In Reply to: Nusa Dua Beach Resort & Patra Bali? posted by Tiffany on Tuesday, 13. September 2005 at 15:32 Bali Time:
Hi Tiffany,
I stayed at the Patra in April/May this year. It was awesome. I did a post on it when I came back. I have copied and posted it for you (saves me typing new info). I hope this helps...
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I think happy hour was between 5 - 6. It wasn't cheaper drinks, it was buy one, get one free (which was just as good!).
I think the cocktails were about 40,000 and Bintangs were about 25,000. It wasn't too bad as far as prices went.
You could always do what my boyfriend did and buy a whole heaps of Bintangs from Centro Supermarket and then bring a couple out from the room when sitting out by the pool.
His big (and fantastic - in his opinion anyway) idea was to get a wine bucket, fill it with ice and have it sitting near him so his beer wouldn't go warm. He used to think this was just brilliant! Maybe worth a try - either that or buy a little eski when you're over there and keep your Bintangs nice and cold!
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Seriously though, I think it was the deluxe suite that we got upgraded to and it was awesome. Well worth the upgrade. If you have already booked the deluxe suite, I would just stick with that for the timebeing and see how you like it. I think it is a lot better than the Deluxe Room. There is just more room to move around.
If you get there and think you need more room than the deluxe suite (which I don't think you will), then you could always ask Irma (the Guest Relations Officer) to see what other rooms are available and then barter with her on the price. We got our upgrade for US$20 a night (I think that's right from memory) whereas they were asking for US$150 for the upgrade when we first got there.
The Patra staff are brilliant though. If you are not satisfied, they will ensure that they do everything they can until you are. Definitely the best staff in ANY hotel I have ever stayed at in the world.
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The atmosphere around the hotel at the time we were there, was pretty ordinary. Mind you, just as we were leaving (surprise, surprise), it started to pick up a bit. The hotel definitely caters for families and couples - it's not so much a meet and greet place which is what we like to do. Mind you, I am sure we could have made more of an effort to talk to people too.
I am sure the pool had quite a few activities for kids. The Balinese pool boys jump in the pool and play volleyball in the pool with the kids, they play basketball and it's quite fun to watch. It's nice to know that the Balinese get to join in the fun too! They have a kids club too so there are quite a few activities that can be done there. Not sure what it's like though.
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My boyfriend and I stayed at the Patra Bali from 22 April 2005 to 3 May 2005.
I absolutely loved it. It is so beautiful. The hotel has the longest stretch of beach on that side of the island. The sunsets are absolutely breath taking from the beach too.
The hotel has three pools. One pool is meant to be exclusively for the villa guests but I got quite friendly with the staff there and they said that anybody could use the villa pool if it was reasonably quiet. You will notice that everybody uses this pool but you generally have to give preference to the villa guests. It's not that busy anyway. The main pool is absolutely huge. It caters for kids too with a volleyball net in the water and a basketball ring. There is also a separate pool joining onto the main pool that acts as a little beach. It's quite cute. The main pool has a sunken pool bar and happy hour is between 5 and 6 pm (if I remember correctly). The third pool is near the Presidential Suite and is quite small also. If you want some relaxing time to read a book or just sit by yourself, I suggest you go to this pool. I don't think many people in the hotel know about it and tend not to go there too much. Like I said, it's small, but quite private. It's like having your own private pool. My one problem with the pools - they close at 9.00 p.m. so when you come back to the hotel after dinner and want a quick dip, you can't. I suppose you could sneak in but I didn't want to upset anyone so I didn't. I did talk to the staff about this and they said they were going to try and change it so it might be open later for when you get there!
As for food, the restaurants are pretty good. The Janapense restaurant on the top floor of the lobby is meant to be absolutely divine but we never ventured up there. It's quite pricey - that's not what put us off though - more the fact that we didn't come to Bali to eat Japanese food! The sunset from up there is amazing though and a must see! The pool bar food is very good - just like any other hotel really. You can't go wrong with the club sandwich or jaffles etc. They have a pizza menu too but we never did order a pizza - the selection was a bit strange! They also have a cake shop in the coffee shop there and coffee and cake can be bought for 10,000 rupiah which isn't too bad. There is also a kebab restaurant and a floating restaurant. The floating restaurant is exclusively for villa guests and there they will cook whatever you like. The breakfasts are huge! Lots to choose from. I am not a breakfast person though so soon enough, it was back to having cereal, fruit and yoghurt. I couldn't handle the cooked breakfasts every day! My partner could though and he found himself having four to six courses at each sitting! Here's a tip for breakfast though - send one person to get the toast and one to get the eggs (done any way you like) because a que tends to form rather quickly and if you want in and out quick then that's the best way to do it. The only thing I would complain about with regards to the breakfast is the bacon. I tried it once and definitely wouldn't again. Mind you, I don't think Bali is renowned for the best tasting (or looking) bacon in the world.
Okay, so now onto the rooms(I hope I am not boring you at this stage!)...
