Saturday 12 March 2016

[Hotel Review] - BVilla+Seaside (2-Bedroom Villa), Bali, Indonesia (29 Jan - 1 Feb 16)

Hotel Signage
Location
BVilla+Seaside is located in Seminyak, an upscale area in Bali. Compared to Kuta, Seminyak is less crowded. The location of the villa is just a stones throw away from Seminyak Square and a newly opened shopping mall - Seminyak Village. There are no lack of restaurants around the villa, with Indonesian and Mexican Food just right across the street. Seminyak beach is just 5 minutes walk away from the villa. Getting to places such as Legian and Kuta is a breeze from the villa, which is just around 1 hour away from the villa via cab.
Hotel lobby

Checking into our villa at the reception

Rest area at the reception
The road outside the villa
The Villa
Pool Area

The area inside the villa is fairly large. The front pouch of the villa features a large private pool that greets guests upon entering the villa. The square-shaped pool is perfect for guests to spend time swimming and soaking in. The pool is around 1.5m deep at its deepest point. Beside the pool is a couple of queen size tanning beds, which is a great spot for tanning as there are no vegetation around to block out the sun. These beds are also great to lie on at night for star gazing in the private sanctuary surrounded by the walls of the villa.

Private pool in the villa

View of the pool with the tanning beds

Private pool

The pool is great for swimming or even soaking in

A walkway leads guests from the main door to the living space in the villa. Across the tanning beds on the other side of the pavement is a small garden. Despite it small size, the greenery of this small garden not only provided a sense of zen and tranquility, it also brightens up the pouch of the villa. What I like about the villa is the absence of excessive vegetation, which not only "dirties" the compounds of the villa (with the dead leaves and such), it also minimises chances of bugs calling our villa their home.

Small garden in the villa opposite the tanning beds
Common Area
Further into the villa is the open-air common living area. This area consists of a dinning table for 4 pax as well as a full kitchen at the past the dinning table behind a bar table. A TV is placed on the cabinet where one cutlery are stored facing the dinning table. There are full set of cutlery and cooking utensils as well as a full size fridge for guests to stow the drinks they bought from the local convenient stores. The kitchen features 4 gas stoves. There is a coffee machine by the side of the gas stove. At the side of the kitchen, tucked by the wall is the sink. The dust bin is well hidden at the kitchen area, behind the bar table. Unfortunately, I find the dues bin a tad too small. On the extreme ends of the sheltered common area, one can find a long beach with cushions. This is an area where one can sit on, serving as the sofas at the common area. I would prefer to have proper living area where guests can gather, rather than gathering only at the dinning table. As the common is open-air, it can get rather warm, despite a fan is placed beside the cabinet.

Dinning table area

Couch in the common area

Another couch is found in front of the second room

Water dispenser, unfortunately there are no water inside

Cabinet of cutlery with LCD TV placed onto

Sink in kitchen area

Gas stove in the kitchen
Illy coffee machine is available in the villa

Full size fridge in the kitchen

Bedrooms
The villa has 2 bedrooms, which are essentially 2 separate buildings within the villa located at the extreme ends of the compounds of the villa tucked in the furthest rear of the villa compounds. Both rooms are of the same dimensions, each with the same bathroom outfits. The only difference is one room is furnished with a king size bed, while the other has twin beds. Entering the sliding glass door of the bed room, the centre of attraction is the bedding. The sleep quality on the bed is excellent, provided me with a good night rest, leaving me felt recharged and fresh every morning. To the right of the entrance to the room, one can find an open wardrobe. This wardrobe is segregated into 2 sections. One section has a 4 tiered shelving, with the bottom tier the large enough to stow a 22" luggage into. Towels to be used at the swimming pool are placed on one of the shelf here when we checked into the villa. The other side of the wardrobe has a top shelf and place for one to hang their clothings. The hanging space of the wardrobe is a tad small, allowing only 5 days of clothing to be hung. There are also limited hangers to go around for hanging cloths. I am sure that more can be requested from the reception. Connected to the wardrobe is a small table where the in-room safe is located. This table, complete with a chair, also doubles up as a work desk. An LCD TV is suspended onto the wall mounting in one corner of the room facing the bed. For the room with the King beds, the bedside table are located on either side of the bed. There is a red coloured lamps placed on each bedside table. Power sockets are, unfortunately, hidden behind these bedside tables.

