As you may have noticed earlier, a recent trip took me to Indonesia for a few days of relaxation. After a few days in Yogyakarta on Java and Ubud on Bali, here I am in Nusa Dua, seaside resort still on the island of Bali.

Nusa Dua is a very protected area of the island, not in terms of nature but rather from the point of view of security, which gives it a not pleasant “Ghetto for the rich” side.

Starwood manages three hotels in the area. A Saint Regis, a Luxury Collectionand this Westin.

Why the Westin? The St. Regis was overpriced, and the Luxury Collection, while more suitable for adults, has mixed reviews on FlyerTalk in part because of its age, which is starting to show on room maintenance.

Booking

As usual, I made my reservation on the SPG website. No problem, except that the rate I had chosen was prepaid, and the hotel took a while to charge my card. As a result, when the property tried to charge my card, it was no longer working, which resulted in a phone conversation to make the payment with my new card.

More than a month before, I receive an email from the reception offering me transfers from/to the airport. I politely decline, coming from Ubud on arrival and going back to the airport by Uber for a price 10 times lower than the transfer offered by the hotel.

Having chosen to apply Suite Night Awards for those two nights, I got confirmation of my upgrade 5 days before my arrival, as usual.

Arrival

I arrive at the hotel around 12:00. My suite is already ready, and the receptionist is slowly but surely doing the formalities. The hotel manager comes to greet me while I check in, and brings me a welcome drink.

Room

The assigned room, a Westin Suite, is located in the most seaward part of the hotel.

Mine has a garden view, much quieter than the pool view.

It is very spacious, about 80m2 divided into 4 areas: office, lounge, dining room and bedroom.

The decoration is contemporary.

It has a large balcony with two deckchairs and a small table.

A welcome giftand a welcome letter were placed on the dining room table, a thoughtful touch.

The bed is very comfortable, as usual in the Westin chain. The room area is quite small, but enough for me alone.

The bathroom adjoining the bedroom is very spacious, has a dressing room, a bathtub, a shower, a toilet and two sinks.

Surprisingly, there will be no turn-down service offered at the hotel.

Facilities and services

The facilities are modern and well maintained.

The hotel lobby is actually an atrium with a ceiling height of about 30 meters.

The property does not offer a Club Lounge, but does offer an Afternoon Tea for Platinum members: while the solid offer is qualitative despite the limited choice, the liquid offer is limited to tea and coffee. Far below the level of a club, therefore. As a comparison, Le Méridien Bangkok, which does not have a Club Lounge, offers an Open Bar on the entire menu from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm, including the dishes.

The gym is very spacious, and offers a very pleasant view of the garden. It is also well equipped, even if the number of carpets may seem insufficient given the size of the hotel.

The pools are also very pleasant. L’une d’elles est remplie d’eau de mer, l’autre est plus traditionnelle. By the pool, no problem to find a free deckchair at any time of the day. The service at the poolside is fast and the prices are affordable (compared to westerners I mean).

The beach is very beautiful and the deckchairs are of good quality, even if there are more people occupying them at all hours. Very proactive service as well.

Sunbeds are available (for a fee, but free for Platinum members): what a treat to have breakfast in a bed facing the ocean!

Restaurants

On the restaurant side, there are several options in this property. No less than 5 restaurants are available.

I only tried the one located on the beach for lunch.

Two quite different experiences, one mixed, and the other excellent.

In any case, the quality of the food was always there. I recommend the Caesar salad, which may seem like a classic, but when prepared with great care as it is here, it finds a new fan in my person.

I didn’t try the evening outdoor buffet, but everything looked very appetizing.

As for breakfast, it takes place in a huge restaurant located on the first floor of the hotel. And this is like a factory: do not expect a high quality service, even if the politeness will always be there. Depending on how busy it is, it will bedifficult to get a cup of coffee refilled without explicitly calling the attention of the servers.

The buffets are quite breathtaking though, if only the station offering fresh juice on demand, the sushi station, and the large section dedicated to Hallal products.

Departure

The departure formalities were very fast and efficient. A late check-out had been granted to me at the beginning at 4pm and the card had been encoded in this sense.

I was able to pay with my last rupees a part of the extras bill, and the rest with my AmEx card.

Conclusion

A very solid hotel, especially for families for which it is very suitable. The facilities are in very good condition and despite the absence of a Club Lounge, the staff is very attentive to Platinum guests.

Acceptable value for money for Nusa Dua.