“That’s a really good Holiday Inn you’re staying at,” said the Malaysian gent I’d been chatting to at a café in Bali’s Segara Beach. “And your Aussie dollar goes a looong way here.”
My genial acquaintance was referring to my home for a few days – the Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali. The facilities of this red-roofed, rather atypical Holiday Inn complex, set in lush tropical gardens alongside a sandy beach, close to Denpasar airport, are indeed special. And leisure and meetings guests do get excellent value for money when making a booking here.
Room prices start at around AUD 90 per night (breakfast included), and full-board residential meeting packages with lunches, dinners, use of meeting rooms and the works thrown in start from IDR 1,400,000 (around AUD 130) per person per day.
Considering the quality of this resort’s rooms, food and service, it’s not surprising, then, that its post-pandemic business has roared back to life. The hotel was running at over eighty percent occupancy when I stayed there in late 2022. Covid? What Covid? Most guests here, or indeed anywhere on the island, didn’t bother to wear masks.
From all accounts, and as the number of visitors in the streets of Kuta and surrounds attests, the broader MICE industry in Bali is recovering well also. During the pandemic, according to one UN report, with no tourists coming onto the island some Balinese were forced to plant vegetables to survive. Now there’s a palpable feeling of optimism in the air; many shops and eateries are busy and queues have formed at the airport once again. The only stricture still in place for visitors to Bali is that they must show evidence of at least two covid vaccinations to be allowed in.
“Yes, our MICE business has returned to normal after the pandemic,” confirms Yesaya Siagian (above, right), the Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali’s Cluster Marketing Communications Manager.
With a Holiday Inn Express – the InterContinental Hotels group’s chain offering limited services at a reasonable price – set next door to the resort property, there’s plenty of extra accommodation for delegates who need it.
The biggest of the MICE facilities on the resort property is the Cinnamon Ballroom, which can accommodate 150 banquet-style or up to 250 for receptions and conferences. Altogether, five meeting rooms at the resort cover almost six thousand square metres. PCOs interested in organising a gala dinner in the vast gardens or on lawns adjacent to the beach can do that as well.
“Here you can discover an inspirational setting for a meeting or special event,” says Yesaya. “They include weddings and social gatherings, and our meeting and function spaces are equipped with comprehensive audiovisual capabilities.”
Guests get access to the kind of facilities you’d expect in a tropical island resort: a spa (the Tea Tree), room service, enticing swimming pools, a pool bar, a beachfront restaurant and an all-day-dining eatery (Palms) serving Indonesian delights. Each guest room has a private balcony overlooking the Indian Ocean or lush vegetation.
Kids aged 12 and under stay for free when sharing their parents’ room. At any time of day, up to four kids aged 12 and under eat for free at the Palms Restaurant.
From AUD 90
The room rate, as mentioned, is outstanding value given the quality of the accommodation and surrounds. The resort flanks a beach dotted with bathers and leisure craft and is just 1.5 kilometres from the airport. (Actually within walking distance of the airport, or a five-minute cab ride). It’s located in the heart of Bali’s key leisure and business districts.
Meeting packages are similarly reasonable. The half-day meeting-only package, for example, is IDR 550,000 (about AUD 50) per person. That includes up to five hours’ meeting room use, a coffee break, lunch or dinner, wifi, LCD and screen, mineral water and refreshments and so on.
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