I told my partner to book a deluxe suite and not the standard suite they have. He, surprise surprise, forgot to ask his friend (who was our travel agent) to do so. We ended up getting to our room and I, if I am going to be completely honest, though, is this it? It's nothing special. Pretty simple really. I then asked how much it would be for an upgrade and the staff told us US$100 per night. We decided to give it a miss at that point and see how we liked the room. The other thing we weren't completely happy with was that due to the hotel being so big and secluded, the rooms are so spread out that you feel like it's ages to get to the pool or to the resturants. A lot of the hotel looks the same too, so you end up spending a fair bit of time getting lost!! It took us three days to figure out how to get to our room...rather sad on our behalf really! After three nights in the standard room, we figured we may as well spoil ourselves and upgrade. My parnter ended up speaking to Irma, the Customer Relations Officer, who is an absolute angel. He ended up bartering with her and got the price down to AUS$30. Not bad for a shy English bloke! :) Needless to say, I was rather pleased! The room was so gorgeous and SOOOOOOOO worth the extra money. It was so spacious too. The bed was huge (so huge in fact that now he and I are home, our main arguments tend to be about him hogging the bed!!). The bathroom was spotless and had a spa bath in it, the shower was massive too. I was in heaven when I got into that room! It was gorgeous and just what you need. If you are going with children then I would suggest the villas as they aren't terribly expensive. We got talking to a few people at the hotel who were staying in villas with young children and they said they were very reasonably priced. We probably would have got a villa had we of known but the Deluxe Suite was just what we needed. If we had gotten a room any bigger I am sure we would have found a way to get that even dirtier so it's just as well we ended up with the suite.
The staff at the Patra are the nicest I have come across. They treat you like royalty. If you spend that extra time just chatting to them, they really appreciate it. I ended up making quite a few friends there. I received quite a bit of special treatment because of it too - I absolutely loved the people. I could not fault them one bit. The best service I have received anywhere in the world. Always smiling too and happy to help in any way possible - but then again, that's just the Balinese isn't it!
My one and only vital piece of advice about the Patra - if you are looking for a bit of atmosphere - this is NOT the place to go. I would highly recommend this place for a venue to get married, for couples who want to relax, friends who simply want to relax and be indulged or people with families. It's ideal for any of the above. My partner and I were looking for a relaxing holiday, that's why we were recommended this hotel. Once we got into the swing of things though, I realised (and for once, he agreed with me) that the hotel could have done with a bit more atmosphere. Happy Hour was generally pretty quiet. There were people around the pool but not much atmosphere. There are also A LOT of Japanese at the Patra as the hotel seems to cater more for them so a lot of the time, you can't communicate with the other guests!! If the Patra had that little bit more of an atmosphere, I couldn't have faulted it at all. It was just that little bit too quiet. If that's what you're after though, you'll love it! Hey, you never know, it may be the time of year we went...the hotel was booked out then though. Maybe we just had a bunch of very quiet guests staying with us! If you do want a bit more atmosphere, then I would suggest just popping next door to the Bali Hai for their happy hour in the pool before going out. They are pretty good about doing this because you end up spending money in their hotel. It also gives you the opportunity to meet more people and check out the other hotels facilities! Regardless though, I still VERY highly recommend the Patra!
As for the location of The Patra, it is a bit out the way. It is secluded enough to feel like your own little piece of paradise but close enough to places to still feel in the mix of things. A taxi to centra Kuta costs about 12,000 rupiah. The hotel's taxi service charges about 25,000 (from memory). The hotel also has a courtesy shuttle bus which leaves every 2 hours throughout the day which can be handy if you don't fancy walking and just want to go to Centro, Waterbom Park or around that area. My advice to you would be to walk along the beach and while you're at it, have a look at the other hotels on the way down. Next door is the Bali Hai, then the Santika, then the Dynasty and then the Kartika Plaza (I think I have forgotten one). If you take a walk that way, it will probably take you 10 minutes to get to Centro. To walk right into Kuta (going via the beach) from the Patra, you're probably looking at walking for about 20 minutes - 30 minutes...longer if you like to stop and chat to the locals or have a browse. Well worth doing at least once though. We did it a couple of times as it didn't seem very far at all.
Also, rest assured, there are HEAPS of shops in Tuban now. All around Centro there are shops. It has become quite popular for shopping because the markets are also close by. You could stay in Tuban your entire trip and pick up quite a lot of stuff. I'd say that you should get all your household things and snacks from the supermarket underneath Centro. Bintang is 6,000 there and you can buy in bulk - needless to say this was the boyfriends find. He was most impressed with himself!
I must also add that whilst we stayed at the Patra, the President of East Timor stayed there, and I was told that so has President Bush. Also, while we were there, there were three weddings on. One was for a very well known and influential Japanese family. The wedding was out of this world and the other wedding we saw was between one of the richest Korean men who married a local Balinese women whom he met at the Ritz Carlton in Jimbaran! That wedding was like nothing you have ever seen before. It was absolutely stunning! If only I could get married in that fashion!!! It was ... well, words can't even explain how beautiful this wedding was. They went all out but it was done so beautifully - not over done! It just goes to show that the hotel must be pretty amazing to hold these sorts of events and have the guests that I mentioned!
Well, I think that pretty much sums it up...as you can probably make out, I have a lot to say about the Patra. I loved it though and I could go on and on and on about it forever. I miss it so much! It's so hard to come back to reality after being there.
Would I go back? DEFINITELY!! I want to get married there!
Would I recommend it? YES!!! I couldn't praise the place enough.
I hope this has helped you. I wish I had have come across this site before I went to Bali this time, I could have found out about heaps more things! Oh well, I know for next time.
Enjoy your trip. I am so incredibly jealous!! :(
If you need any more info, just email me. I don't mind. I took heaps of pictures too - as I am sure you will - if you want to have a look. If you want any more info you could also check out their website. It's pretty accurate - the photos etc. They're not glorified in any way. What you see in the brochures is what you get. I must also say quickly that out of all the big hotels in Tuban (and I visited the majority of them), the Patra was definitely the best.
Okay, I am really going this time...
Ali