Twin bedroom

King bedroom

Wardrobe and work table

TV in the bedroom

Bathroom
The bathroom is located behind the bedding in both of the room. The bathroom is very spacious, stretching across the width of the entire room. Upon entering the bathroom, one is greeted with oversize bathtub nicely placed inside the bathroom by the wall. Opposite the bathtub is where one can find huge sink area, which stretches from the door to the bathroom to the shower area, providing guests with alot of space to stow their toiletries. There are twin sinks sitting on top of the sink area and the hotel provided standard bath amenities. However one point to note, they do not provide dental kits for guests. There is a separate standing rain shower located at the end of the sink table. Opposite the shower area is the toilet. One point to note is that the bathtub is rather dirty. We spent some time cleaning up the bathtub, after leaving the water to run, there seem to be dust accumulated in the water. It is a pity that we did not get to use the bathtub due to the filth.

Huge bathtub in the bathroom

Large sink top table with 2 sinks

Shower area

Toilet opposite the shower area

Amenities in the bathroom, no dental kits are available

Breakfast in Villa
The villa does not seem to have a restaurant on its premises. Breakfasts are served in the villa. What I find unique about the breakfast serving in BVilla+Seaside is instead of pre-cook in a central kitchen, breakfast is cooked inside the villa kitchen. One would have to go to reception everyday and inform the staff of your choice of breakfast from the menu. The staff at the reception would check what time we wanted breakfast to be served. Each morning the chefs will come into the villa about 30 mins before the stipulated time for breakfast and do their cooking while we were sleeping. When breakfast is done, they would knock on the bedroom doors and wake us up for breakfast. We can still remember the ever familiar "Knock Knock, Breakfast" each morning during our stay in the villa. Upon seeing that we woke up, the staffs would leave the villa. Having breakfast in the villa by the pool feels relaxing. The breakfast was still piping hot from the kitchen and they tasted very delicious. There are choice of western style breakfast or Indonesian style breakfast. I particularly liked their fried rice topped with a sunny side up. Assortment of breads as well as cereals are also served as part of the breakfast. We were also given options of freshly squeezed juices on top of the coffee and tea.

Staff cooking breakfast in the villa kitchen

Bread selection for breakfast

Very tasty fried rice

Scrambled egg with sausage and bacon

Spa
On our last day in Bali, after checking out, we headed for the in-house spa in the villa. The spa area is converted from their 3-bedroom villa. Inside the spa grounds, there is a swimming pool, just like the one that is in the villa we were staying in. The villa offers staying guests a 30% discount off the menu price. We opted for a 2-hour spa package, which includes a body scrub, Balinese massage and bath soak in the tub. The masseuses were not only very skilful in their trade, taking away the aches and pains from our tired bodies, they were also excellent in terms of service. Throughout the massage session, we were asked if the strength of the massage was okay. After the massage, we were served tea for relaxation. Massage treatment was done in the villa rooms, which were converted from bedrooms for massage treatments. The price of the massage packages were very reasonable (around SGD 70 for a 2-hour treatment) and is very cheap compared to those we would find in Singapore.

Spa treatment villas
Spa reception area (converted from the kitchen in the villa)
Swimming pool inside the spa grounds
Massage treatment rooms
Bath soak after massage
Spa grounds
Staffs serving tea after the treatment
Service
Service in the villa was nothing short of excellence. The staffs were very friendly and professional in the conduct of their work. Their warmth made us feel welcome in the villa. Our check-in was done in an expeditious manner so that we do have to be held up unnecessarily. The staffs even brought our luggages into the villa while we were checking into the villa. We were escorted into our villa, and the staffs took the effort to explain to us the various facilities in the villa. We were served welcome drinks when we entered the villa that we were staying. Staffs at the reception greeted us whenever we walked past the reception area. Breakfast was done very professionally and staffs coming into the villa without causing much of disturbance to the guests. Our villas were well made up every single day without flaws. Every evening, we would come back to a fresh and clean villa after a long day in Bali. The staffs at the spa were excellent not only in their trade but also in their service. They made us felt so welcome and were not waiting for tips, unlike spas in other places where masseuses would purposely make their presence seen, anticipating tips from customers. The masseuses were even surprised when we approached them and tipped them.

Welcome drink were served when we were escorted into our villa
Overall
We had a wonderful time staying in BVilla+Seaside during our stay in Bali. The villa is very spacious and the size of the pool is rather generous. We had quality sleep on the bed. The bathroom felt luxurious, however the condition of the bathtub was disappointing. Service rendered by the staffs were excellent, from the reception to those at the spa. We were made welcome by every single staff we met in the villa. Despite the close proximity to the road, the villa was surprisingly quiet, coupled with the proximity to restaurants, shopping and the beach, BVilla+Seaside is an ideal place to stay whilst in Bali.




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