As part of a short Balinese vacation, I stayed at the St Regis Bali to change my habits a bit and to add one more property to the list of hotels we tried in Bali.

• Booking
• Location of the St Regis Bali
• Arrival and Check In at The St Regis Bali
• The St Regis Bali lagoon access villa
• The general style of the St Regis Bali
• Fitness, pool, beach and spa
• Restaurant and bars at the St Regis Bali
• The staff and the service
• Check-out
• My opinion on the St Regis Bali

Booking

Book online on the Marriott app for guaranteed best rate. The hotel does not offer “standard” rooms and its offer starts with suites. So I booked the cheapest standard suite in the hotel.

Location of the St Regis Bali

The St Regis Bali is like the Laguna or the Westin Bali located on the peninsula of Nusa Dua a secluded and highly secure area mainly populated by hotels and where you will find only tourists.

This has an advantage: it is really quiet. But this leads to logical drawbacks: some will say a lack of authenticity but above all it is far from everything: count on a good hour’s drive to go to dinner in Seminyak for example with the very dense Balinese traffic.

On the other hand, since a few years and the construction of a motorway bridge, the almost island is very easily accessible from the airport with a fluid traffic and that is not nothing.

Personally, staying in Nusa Dua has never bothered me: I appreciate the quietness and it has never prevented me from visiting the island.

Arrival and Check In at The St Regis Bali

Prior to my arrival an email from the hotel asked me if I wanted them to provide the transfer from the airport, to which I replied favorably. The service was free but I don’t know if that’s the hotel’s policy or if it’s due to my status in the loyalty program.

As soon as I got off the plane from Singapore, someone was waiting for me, even before the immigration and customs controls.

He then accompanied me through immigration control and moved me to a lounge where I was able to freshen up while he retrieved my suitcase from the carousel. Then we went through customs and he drove me to the car whose driver was waiting outside.

Contrary to St Regis traditions, it was a van that took me to the hotel and not the usual Mercedes or Bentley. I think it is a format that is much better suited to the destination with people traveling as a family and often heavily loaded…and even more so if the transfer is offered to all customers.

So here I am at the hotel. This is the lobby.

The check-in is done sitting in a sofa and a welcome drink is served.

The welcome is very warm as always in Bali. I was confirmed what I had seen in the app the day before when I arrived in Singapore: I was upgraded to a villa with a pool and direct access to an artificial seawater lagoon. A very nice upgrade of several categories that I am very happy about.

I am then taken to my villa. We leave the lobby to enter the resort itself.

As you can see the surface of the property is very important. It is thus in electric cart that I am accompanied while taking advantage to make me visit the resort.

The map is not superfluous, the first day I circled 20 min to find the gym.

And so here I am at my villa.

The St Regis Bali lagoon access villa

One arrives in a very very large living room.

Next to it there is a nice size bedroom.

The style is halfway between classic St Regis and Indonesian. A good balance that avoids kitsch and tastelessness without being impersonal.

The bathroom is also very large with both a large bathtub and a large shower and a double sink.

Wood, marble everywhere, it’s definitely St Regis with a predilection for noble and high-end materials.

Both the bedroom and the lounge open onto the terrace that we will visit later.

The bedroom also has a very large dressing room.

More surprising is the presence of a kitchenette.

The minibar is very well stocked.

The terrace is of very nice size with two deckchairs and something to lie down and rest in the quiet and shade.

The pool is a good size for an individual pool and if it is not too much for swimming although the depth allows it (but in 4 strokes you are at the end) it is ideal for cooling off day and night.

A detail that I didn’t notice at the time but that I will be confirmed a few days later when I will be surprised by the difference in temperature with the pools of a neighboring hotel: the pool is heated (at least it is during winter).

Some steps to go down and you are in the artificial lagoon with sea water.

I’m not going to nitpick: it’s a very beautiful villa, quiet, very relaxing.

Very pleasant at night too…

In the room a plate of fruits which will be renewed every day.

The staff is creative…

And improve its work every day!

