This
was our 2nd visit in an Oberoi property and this hotel in Lombok was
loyal to the standards of the hotel chain.
We arrived in the evening and were
greeted by the front desk outside with the general manager. After the welcoming
drink and a short visit of the public areas, one of the receptionists took us
to our room – an individual pavilion facing the ocean. The room is absolutely
huge with high ceiling with everything you need during your stay. The bed is at
least a king size if not more. I could sleep vertically in it without touching
each edge of the bed. In the morning, you can open the private balcony from
your room with sliding doors and enjoy the sunrise with a cup of coffee. I
would have liked to get a better TV that the one they have in the room. Having
said that, the TV comes with a DVD player with a huge selection of DVDs to
choose from the library (nearby the reception). You can also listen to music
with a personal hi-fi stereo that you can plug with your ipod (don’t forget
your cable though). Finally, there is a lounge area with a sofa and a table
where we enjoyed one night a private dinner. The bathroom is absolutely a dream
with a separate shower and a sunken bath overlooking a private garden patio:
very nice after a day in the sun. The bathroom is all made of marble. You also
have 2 huge cupboards where you can easily store your clothes for at least 2
weeks if you dare to stay in the resort for that long. Because this hotel is
really outside of nowhere, you are limited to the restaurants of the hotel. Besides
being very expensive, the restaurant delivers some very nice meals with a
European/Asian flavours. Every day comes a new theme like dinner at the beach
with almost feet in the water or Indonesian dinner. You can also have privacy
by booking a table under one of the 4 pergolas on the swimming pool or ask for
even more privacy by booking an intimate dinner alone on the beach or by the
cliff underneath a big tree looking at the ocean and the Gili Islands. For
dinner, expect to pay 30/40 £ per person depending of the wine you choose
(which tend to be overpriced unless you try the Balinese wines).
Private dinner
in the room is always a nice option for not much premium in terms of price. We
did thid once and we loved it. The hotel can also organize tours with their 4
wheel drive cars and they work with a scuba / snorkelling company who can take
you to the Gili Islands for half a day by the jetty on the left side of the
resort. This will cost you about $35 per person with the equipment. The
swimming pool is very nice overlooking the ocean with fantastic colours when
the sunset happens around 6pm. You can relax by the beach on the grass or enjoy
one of the 4 pergolas in the shade by the pool. Breakfast is not a buffet but a
la carte. Because we had American breakfast included in the package, we could
take whatever we wanted. I would advise to book the room with this option. In
the morning, you don’t want to bother looking at prices when ordering
breakfast.
In
public facilities, you have the library with 2 computers with free Internet
access and an impressive collection of DVDs and books. You can also enjoy the
superb facilities of the Spa where we took 3 massages treatments and
sauna+Jacuzzi: nothing better to end the day with 2 hours in the Spa.
Finally,
the staff dedication is absolutely superb and high class. I have never been
that impressed with the level of individual attention brought to us. Every day,
we had a personalised letter from the management informing us of a special menu
or an invitation to a cocktail party with the General Manager. Staff was really
looking after us from the restaurant, breakfast, swimming pool or reception and
were calling us by our last name after only 2 days. You just can’t go wrong
with Oberoi, they just impress you all the way. But this comes at a price, no
doubt about that





Reading reviews of Hotels before booking them for the next trip, seems to be a perfect idea. However, what would you do if the hotel that got glowing reviews and you decided to stay turned out completely different from what you read online? Well, this is what actually happend with Peter D'costa of New Delhi, who trusted the hotel reviews he found at one of the popular online sites. After all, the site had declared them unbiased reviews of hotels, resorts and vacations and he beleived that they came from real travelers like himself.
But after a disappointing stay at a London hotel that got glowing reviews, he's having second thoughts about the authencity of reviews at the site. Peter, now, suspects that some reviews he read might have been planted by hotel staffers looking to promote business.
"It is very much possible that hoteliers, in order to ensure positive comments about their properties, encourage guests to post positive reviews to posting glowing reviews themselves under fictitious names" says one of the executive at hotelly.com, a price comparison site that posts user reviews in form of videos. Visitors can research, watch video reviews and compare prices to establish the perfect holiday choice. Hotelly.com brings together all the resources of the web in one place and provides full financial protection for any item brought via the site at no extra cost.
When you view video reviews, you watch that is real and you trust. Travelers would shoot what they see, even hoteliers would avoid to upload unreal videos. Hotelly.com provides independant and unbiased video tours, maps, descriptions and photography for all hotels, and a price comparison tool.
Posted by: Peter | Thursday, November 27, 2008 at 05:47 AM
This has been of great help to know about the hospitality of oberoi hotels and would surely go and stay in oberoi and also recommend others.
Posted by: kevin | Sunday, November 30, 2008 at 01:31 PM
Reading reviews is a really good thing for a person like me as I never like my holiday to be spoiled and I hate that part and this a really good idea too.
Posted by: Moshe | Monday, December 01, 2008 at 02:28 AM
@ Kevin and Moshe, always happy to share my view about hotels I have visited.
@ Peter . Nobody say hotel review sites are perfect. Nobody can assure 100% satisfaction. I will check your venture and will certainly review it under my topic "Hotel Meta Sarch Engines"
Guillaume
Posted by: Guillaume Thevenot | Tuesday, December 02, 2008 at 09:50 PM
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
http://www.craigslisttool.info
Posted by: Sarah | Monday, April 13, 2009 at 08:01 AM