Ubud in Bali, part of Como Hotels and Resorts. From the hotel:
"Expect not to be disturbed by the sound of traffic, but the laughter of villagers...Light floods the open ground, picking out an orchid among the velvet grasses. At night, dew begins to settle, lifting softly with the wisps of morning cloud."
Sigh. Bali's 85-degree temperature is taunting me, as is the hotel's large Shambhala Suite that features its own infinity pool and private treatment area, the perfect place for the massage my tense body and dry, scaly skin so desperately need.
Plus, if I were to spend at least three nights in the Shambhala Suite, I'd be entitled to daily breakfast and two complimentary hour-long massages, all for the bargain rate of $410 per night. The hotel also offers guided walks through the surrounding rice paddy fields and free daily yoga classes.
That's frugal enough to justify such extravagance during a pending recession, don't you think?
[Photo: Proper Pictures]
Tags: Infinity Pools / Bali Hotels / → All Tags
Infinity Pools We Love :: Ubud Hanging Gardens
Today we pick a new site where we can feel at one with planet earth while safely surrounded by ceramic and covered in chlorinated water. Each of the 38 villas at Ubud Hanging Gardens in Bali has a heated private infinity plunge pool that overlooks the Ayung river. Rather than visually blending with the sea, these infinity pools offer bathers the serene feeling the water takes on before it plunges over a cliff -- without the threat of falling to one's death.
The pools are supported by wooden pillars and surrounded by terraced gardens. And the individual heaters ensure each pool's temperature never dips below 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Rooms start at $270 per night. Not a bad deal, since in Manhattan, that kind of price gets us a stay at a hotel with plastic covering the chairs. For a private infinity pool, king-size four-poster bed, marble bathtub, and all the spa and cuisine options we never even knew we craved, $270 seems like a steal.
[Photo: Feride peel]
Related Stories:
· The Best Infinity Pools [HotelChatter]
· Bali Hotels [HotelChatter]
Tags: Bali Hotels / Indonesia Hotels / Hotel News / Westin Hotels / → All Tags
'Climate Conference' Participants Leave Carbon Footprints All Over Bali Hotels
Maybe Mother Nature isn't too happy that the climate conference participants in Bali, Indonesia couldn't arrange a video conference instead of flying across the world to let out a lot of hot air. A 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit the island of Bali last Friday. There were no damages to the hotels where participants are staying though, so perhaps it was a warning shot.
According to this estimate from Bloomberg, the conference will generate as much pollution as 20,350 cars used for a year. So where are these people staying? At eco-lodges using gray water for irrigation of the landscaping? At bungalows made of bamboo and other natural materials, powered by solar? Ummm, no.
With some 15,000 delegates attending (some arriving by private jet), most are staying at the biggest, brashest hotels on the island, located in the Nusa Dua area. The names kind of give it away: Grand Mirage Resort, Swiss Grand Bali, Melia Bali Villas & Spa Resort, Nikko Bali Resort & Spa, Grand Hyatt Bali, and others that certainly did not have the word "energy efficient" in their business plan. According to the Telegraph, they're not above a little price gouging either:
Hotels, many of which fall into the bracket of some of the most luxurious in the world, have spotted the chance to charge accordingly, with many saying accommodation is only available now at around £400 to £500 a night for a small single room.
The hotel where British ministers will stay, the Westin Resort Nusa Dua, describes the experience of staying there as "sheer indulgence."
[Photo: All lit up at the Swiss Grand Bali]
Tags: Bali Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
New to Bali: Novotel Nusa Dua Hotel and Residences
While Bali's still recovering from the a few scary terrorist incidents, that hasn't stopped the Accor group from opening up a new hotel there--in fact, the first they've built there from the ground up. It's a Novotel in Nusa Dua, built in the middle of a golf course and 30 minutes away from Bali's international airport. As of March 15, the Novotel Nusa Dua Bali has been officially open for business, and opening rates have a few bargains if you meet their minimum stay requirements, getting down as cheap as $53 a night on a Deluxe room.
There are also apartments at the Novotel Nusa Dua complex, apparently in "modern Balinese style" with the bonus of a plunge pool for every ground floor apartment. There's even a wellness center for all called "My Spa" (although obviously it should be "Our Spa" if we have to share it with the other guests). Management is sure that travelers are regaining their confidence in Bali and expect to see a big surge in guests in the next six months. There are good deals to be had and as yet, no major teething problems with the new hotel.
[Photo: Chantiklook]
Related Stories:
· Novotel Nusa Dua Bali reviews [TripAdvisor]
· New Novotel Nusa Dua Bali forum [TripAdvisor]
· Accor To Open Novotel Nusa Dua Hotel and Residences [AsiaTravelTips]
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