I must say that I really enjoyed the few days I spent in this villa.

We finish with the video visit of the villa.

The general style of the St Regis Bali

Overall and like many luxury hotels in the area, the St Regis Bali is a modern hotel that borrows from the local style and adds the St Regis touch: a refined and not ostentatious luxury.

On the other hand one spends finally very little time “in” the hotel which consists of a reception, a bar and two restaurants. The rest of the time you are in the open air and two other restaurants, the fitness room and the Spa are in separate buildings.

We take great pleasure in walking through the resort where the concrete is cleverly hidden and forgotten in favor of a tropical decoration.

There are many places where you can stop and relax.

Fitness, pool, beach and spa

The St Regis Bali is of course richly equipped with leisure and wellness facilities.

Let’s start with the fitness room.

Modern, it is quite well equipped but not very large. On the other hand, it has a large and very pleasant studio.

I am often surprised to see that resorts are often poorly equipped in this respect (at least not as well equipped as many normal hotels) and that guests use gyms much less than in their business trips.

Let’s come to the Spa…

Very good reception and beautiful property.

The checkin is done outside….

In fact, all the treatment rooms are organized around this beautiful pool. It’s relaxing.

Treatments are of high quality. As a Titanium member of the loyalty program, I get a 15% discount and the right to a “bonus” service in addition to each treatment to choose from a short list.

Also outside, a seawater pool with 11 massage stations.

They form a course. At each of them a massaging jet massages a specific part of the body.

Very pleasant, I would have stayed there for hours.

Now let’s go to the artificial lagoon.

It is accessible to all guests of the hotel but the occupants of some villas have direct access.

It is filled with sea water.

There are deckchairs on the central pontoon but also more private areas.

Of course the hotel has a pool but to be honest between the lagoon and my personal pool, I didn’t try it.

There are many amenities around, with different levels of privacy. And at the very end there is of course a bar, the said bar also serving the superb beach of the hotel.

It is beautiful, clean and very relaxing.

Restaurant and bars at the St Regis Bali

The hotel has many restaurants and bars, I will only try two.

Let’s start with the “King Cole”, the main bar of the hotel. As in all luxury hotels, the bar holds a special place, and even more so at the St Regis, which makes it a real marker.

Let’s start with the terrace where I took advantage of an early evening champagne special offer.

It overlooks the rest of the resort and the tables are widely spaced.

It is also a very good spot to attend the show that takes place every evening at sunset.

The interior is very cosy.

On the menu you will find the Bloody Mary and, as always at St Regis, a “local” variation and some borrowings from other St Regis around the world. Remember that the Bloody Mary was popularized by the St Regis New York after being created at Harry’s Bar in Paris.

Besides the classics, the bar has its own in-house creations.

To be honest if I liked the variations around the bloody mary for the rest I found the creations good but without more with one or two exceptions. Too light, sometimes bordering on being watery. I know the local temperatures don’t encourage anything too strong but still…

As for the classics, the dirty martini and the negroni are very well done.

In the evening a singer is accompanied by a pianist which gives the place a very pleasant personality.

I will dine at Kayuputi, the “signature” restaurant of the property that I already talked about here. It was very good but a little disappointing, I expected a little more. But my opinion is biased: I had been enchanted by the restaurant of the St Regis Langkawi, also named Kayuputi, and here it is a level below. A connoisseur of the place will confirm: if one is one of the best tables in Bali the other is one of the best tables in Asia.

The staff and the service

In one word: impeccable. The combination of Balinese kindness and the efficiency of large luxury hotels.

At the beginning of your stay you will be asked how you would like to be addressed and throughout your stay all interactions are personalized.

Truly one of my best experiences in this matter.

Check-out

The day before I will inform the staff of my departure time so that they can drive me (still free of charge) to my next drop-off point which will not be the airport but another hotel.

On D-day, a buggy will come to pick me up with my luggage and I will check out on the Marriott mobile application which will avoid me to go through the reception for the formalities.

My opinion on the St Regis Bali

I think it was one of my best hotel experiences.