Sunday 24 January 2010

The Ardjuna Boutique Hotel and Spa Bandung Java

Went a bit up market for a conference in January. My company EF Indonesia organised the conference in Bandung, West Java and chose the Ardjuna Hotel.
The link above is the best one to the site as the main one reports the site is under maintenance.
I dont know much about Bandung except it is built in the hills of Java, its cold at night, they sell lots of Strawberries, Brownies and is shoppers paradise. The traffic is worse in my mind than Jakarta.
Surrounding the city are lots of volcanoes active or inactive and it is about 2.5 hours by fast car from Jakarta. I also think it is one of the best train trips in the world as the route has stunning scenery.

So the hotel. It is up a long long hill and then tucked away behind some trees. It is rather unassuming and does not show any sign of the reason the rooms are so expensive. That happens when you walk inside.


Inside it is very bright and welcoming with lots of staff and pleasant smiles. On checking in there was no sign or help where the elevators were but I found them quickly.
The room I was in was a twin with a stunning view of the mountains and city and it looked great at night. However it was small and still a hotel room.




The colour theme throughout the hotel was brown and white and cream and it really worked. The bedroom had comfy beds and the ac worked well. The shower was over a bath and the water was hot and well pressured. The light in the bathroom was good.
It was very clean.

The conference rooms were huge and we were well provided for.

Dinner, Lunch and Breakfast was great. Lots of food and lots of choice. The vegetarian option was limited. But there was no limit how much you could eat.
The omelettes were not hot as they were cooked in bulk and you had to go looking for a cup of tea and the cups were very small however the service was very good.
Beer was 40,000 a glass with 10% tax and the piano bar shut at 11. It was well stocked with wine but the starting price at 1 million rupiah soon put me off. Thats silly money.

The karaoke bar next to it was occupied by a waiter and 3 hostesses that had sadly seen better days but they were cheerful enough and happy to smile if you bought them drinks. Lucky I did not do karaoke but the others I was with said that they had fun.



Getting to the city was easy although took a long time due to traffic and taking a mini bus down the hill about 1km got you atms and mini marts which was very useful.
Next door was a restaurant serving beer and western food too.

Outside was a great swimming pool although a bit too deep if you had young children but plenty of space to sit and in the evening it was rather pleasant with out the wind blowing.

My only criticism really was the fact that there was so many little steps all over the place and so you had to be very careful where you were walking otherwise you ended up tripping over them.

If I was to rate the place then I would give it 8/10. It was pricey but it was lovely.

Friday 1 January 2010

Ibis Hotel Tamarin Jakarta

Living in Jakarta has its drawbacks, one being during new year the city fills with traffic and so you cant get anywhere and you spend your time in a car while the new year approaches. So the easiest option for me is to stay in a hotel for a night in the city and then it makes the access and speed to places far easier and faster.
I choose for the 3rd tine the Ibis Hotel in Tamarin. Now in the same street there are 2 Ibis. Why? I dont really know. The Arcadia is the other one and it is smaller and has no pool etc but is equally as comfortable.
The room rate was 600,000 rupiah for the night and this was seasonally inflated of course but still it was ok.
The hotel offers breakfast at another 60,000k and I never took that option as I had no desire to be up and alive before the check out time of 12 noon.
The rooms are small but well laid out with a nice sized double bed which is very comfy and great to sleep in. The TV has lots of channels and there is a lot of information to read.
The bathroom is compact with a big shower cubicle and a fair sized sink area which is well lit. The water was not the fastest but it was hot and the towels are big and very clean.
There is a mini bar which was empty and you are provided with a kettle and water and tea and coffee. They also put some candy in the room also.
The rooms are spotlessly clean.

I used the hotel just for its location and it was well priced amongst other hotels in the area and so did not really expect much apart from what I have already written.

I will use Ibis again as they are both simple and located in key parts of the city.