In Reply to: Best Western Resort Kuta, Bali posted by ned said on Monday, 22. February 2010 at 20:36 Bali Time:
What a coincidence, I have just returned from Best Western in Jalan Kubu Anyar on the 19th of February after a three weeks stay there.
The hotel provided a shuttle service to Discovery Mall (Centro) every two hours. Kuta Market is nearby. I think the first shuttle left at 8 o'clock in the morning and the last at 8 o'clock in the evening, maybe also 10 o'clock in the evening. No return trips were provided according to the driver I asked and I never asked again.
One can walk via two different small roads with some traffic to Kuta Market. Due to the prevailing heat I did not try it but once and it took about 10 minutes the longer way of the two, to the Kuta Market. There is a shorter route, where one comes out near Green Garden Hotel. Taxis would cost 5000 Rupiahs (the amount the meter starts with) from Kuta Market to the hotel. I would not walk (alone) at night as lighting is not that great and in some areas very dark.
There was a 'local' gym with mainly free weights across the street. There was also a motorcycle repair shop across the street. Depending on the location of the room, it could be considered noisy when on the terrace but hardly in the room, at least with a closed door. Beside it closed before it was time to settle for the night. Traffic on the street outside the hotel was at times intensive, mainly with a lot of motorbikes. It was also a short-cut for cars if the main road was too busy.
Nearby is a small grocery store which provides water, beer and a few other essentials but not shaving foam should that be needed.
The pool (one part 3 meters deep but also with a children's pool part), the beds and the pressure in the showers are excellent.
There are a limited amount of pool lounges available but there was never a problem to get one.
Breakfasts could pass as quite good but rather tasteless (different varieties of fried rice and noodles, meat or tofu patties, chicken sausages, potatoes in various forms, at times chicken nuggets) and was a bit predictable. One had to ask for bacon at the egg station. There was also strawberry and orange jam as well as watered-down honey to go with the toasts and buns. And there were various puddings and cakes for those who like really sweet things already in the morning. One had to ask the staff for salt, pepper, tomato and/or chilli sause. I did, however, never leave the table hungry.
Dining was possible at the hotel and not too expensive although the quality of food varied due to who was in the kitchen. Quite often many items on the menu was "sorry, finished". For those interested in statistics, a small Bintang was 25.000 Rupiahs including the '++' if I remember correctly.
There was a LCD TV in the rooms with a good selection of international as well as local channels to choose from.
The closets had a strange design, not that practical.
The electronic safe in at least my room was not (!) attached to anything solid so it was possible to remove the safe from with its contents from the room without too much effort. This was mentioned to the general manager so maybe the problem is solved.
I would not say that there is a 'good' choice of restaurants near the hotel but as mentioned, there is the shuttle service and from there on Bali restaurants are at your feet (or taxi).
The staff was enthusiastic. Only a few needed more experience to improve. The hotel is quite new.
I enjoyed the hotel as such but an in-room accident, which could very well had been much worse than a deep cut in my forehead, happened. The cause was a design mistake.
The accident put a damper on my stay at the hotel but not on my stay in Bali. In my opinion the follow-up was not handled properly by the management. The accident could, however, have happened anywhere where the management or owner allows for design mistakes - until there is an accident.
Hopefully this 'review' helps.