In Reply to: Hawkers posted by Miss_Bali on Monday, 13. June 2005 at 16:23 Bali Time:
There are quite a lot of hawkers outside, on the beach. They are very easy to approach as well as avoid, depending on your wishes and needs.
What is much more difficult when staying at the Ramada Bintang is to get in touch with housekeeping, maintenance and the various managers when things in your room is not up to the five stars standard (or even one star standard, for that matter), or when appliances are out of order. At least all my calls were never replied to and repairs were not done until several visits to the reception and then not on a lasting basis. My room was very "tired" and in dire need of a renovation.
Security at the front entrance was a joke compared to other hotels, no matter how many stars they had.
To get in touch with the general manager is completely impossible. When everything and everybody failed, I tried to get in touch with him by e-mail, three in all. He did not reply to any of them. I have even sent him one from home upon returning from Bali. That, too, has been completely ignored.
Be prepared to bring earplugs with you as there is a newly opened (karaoke) bar behind the reception area but the noise from the bar spills out over almost all the North Wing. That noise goes on till well after midnight.
I left the hotel after only one of my booked three weeks. Even one week was more than enough. Two weeks at another resort and I did get back in the usual Bali mood again, not wanting to ever return home.