How disappointed were we!!
This hotel was a...
How disappointed were we!!
This hotel was a real disappointment to us, don’t get me wrong, it is not that it is a bad place and it certainly is in a wonderful location, however it is not marketed in such a way as to give you the real story.
We booked this as part of our honeymoon and were greatly looking forward to it. We booked for 7 nights. If you look at the website, it has the wonderful infinity pool and all the rooms all appear to have the nice wood flooring, with the idyllic open plan balcony, bathrooms etc etc. In reality, the pool is nice, but far from empty as shown in the photos and there are only 8 of the villa rooms that are shown in all the photos and advertising literature. You do assume from the website that the rooms that are the next level down, the deluxe rooms are going to be similar in style to the villa rooms, but they are not!
There is a vast difference between the two, Chalk and Cheese, the deluxe rooms are nothing like the villas, they are very small and more like an apartment in a standard Spanish hotel. Don’t get me wrong they are clean, modern, but so very small almost claustrophobic, with absolutely no storage space, One wardrobe (big enough for one persons clothes) and a single draw to put all of the rest of your things into, we got 8 T-Shirts in and it was full, so we had to live out of our suitcase for the whole stay. The bathroom is no more than an en-suite annex and the outdoor shower is certainly nothing to write home about. If you book this room, you might as well just book the superior room as the only real difference is you get an Ipod (I have one anyway) and a bit of grass outside your window and your shower is indoors. You do not get a bath in either property.
We stayed in two other wonderful places during out holiday, the Hotel Tugu in Canggu and the Four Seasons, Jimberam. I grant these are a lot more expensive but you get 6 times the quality and price. Alila is marketed as if it is at their level, but unless you can get the villa room don’t bother.
Also note, they charge you extra for absolutely everything, the complimentary breakfast has just six items to choose from, anything else is an extra, drinks are very expensive and the cheapest bottle of wine worth drinking is £35, most are in the £45 – £70 ++ range. Food is very good, but not value for money. The free bus to town stops at 5pm, after that you have to pay to get in (it is too far to walk) but they charge 50% more to drive you in to Ubud, than the local taxis would.
Service is not great, every meal we ordered was missing something, and they kept running out of things on the menu, all in all a big disappointment.
So in conclusion, only stay if you like small rooms or can afford the Villa rooms and expect to pay extra for anything else you want whilst you are there.
Read full Alila Ubud, Bali review
Summary
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4/6
Customer service
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6/6
Cleanliness of accommodation
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2/6
Quality of room
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2/6
Value for money
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Not Rated
Quality of food
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4/6
Family friendly
