Tag Archives: Indonesia

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

Arriving at 11pm at the Hotel Santika Siligita in Bali, tired after a long flight, the immediate signs aren’t too appealing: a driveway with security guard off a busy thoroughfare in Nusa Dua, and a tiled lobby mostly deserted. At reception, a woman is complaining loudly to a staff member that a driver had tried to rip her off. Obligingly he orders her another cab.

It’s when I wake next morning and wander down to breakfast that I’m reminded again how pleasant it is to visit southeast Asia, especially Bali.

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.

Breakfast is a feast with a bewildering choice, from fresh papaya and other local fruits to an omelette station and western fare, with eclectic Asian choices including braised or fried chilli fish, curried chicken, nasi goreng, stuffed cabbage, salads, pastries and much else.

The three-star Hotel Santika Siligita is set near the centre of Nusa Dua, a MICE hub in Bali. It’s 30 minutes’ drive from the airport and about five minutes by free shuttle bus to good beaches and shopping. It has 153 rooms with high-speed wifi connection – something that some higher-priced chains, like Hilton, still, incredibly, don’t offer non-member guests – tea- and coffee-making facilities, safe deposit box, LCD TV and cable channels.

The hotel itself includes six well-equipped meeting rooms, and full banquet facilities are available for larger gatherings and special events.

“We’re part of a strong local company that has over forty very reasonably priced hotels throughout Indonesia,“ says Ni Wayan Yoni (pictured, above), Assistant Sales Manager for the Hotel Santika Siligita Nusa Dua.

“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.”

The half-day rate including lunches is USD 23, for a full day it’s USD 35, and for full board that includes lunch and dinner it’s USD 40. And even these rates are subject to negotiation, says Wayan Yoni. The online room rate starts from USD 29 a night, including breakfast, which, notwithstanding the value-for-money reputation of many Asian three-star hotels, is reasonable indeed.

Meetings clients are roughly split between local and international groups, with a significant number of MICE visitors from Singapore, Korea, China, Germany and, to a lesser extent, Australia, she says.

The Santika hotel group includes two-star Amaris properties, three-star Santika branded hotels and Santika Premier hotels which incorporate a collection of four-star properties. The Royal Collection is a brand of boutique Villa properties under the Samaya and Kayana brands.

More info: sales@siligitabali.santika.com, and at

http://www.santika.com/indonesia/bali/hotel-santika-siligita-nusa-dua-bali/

As I step into the lobby of the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel in Bali (pictured above), the sound of traffic becomes muted and I find myself in a tranquil oasis, offering sudden respite from the island’s humidity. Smiling staff bustle about the airy space, which abuts a green-lawned courtyard.

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.

Two-and-a-half years ago, the user-generated website TripAdvisor ranked the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel thirty-fifth in Bali’s busy coastal strip of Sanur on the southeast of the island. Now it’s sixteenth, says Stuart, and the good results are reflected in guests’ comments. Its sister property nearby, the Sanur Paradise Plaza Suites, is now ranked the second-best family accommodation in the country.

The largest four-star hotel in Bali focusing on meetings and events, the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel is half an hour’s drive from Denpasar airport and the busy tourist precinct of Kuta, and a few minutes away from good shopping and its own beach enclave.

One of nine properties strategically located throughout Indonesia and managed by Prime Plaza Hotels and Resorts, the hotel is set next to a verdant nine-hole golf course. It is quintessentially Balinese: everywhere, from the gardens surrounding the 110-metre-long pool to the private courtyards adjoining many of the 329 rooms, foliage sprouts in lush profusion.

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.

People expect more

“People’s expectations are much higher now,” says Stuart. “Those heading off for events or leisure are educated in travelling, and in what they want and expect. That’s why you’ve got to make sure you invest more in resources and energy to maintain standards and service these days. I keep reminding my teams of this.”

The strategy is working, as the hotel has a growing reputation for providing value for money and robust occupancies, he says. This dovetails with Stuart’s philosophy ‘to under-promise and over-deliver’.

“We don’t gouge in our pricing structure, so you’re never charged more than what you’d expect,” he says.

From USD85 per night

The rate for guest rooms, most of which have just been renovated, is USD85 per night for two people, including breakfast and wifi. Conference day rates are equally good value: USD35 per delegate, including lunch and two coffee breaks as well as the latest in AV and other necessary gear. A point-of-contact person is assigned to each event to take care of every request.

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.”

Recent events hosted here include those of international teachers’ and doctors’ groups and an Indian telco. For a recent Lions club conference, the hotel welcomed delegates from 33 countries. It lasted a week and many guests either arrived beforehand or extended their stay apres-meetings to explore the island, going on day tours to the central upland town of Ubud and to the ancient Tanah Lot temple, located on the coast, which has been part of Balinese mythology for centuries.

The ballroom, which can cater for 1,100 theatre style or 750 in banquet arrangements, is a spacious pillarless 950 square metres in area, together with its pre-function area. It has dedicated vehicle access and a 122 square-metre permanent stage.

The Siteseer was not a guest of the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel.

For more information, email stuart@sanur.pphotels.com or visit www.sanurparadise.com.

Patra Bali’s great value villas