After a brief cab ride on a humid island day, I arrive, tired, at the Patra Bali Resort and Villas in south Kuta. After checking in, I’m escorted to my room, a cool, high-ceilinged haven looking onto greenery.
The broad bed, with fresh-laundered white linen, is immediately inviting. But before napping I take a walk through the sprawling, eleven-hectare property – past lawns, sprays of purple bougainvillea and a tranquil koi pond. Soon I arrive at a giant swimming pool flanking South Kuta Beach and look out onto the placid Indian Ocean, studded with leisure craft. What a great place to hold a meeting.
However it’s the combination of assets in this five-star property, arguably, that make it special, its convenient location being one of them. The resort is a five-minute drive from Bali’s Ngurah Rai international airport, yet only two or three kilometres from the busy eateries and shops of the holiday precinct of Kuta, easily accessible by cab or a walk along the seafront.
The food at the hotel is good and diverse. The main restaurant is an indoor-outdoor affair overlooking the biggest of three hotel pools and the adjacent beach. In the evenings, leisured guests can have cocktails as the sun sinks into the sea in front of them. Breakfast is a classic southeast Asian buffet, with fare ranging from Indian and Chinese to omelettes and pancakes made on the spot at a busy cooking station. (Fresh, ripe papaya was, for me, a great attraction).
The Patra Bali has nine well-equipped events venues, including a 900-square-metre ballroom, the Denpasar, (taking 700 people theatre-style, 400 at round tables) that hosts functions ranging from receptions to corporate dinners. Small groups are equally well catered for: one well-equipped 32-square-metre room, for example, can comfortably seat 20 theatre-style. The tropical gardens near the white sand beach are host to weddings on a regular basis.
Typically for a Balinese venue, there are plenty of touristy after-meeting activities for delegates, including water polo and cookery lessons; there’s a tennis court, a kids’ club and convenience store.
The property is busy, with leisure and events guests flocking to book, according to one spokesperson. That’s not surprising – because the Indonesian island is experience an astonishing post-covid renaissance. According to data released by the Bali Central Bureau of Statistics in July 2023, 439,475 tourists visited in that month alone, a growth of 6.80% on the previous month. From January to May 2023, 1,877,215 foreign visitors arrived in Bali.
From USD 50 per night for full meeting package
A full meeting package including two coffee breaks, lunch, notepad, pencil, candies, mineral water bottles, equipment (whiteboard, flip chart, screen, LCD, wifi and so forth) is USD 50 per night, according to sales manager Sri Wahyuni (pictured). A half-day meeting package is USD 35, including lunch, and an Indonesian buffet dinner can be laid on for USD 25 per person.
Rates for a de-luxe room start at USD 95 per night. That incudes a welcome drink on arrival, breakfast daily for two, tax and service charge and shuttle service to Kuta
For more information call +62 361 9351 161 or email reservation@thepatrabali.com
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.
“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.”
A large, high-ceilinged breakfast terrace served by smiling staff in traditional Balinese gear looks out over an enormous blue swimming pool surrounded by walled tropical gardens of lawns, frangipani trees and shrubbery. On one side, a sign emblazoned with “Uluwatu Spa” beckons. I could relax here.
“We recently hosted a five-day conference for a business group of 70 people here very successfully, and we can easily accommodate up to 140 people theatre-style.”
A turtle dove is cooing somewhere and a female crooner is singing moodily over the PA system as Stuart Bolwell steps up to greet me, hand extended in welcome. The 47-year-old expatriate New Zealander has been with this hotel for 11 years, and GM for the past three years, and the focus and continuity he’s brought to the role helps explain why ratings for this property continue to head north.
Stuart Bolwell, pictured below, is a high-energy manager, as I can attest as I try to keep up with him on a brisk walking tour of the hotel and its 18 meetings and functions spaces, which include a ballroom, the ‘Griya Agung’. When all venues are full, the resort can accommodate 2,000 MICE guests, he says.
Roughly half of the resort’s events business is domestic, and the rest is mostly from Australia and Europe, says Stuart. “Our distinct advantage over competitors is that we’ve been here a long time and do what we do very well. Our staff are incredibly dedicated and we have long-established relationships with local companies and third-party contractors who supply us with their services.”
