Paul‘s Hotel Review for the
Renaissance Bali Uluwatu Resort & Spa

General Impressions: 🐑🐑🌿

Details:
Check-in / Check-out
Check-in Process: 🐑🐑🐑
Check-out Process: 🐑🐑🐑
Concierge Service: N/A
Staff @ Front Desk: 🐑🐑🐑
Bonvoy recognition: 🐑🐑🐑🐑

Room / Bathroom
Bed, quality of sleep: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Bathroom, Shower: 🐑
Room Atmosphere: 🐑🐑
Cleanliness:🐑🐑🐑

Food & Beverage
Breakfast: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Bar: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
Restaurant: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Lounge: 🐑 No Lounge
F&B Staff: 🐑🐑🐑🐑

Paul‘s Mix
Pool, Spa: 🐑🐑🐑🐑
Hotel Location: 🐑🐑🐑
Mojito Rating 😜: 🐑🐑🐑🐑🌿
General Customer Care: 🐑🐑
Staff attitude, responsiveness: 🐑

---
🐑 = a lot of work needs to be done
🐑🐑 =o.k, but you will be busy with corrections
🐑🐑🐑 = it’s good, nothing special
🐑🐑🐑🐑 = high level but the icing on the cake is missing
🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑 = leave me here!
🌿= Half a Point/sheep
---

The Hotel is located in Uluwatu which is around a 40 minutes drive to/from the airport. The property is rather new and only around 1,5 years old.
The Hotel is located on a hill but has an own beach club which can be reached by free shuttle bus. The bus runs every hour.

When we arrived at the hotel we were greeted by the rooms manager as well as the loyalty manager. A drink and cold towel were served seconds when getting of the car. Everything in your hands from the travel and car ride you had no chance to actually arrive or enjoy.
The check in was done in such a rush and stress that every business city Hotel would be envious about the speed.

That said it wasn't actually a great welcome. It didn't give you time to arrive and to realize. It doesn't give you the feeling to arrive at a holiday destination, to unwind and relax.
The Loyalty Manager was so under stress and running around that the stress was actually carrying over to the guests.

We then were escorted to our Family Suite which we got as an upgrade from our booked Executive Suite.
The property is huge and confusing as you have to change lifts several times (4 times) if you want to go from the Reception to the lowest building and it takes up to 6 minutes.
The corridors to the rooms are dark and awkward. They are build behind every building like a tunnel and the air is super muggy.

Once we got to the room we got some more details about the property and a map to find everything.
We tried to settle and to realize where we arrived. The room is nice and modern. The ambiance is rather cool and stylish. It has no flair or warm elements. It does not suite a vacation resort at all. It feels cold and uncomfortable.
This type of room would be amazing in a big city like Berlin, New York etc but not in Asia and it has no Balinese spirit.

Unfortunately you can not really darken the bedroom properly as the oh so posh bathroom who everyone can see in from the corridor accross only has a white thin blind.
At 6 AM we were awake as the light got really bright in the room. (See picture below).

The mattress is rather on the firm side but the bedding was really comfy.

We also found out what "no view" in the description of the rooms in this hotel means. You are looking to the concrete wall or corridor of the next building. The buildings are so close to each other it gives you the feeling to be in the city where you need to look up to see the sky. It feels claustrophobic.
Each complex has several floors and sometimes up to 3 floors have no view at all except a wall.
Between our little terrace and the neighbouring complex there was a small street.
People walking on the street or on the corridor in the next complex can see everything in your room. On some levels you can even see into the bathrooms from the corridors or from the street. (See pictures).
As the Hotel is still fairly new they use tons and tons of influencer to push the property. All the videos and pictures you find online about this property do not correspond a little bit with reality. On every picture or video you see green from the rooms. This might be true for around a maximum of 25% of the rooms. 75% of the rooms have the famous "no view" described above.

The architectural design of the hotel can only be described as a disaster. See pictures below.
I have attached the map we were given to find our ways at this property. They even call it "get lost"

The main pool is located at the top of the property right below the lobby. The pool is huge. Unfortunately the whole terrace is gray. The main deck has sort of 3 small areas with trees otherwise it is a cold massive platform / deck. Every schoolyard has more green. The second and smaller pool is at the bottom of the complex. It has a little bit more green and is much nicer.

Once again we have the impression and feeling that the whole property complex doesn't look like a resort on Bali it is a city style business hotel with nice recreational amenities.
This property could be anywhere such as Miami, LA, Bangkok or Tokio.

There is nothing of a warm Indonesian style hospitality. This hotel isn't made for a vacation in Bali.

The hotel may suit to the younger and influencer crowd who do not really care about local touches or what the hotel offers. See and been seen us enough.

After around 1,5 hours we still didn't feel comfortable at this hotel and thanks to a flexible booking we can change / check-out every 24 hours.
I called the Loyalty Manager to see if she is still around.
So we started our way back to the lobby. They confirmed we could leave / check out the next day without any penalty. I told them to change my booking respectively and that we will be leaving the next day.
From that moment the entire atmosphere changed. Especially from the Loyalty Manager. As of that second the only answer was ok, fine for everything.

We told them we might need some time to do new arrangements and we will come back to settle everything and organize the change. They offered some help but I decided to book over the Marriott app.

After around another 1,5 hours we had everything settled and went back to the loyalty manager with our news.

We both got the impression that this person couldn't have cared less. The ok, fines did sound for us like ok, fine f..k off. I couldn't care less what you do.
We were not heard at all and honestly either this position is useless or it is a complete miscast of the position.

It was no help at check-in except stressing around and not help during our stay.

This behaviour gave us once more the feeling we did the right thing to check out and change hotel.
It also leaves the bad taste that the whole welcome thing was a farce and show.

The staff at the lower poolbar were super friendly and the drinks were really good.
We had our dinner at the clay craft restaurant. The food was super delicious and fresh. The staff was really attentive and did a great job.

The Navigator / Concierge Team is also great. They did help with the change and gave us more information on our newly chosen hotel and what we should do and see in Bali. Top customer care from them and especially Mr. Lee.

Breakfast was served on the main deck at the clay craft restaurant.
The buffet is huge and they have 3 massive stations. The food was super fresh and tasty. Once again the F&B staff was amazing and super friendly.

All in all I would not recommend this Hotel if you plan a vacation in Bali. The Hotel has no Balinese Flair or Asian Hospitality and (in our eyes) is not really a resort.

No vacation feeling comes up.

This Hotel or how it is built and set up is a Business Hotel for a bigger city.
There are many more options to choose from in Bali and especially for a vacation resort.