We Stayed at 3 Bali Hotels & Villas: Here's What We Honestly Thought
Seascape Hotel - Sanur
A relatively new hotel in Sanur, Seascape is an adults-only hotel based on the outskirts of Sanur.
Location
Initially, we didn't think there was anything wrong with the location, however, after a day or two we noticed some things that annoyed us. The first was that we thought, by looking at it on the map, that there would be an easy way to walk to the beach from the hotel. Turns out, there isn't. But the main issue we had was that whenever we would try and book a Gojek (their version os Uber), soooo many of them would accept then eventually decline because they would miss the turn off. The hotel is on a small street off the main highway (at it doesn't have a lot of signage) so when drivers miss the turn off, there is no quick way for them to double back. There were some days when we would be waiting 30-40mins just for a car.
The positive though, is that the hotel offers a complimentary shuttle bus at different times of the day to take you to the beach or the new Icon Mall in Sanur (which is great!). So if you planned your day accordingly, you could take advantage of this service,
Accommodation
We stayed in the Ocean View Suite which featured a private spa on the balcony. The room felt very modern and artsy, with beautiful curves displayed throughout the design and architecture of the room. We had a nice view of some fields, and could see the beach in the distance.
What we liked about our room:
Architecture was beautiful
Bed was comfy
Spa on the balcony felt a bit luxe
You can tell a lot of effort went into designing the space
What we didn't really like about our room:
It felt quite small, not a heap of room to leave your suitcase open and to be able to spread out
The toilet has a clear line of sight straight through the hanging space all the way out to the window. It's not 100% frosted either so just feels a bit strange not having complete privacy in the room.
Staff
The staff were absolutely lovely, they tried to help out however they could and were always super happy. Zero complaints here.
Sulu Villas - Seminyak
A pretty new villa in Seminyak with its own private pool, tucked away from a busy road.
Location
This villa is located off of a road that, if you keep following it, you will come across many restaurants, bars, and shops. It isn't in the main, super busy part of Seminyak near the beach which is nice, although if that's what you are after then I'd suggest looking for a hotel/villa closer to the heart of Seminyak.
Accommodation
The villa we had was a two bedroom, two bathroom villa that was split over two levels. There was a lounge room, kitchen, and private pool for guests to enjoy as well. The entrance to the villa's is pretty, and it was comforting knowing that there are other people around as well.
What we liked:
Good separation between the bedrooms/bathrooms (my parents were staying with us when we were at this villa)
Gets a good amount of natural light
Nice to have a kitchen/lounge space
What we didn't like:
The walls must be super thin or something because there was a party going on at one of the other villas and it was so loud in our villa
Konubi - Ubud
Don't let Instagram fool you, this place may look aesthetically pleasing, but we did not feel safe here. For full transparency, we were gifted 2x nights accomodation here as part of a content creation deal, and we didn't feel comfortable enough to stay even one night.
Location
Absolutely, and I can't stress this enough, terrible. Imagine this, you order a taxi, put all your luggage in and start your journey towards this beautiful, Instagrammable place. And then the taxi stops on the side of the road, in what feels like the middle of nowhere, and says that according to the map, the accommodation is down a narrow walkway that cars won't fit down. So now, you grab all your stuff and start walking down this path, where it is clear that tourists do not come this way often as you feel like you are walking past/through local people's property...very uncomfortable.
Accomodation
Look, it's pretty, no doubt about it. But, from a practicality sense it just isn't there. We knew it was an eco-lodge, but we didn't realise that meant that it was completely open - no doors/windows/blinds etc. That meant, that when we had food out in the kitchen, there was no way to keep the bugs away from it, and if someone happened to make their way on to the property, there was absolutely no security for our own safety and belongings. Some might argue that yes, there's a gate to get in with your own key code which "feels safe", but what you realise when you start walking to the accomodation from the street, is that the piece of open land right next to Konubi is significantly higher and would only take a small jump to be able to get over the fence right into the property.
Also, the only shower is completely outdoors, which is nice, however we found that whenever we used it there were always wasps hanging around (and I HATE wasps).
What we liked
It was definitely pretty to take photos at
Staff were nice and the floating breakfast was great
What we didn't like
How unsafe it felt
The location
Additional notes
As this was a content creation partnership, we still had to deliver what was promised, but didn't want to stay there. So what we did, was take some photos as soon as we got there, and then arranged to stay at a different hotel, moved all of our stuff there, and then the following morning grabbed a Gojek back to Konubi to take the last set of photos (including the floating breakfast), then returned to our new accomodation and didn't come back.
Personally, I see it as a place that I would go back to only if it was to create content/take nice photos for a couple of hours, but would never willingly stay there.