Perhaps because hotels are so commercialized, tourists seeking a vacation to the island of the gods, Bali, Indonesia often overlook the many benefits of renting a luxury villa for their foreign vacation.
Hotel marketers have done such a good job that official statistics show that more than 70% of visitors to Bali choose to stay in luxury hotels and only 16.4% choose to experience the unique benefits of a villa vacation. luxury.
Hotels are generally owned by multinational companies that have developed a formula for managing their business. While there are a few notable exceptions, too often they build hotels based on building templates that have proven popular elsewhere. Their goal is to fit as many guests into their establishments as practically possible and space is at a premium. Some even build smaller pieces of furniture to fit better and give the illusion of a larger space.
The villas, on the other hand, are mostly owned by private individuals who have designed their building from their hearts, as their home. Many spend time living there when the villa is not rented, so they work hard to ensure the decor, furnishings, ambiance and facilities are top notch.
Hotels offer single rooms for their standard rate and anyone who wants more will pay a hefty extra for a suite. Most of their business is couples or individual travelers. They have strict rules and regulations related to meal times, use of facilities, and specialize in adding additional costs for any services you use, such as room service, laundry, telephone, and Internet.
The hotel’s business model is based on reserving a single room (usually a double bed or two singles) and extending your reservation rate as much as possible with added extras. The cost per person will generally be much more than what you would pay to book a luxury villa in Bali for your vacation.
Many luxury villas in Bali have four or more bedrooms and can sleep up to eight people. This makes them ideal for a group booking, whether it’s a family having a special gathering (anniversary, birthday, wedding), a club (book club, walking club, food club, health club or SCUBA club) or maybe a company. running an annual corporate planning break.
The group booking factor is where the costs of renting a villa can really show great value, compared to the higher costs of hotels. For example, if the villa charged $340 a night it would, at first glance, be on a par with some of the more expensive hotels. However, when you calculate the actual rate per head, that is where the value of the villa shines. For a villa sleeping eight people and charging US$340 per night, the cost per person would be only US$42.50 per person per night, much cheaper than a hotel rate.
The value of the villa does not stop there. Many of Bali’s estimated 10,000 private villas will offer further discounted rates for longer stays of a week or more.
In terms of service, the villas also shine ahead of the hotel experience. Many Bali villas employ local Balinese as on-site helpers to cook, do laundry, clean rooms, and serve drinks to guests. Villa meals can be prepared to a guest’s precise requirements and can even accompany helpers when they go to local markets for groceries – a great introduction to local Balinese culture.
Villas will often employ three or four helpers and these may even outnumber the guests, ensuring great service as needed. Helpers are usually coordinated by a villa manager who is on call 24/7 to quickly handle any issues that arise for guests. He can be sure that he will develop a special friendship with the village managers and helpers, far beyond what would be possible if he stayed in a hotel.
Unlike hotels, which are often built in busy city centers close to the noisy action of nightclubs, great restaurants and late-night shopping, villas are more likely to be in rural Bali, specifically to escape the chaos of the city. From your hotel window in Denpasar you are more likely to have a view of half-built hotels, construction cranes and traffic jams. You can expect to share your hotel pool, if you have one, with throngs of fellow vacationers and have to put up with possible late-night parties, splashing and screaming, because Denpasar has become very popular with the younger generation looking for party time.
Unfortunately, South Bali has too often lost its spirituality, peace and tranquility. At times he has become a victim of his own popularity.
From the patio of your Bali villa, and patios with panoramic views are a common villa feature, you can expect instead to see the wide ocean, with the illusion of a curved horizon, or a mountain valley and plain. coastline, with bright night lights below. .
Villas are sometimes built in the middle of villages, giving guests the opportunity to talk with local people and learn about the community culture that is very special to Bali. The villas have private pools for your exclusive use and generally have lush gardens where you can enjoy peace and privacy.
Would you rather spend your vacation in a luxury home or a small hotel room? Would you prefer beautiful natural scenery instead of construction cranes? Your choice for your next vacation should put booking a luxury villa in Bali at the top of your list if you want to discover the “real” Bali.