Review: St. Regis Bali Pool Suite

St. Regis Bali Plunge Pool Suite...

If it doesn't have a closing door between the living room and the bedroom it's not a suite. Sorry, it's just a pet peeve of mine. Otherwise, the place looks amazing and the pricing seems quite reasonable.

Lucky- my virtuoso agent is trying to talk me out of staying at the St Regis in Bali. However, it's still my number one choice. Do you have any idea why he would be doing this? Do they get a better cut at other resorts? The St. Regis looks amazing!

@ S. Raj -- Hmmm, which hotel are they recommending, out of curiosity? Commission is generally 10% across the board for travel agents, though sometimes there are promotions for them. It could be they have a relationship with the hotel and are mostly focused on that. Why are they trying to talk you out of it? Interesting...

@ S. Raj--I would ask your TA why. Perhaps you have specific dislikes or likes that the TA thinks are better served by another property. If not, ask what elements the TA thinks are better for the cost/benefit at the other properties your TA thinks are better. Then judge yourself. Perhaps your TA hasn't been to the StR or has had better experiences at another property relatively speaking. Still, TAs can be just as guilty of confirmation bias as any traveler.

A few months ago I stayed in one of the pool suites and loved it. I used points. While a cash upgrade at $220 a night might be cause for second thought, upgrading on a point reservation is almost trivial. It was 2750 pts a night. At Lucky's 2.2cent valuation that's only $60. Something to keep in mind if you're trying to decide between staying here on cash or points.

-S. Raj

My travel agent had told me the same thing when I first visited Bali. Since then I've stayed at the St Regis as well as many other resorts in Bali. Both of our travel agents were correct. The St Regis is a stunning property, but in Bali you have many other great choices, as Nusa Dua is one of my least favorite locations. My favorites for a beach/cliff location- Amankila or Alila Villas Uluwata. For Ubud I really enjoyed the new Mandapa; the Aman and Four Seasons properties are really starting to show their age, but the service is flawless, so keep those as considerations.

We stayed at the St. Regis several years ago in one of the Lagoon Villas, I believe (which is really just a giant pool). Though the report was very fancy, the room beautifully appointed and the breakfast buffet to die for, ultimately we did let enjoy it as much as other resorts on Bali (such as the FS Sayan in Ubud and the Bali Puri in Jimbaran). It was just too big of a resort and SUPER EXPENSIVE (drinks, etc.). There wasn't a sense of privacy and 'smallness' that we prefer. However, it is walking distance from the Bali Collection, which features great restaurants (with fun entertainment and affordable prices).

Thanks guys- I'll look further into why my agent wants us to stay elsewhere. Looks like there are many great places to stay. Looking forward to the rest of your report Lucky!

Lobby looks nice. Otherwise underwhelming. I agree with John - it's not a suite. To be fair I'm not someone who would prioritise outside private space to the degree required to be impressed.

Sorry to be a debbie downer, but my husband and I stayed at this hotel last New Years and we were NOT fans. We had just come from the Peninsula Hong Kong and Four Seasons Sayan and felt that this hotel could not compare to the other two in terms of service, luxury and that intangible sixth sense. We had a beachfront villa which leaked, felt glitzy in a tacky way, and the first butler was rude. After vociferous complaining, our we were given a senior butler who was much better. There was a level of refinement which was missing. We felt we WAY overpayed for what we got.

Just make sure you're not assigned the same room where the murder took place last year. That would be creepy. I think Lucky even wrote about it if Im not mistaken.

@ Bob -- That's room 317. Was sure to stay clear of that, hah!

@Leif - you nailed it with your 'sixth sense' comment. Too polished, too forced. Hard to put into words.

Currently at the Four Seasons Resort Bali At Jimbaran Bay; using buy 4 get 2 nights free FHR deal (with the usual FHR benefits). While I wouldn't call it flawless, it's pretty damn close. Service standard is very high and very well executed. Employees are definitely "dialled in," and food&beverage is very well executed both in restaurants, at the pool and in the villas. Villa details and woodwork are impressive, as our the villas. Really like how lush everything is, and the outdoor showers and private pools are great. I really like the outdoor shower (in addition to a standard indoor shower); really enjoyable. It's like showering in a garden every morning.

@Leif Reinstein put words to many of my disappointments in this hotel.

Though I never had the rude butler issue, service here felt systemic, rather than truly gracious -- an anomaly for Bali -- and I had a doctor who gave me the wrong medication to treat a bout of food poisoning...meaning that when I googled the medication, I discovered it was meant for something else, entirely. (To be clear, I did not get the food poisoning at the hotel.)

