Grand Benoa Suite Room 533 - Holiday Inn Resort Benoa Bali

100   Recommended
Room 533 , Grand Benoa Suite
April 3, 2017 by

 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended
Share
Save
Liked:
Location
 
Service
 
Food
 
Amenities
 
Room
 

{{ oRightNav.heading }}

Holiday Inn Resort Benoa Bali
 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended

Save

Share

Room 533

Grand Benoa Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Grand Benoa Suite

This hotel was a Holiday Inn. I really have a hard time recommending this hotel because it is so far away from things, and the Intercontinental Bali is not that much more expensive, yet so much classier and close to great restaurants.

If you are going for a romatic getaway, then stay at the IC.

However, if you have kids this hotel would be better because they have some pretty rad kid-themed suites.

And for the normal $280/night for the suite we stayed in....you will get MUCH more at the IC.

Check In

After spending one week at the glorious IC Bali on the other side of the island, it was time to move over to the Bali Benoa Holiday Inn Resort for a 4-night stay.

Check-In was normal. The staff is extremely friendly and welcomed us with a cold towel and cold drink.

Going rate for a basic room was about $87/night.  I originally reserved a King Benoa Ocean View for $149/night (+tax) and was upgraded TWO LEVELS due to my IHG Spire Elite Status about a week before Check-In to a Benoa Ocean View Suite.  I think they did this because the next level up was as bigger room but without an ocean view.  Upon Check-In, after checking the hotel’s availability, I inquired about a paid upgrade to their best room, the Grand Benoa Ocean View Suite; They only have one of these, and it was available for our stay. The asking rate for this room when I booked was $290/night.  The friendly front desk staff told me they would upgrade me for $100/night; I asked to see both rooms before I made the decision.

I decided that $100/night was a great rate for this upgrade (1000sq ft versus 500) and told him I would take it and that I was going to be writing a review for a website on the hotel.  He then went and talked to a manager and told me they would upgrade me for $100 total for the entire four-night stay. I took it.1_IMG_7052.JPGIMG_7053.JPGIMG_7054.JPG

Room

Room 533's door opens into a dining room and small area with a very tiny couch and tv called a living area, I guess. The bedroom is in an octagon shape with full floor to ceiling windows almost 360 degrees around. The bathroom has a very large shower that has a floor that isn’t quite angled enough to properly drain the tub. The drain itself works fine; the shower floor just accumulates water and you will stand in it.  

There is also a separate tub that has a windowed door to the outside that slides open. You can kind of see out to the ocean from the tub.  One wide sink but the faucet doesn’t stay on and just falls down. I’m sure a simple fix, but still annoying. The toilet has a clear door that offers NO privacy whatsoever—a total annoyance here. Finally, the bathroom has very small and hard to see rises in the stone when you exit  either side and we found ourselves stepping on them quite a bit for a very uncomfortable second.

There is a safe, and the room comes with robes and flip-flops.

Towels are nothing to write home about. Big hole in one of them on Day 2.

Wifi in the room was quite fast at 5Mbps download/6Mbps upload, although it is the dumb Holiday Inn log-on that makes you re-log in every day.

The four-post Bed was very comfortable but sheets were standard Holiday Inn. Along with that come the standard and very bad quality Holiday Inn toiletries. I guess I was expecting more since this was their absolute best room of which they only had one.  The bed’s top also had 5 dead bugs on it when we checked in.

Most confusing of all was that the room has 3 separate thermostats, none of which are connected to each other. One in the bathroom, dining room, and living area….but why isn’t one of them in the bedroom? It was difficult to figure out which controlled which part of the room, and when it is on, it blows full force at anyone standing at the bathroom sink, which wasn’t that fun. Cooling the bedroom down for sleep took a couple nights of tinkering with all 3.

The complimentary water bottles that they offer in the room are the least user-friendly I have ever seen. First you have to take the plastic off of the cap, of which most didn’t have any pre-cut areas to “tear” it. Secondly, the ridges on the cap were so hard we had to use towels wrapped around the caps to open them as it just couldn’t be done with bare hands due to discomfort. I can’t believe nobody has ever complained about this.

The balcony wraps all the way around the entire corner of the hotel and it quite cool. However, the loud sound of kids yelling at the pool and the weekly live music 4 floors below is very loud even with the doors shut. 

 

I take quick vids more often than photos so here are full vids of the rooms:

 

Here is a video of the room we stayed in (Room 533 Grand Benoa):

https://youtu.be/7FFlJM9foD0

 

And this is a video of the room we were originally upgraded to:

https://youtu.be/mqLL5sR6Tlc

IMG_7065.JPGIMG_7062.PNGIMG_7119.JPGIMG_7123.JPGIMG_7130.JPG

Dining

The breakfast is absolutely terrible. We couldn’t even finish one plate of food on the first and only day we tried it. Taste was very bland, fruits were not ripened enough, and they had the least amount of “western breakfast” food I have ever seen in a hotel. I couldn’t believe how dismal it was. They gave us a great rate at $11/person per meal but we only went the one time. 

They sell grilled corn on the beach for $1.50. Great bargain and they will deliver it to your seat, and charge it to your room.


Food was decent at Duke’s, and their Ice cream is excellent. Happy Hour drinks BOGO Free between 12-2pm and 5pm-7pm at Duke’s Bar, as well.

IMG_7096.JPGIMG_7126.JPG

Location

The location is about 20 minutes from the airport, and 35 to Kuta. It was our first time in the Benoa area and there are many inexpensive massage (average of $7/hr) and spas within walking distance. There are not a lot of food options but we dined at a couple places and found ourselves at Atlichnaya Bar and Grill every day, and sometimes 2 times in a day, for their extremely good food and very reasonable prices (I ate glazed duck for about $6.00/entrée).  They also make a frozen strawberry juice that is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Please try it!!! It is about a 7-minute walk from the hotel. Mr. Bob was a little more expensive but also worth a try—especially for the ribs. Yummmm…..IMG_7111.JPGIMG_7131.JPG

Beach

Ocean swimming is essentially non-existent, and limited to the area in the markers. Beach sand is very soft with no rocks. Beach not crowded and is without the normal hawkers. Lots of watersports companies on hotel beach.

Screen Shot 2017-04-03 at 1.00.46 PM.png

Pool

Pools are great and they have the barstools in the pool so you can sit in the pool and have food or drinks. The pools are only Open 9am-9pm, though.IMG_7093.JPG

Amenities

IMG_7070.JPG

0 Comments

This review lives in the Grand Benoa Suite Room 533 - Holiday Inn Resort Benoa Bali thread.
0 comments and Y review
Comment In Thread

Hotels you may also be interested in