My husband and I spent our honeymoon (part 1) in Kuta, Bali as he wanted to learn to surf. We decided to stay at the Swiss-Belinn Legian Hotel since the reviews seemed pretty good and it was situated close to the beach.
Check-in
The staff gave us a warm welcome and were all smiles when we arrived. The manager also kindly gave us a room upgrade! The check-in process was smooth and we were promptly shown to our room.
Room
Upon entering the room, we were greeted with lovely flower petals and towel animals on our bed, as well as a complimentary cake, which I felt was a really thoughtful gesture (: The furnishings and flooring in the bedroom and bathroom have definitely seen better days (they looked worn and thoroughly used), but overall the place was clean and tidy. Even though I generally prefer sleeping on harder mattresses, the mattress here still took some getting used to. A few reviews by previous guests also mentioned this aspect, so if you’re used to softer mattresses, good luck. The hotel wifi worked great though! Good speed and connection.
Basic bathroom amenities were provided and replenished each day. Unfortunately, I do need to highlight that the water from the tap and shower had a slightly slimy/greasy texture that couldn’t be washed off, kinda like the salt water from the sea. Even my husband, who is rather easy-going about most things, was a tad annoyed at this. It seemed that the same water was used to mop the bedroom floor as our footprints visibly remained wherever we stepped. I ended up wearing the disposable bathroom slippers provided whenever I was in the room. Also, the bed sheets and towels appeared to have a greyish hue (I’m guessing they used to be white) and had black/brown stains on them. Even after replacing our towels on three occasions, the towels still presented with the same issue. Not a very pleasant situation to deal with.
Facilities
One of the things that can sway my decision between two accommodation choices is the provision of complimentary breakfast buffet! Absolutely love the idea of waking up and having a nice breakfast spread all ready and waiting. The breakfast buffet here was sufficiently varied (they had tiny changes to the menu each day) and even included a live egg station. The food was decent and we were adequately satisfied. Once again, the service here really stood out for me as I watched hotel staff bring out a cake and sing a birthday song for one of the guests during breakfast service.
The hotel also had a swimming pool, a poolside bar and a spa located on the roof. My husband really enjoyed the welcome drinks we were offered (think it was called ginger squash), likely due to the blazing hot weather. We didn’t check out the hotel spa as we had already planned to get our massage fix at De Nyuh Spa (reviewed it here).
My overall rating of the experience: 2 out of 5 stars. The staff and their impeccable hospitality really deserve commendation. From their constant offers to clean our room and replenish our amenities, to having our breakfast boxes packed and ready to go when we had to leave for the airport at 6am, they truly added the human touch to our stay here. However, there were some things that made the experience a lot less comfortable than expected, like the greasy water and the stained towels. Everything was showing its age and not very well-maintained. Given a choice, I’d likely not stay here again despite the fantastic service, simply because the hardware was honestly not up to par.
Dania Experiences 