Most of all, though my wife and I were in a lovely Lagoon Villa with a private plunge pool, the lagoon itself -- and the rest of the grounds -- had such a forced, unnatural feel, that I felt disconnected from any sense of place and I was uneasy in it. I'm also not a fan of the beach.

On the other hand, these are the very definition of one-percenter problems, I loved the whimsical chaise lounges, and the food was terrific.

Bottom line: there are so many lovely, lush (in both setting and service) properties on Bali -- starting with, but not limited to the Amans -- that I can't imagine staying at the St. Regis again.

I love that they switched out the hats for His-and-His. I've been to a couple resorts where they catch on when I check in with my boyfriend.

Nice photos. They are a true representation of the room.

I too used 5 suite upgrades, also for the Plunge Pool Suite and was sent to the same building. I threw a fit when I saw the room, which is something that I almost never do. Unbelievable that they tried to pass off a room with a curtain as a "suite". They responded with "every room here is a Suite", which I disagreed forcefully.

There was also the continuous noise of the cooling tower for the building. Completely unacceptable. We called for management and insisted a refund of the points and suite upgrades. I was willing to walk from the property.

They conferenced about it for a half an hour and suddenly found a Lagoon Villa to offer us for the stay. One more thing about the Plunge Pool Suite, that the pool is not heated and is not to be confused as a lap pool. It is merely a hole in the ground to cool off from the oppressive heat.

Butler service is not to be confused to be a private butler. These are just room attendants, ours told us that he cover 10 rooms at a time. While he has very accommodating, and once he heard that I love mangosteens, he arranged for a large bowl of mangosteens to be delivered every day.

Every day at dusk they blow insecticide smoke to kill the mosquitos. While I understand that this is necessary they were not good an informing guests in advance, We were asleep in our room with the windows open and got gassed. I would have appreciated it if the "butler" had informed us so we could leave the area, or at least shut our window to protect our lungs.

The daily breakfast buffet had some strange interpretations of the normal buffet items. The Eggs Benedict was made with regular streaky bacon and served on a biscuit instead of an english muffin.

The Luxury Collection Laguna Hotel next door is a Starwood property and is a much better value for the points or cash. If staying at the St Regis you can utilize the restaurants and bars at a much lower price and charge it to your St Regis room bill. We went to the dinner buffet there twice and used Starpoints to pay for it and found it a good value.

The car service back to the airport was very accommodating and the drive assisted with all of the baggage.

I will go back to Bali but I felt that this property was a one time experience and there are many other opportunities on the island.

PS: The main reason I would not go back is that I don't think that when you go on vacation you should have to start your stay with a fight to get the room that is advertised. Every time I think of this hotel I think about what a PIA it was to check in and get to the room.

@John, if you look at the room layout:

you can realize that it actually has 2 living rooms, and one is divided by a door. Maybe it's a strange layout but this is a suite.

@Joshua Pickles, have you considered the Four Seasons Resort Bali At Jimbaran Bay?
$432 +/- per night, if you are willing to stay 6 nights; 2,500 sq/ft villa with plunge pool and outdoor shower + full FHR benefits. Upgrades, if available. I must say, they offer on the the most impressive breakfasts I have ever seen globally, and also allow you to do breakfast as room service if you prefer. We had the St. Regis on our short list; but I had heard too many negative comments. FS really does understand service, and it's service that is predictive and you never have to "fight" for anything. I get very annoyed when a "luxury" property requires me to "work" at anything. If I wanted that, I'll just stay at a 4* Marriott or Hilton.

@ Mark -- Hmmm, now I'm confused. My room didn't have that second living room...?

@mark @lucky that 2nd "living room" pictured is actually the outdoor area

@Mark That image is a misrepresentation of the actual lay out. There is no separate living room and there is no wall or sliding doors to the area around the bed. There is only a see through drape as depicted by the photos by Lucky above.

@baccarat_guy Thanks I may book this in April. I appreciate the comments.

What I just realized is that my profile photo that displays with my comments was taken by my wife in the lagoon villa (who knows? Perhaps it was 802). My wife and I used that beautiful interior for taking some shots of each other. Crazy coincedence.

I agree with others that there are some truly amazing hotels to stay at in Bali. I found Nusa Dua to be sterile and boring and not as beautiful or interesting as some other resorts in places such as Jimbaran Bay and Uluwatu. So suggest you do some research as places like the St Regis seem stuffy and dated in a place such as Bali which is full of five star resorts. If you have kids and you are staying at Nusa Dua your kids will asking why you are not staying at the Grand Hyatt with the amazing water slides - it's actually a lot nicer than you would imagine!