We stayed at Puri Wulandari for 4 nights [cut it short by a few days]. We had very poor experience. The quality of service was lacking. Few comments:-
1. Poor Airconditioning - Had to request the staff to put 2 pedestal fans [and we moved from Villa 113 to 122 as 113 Villa A/C was totally dead - no freon and 122 was not cool enough]
2. No Electric Kettle / Tea/Coffee in bungalows - I have stayed at World Premiere Properties like Taj Lake Palace Udaipur India, Oberois Rajvilas Udaipur and also Devi Garh Palace Udaipur during my last trip to India where I paid over $1000 to $1500 per room night and loved my stay. Those premium hotels also realize that the guests have a right to fix their own tea/coffee at their convenience and not be dependent on hotel to serve them cold tea / coffee 30 minutes after the requests!
3. Not child friendly - but that we knew before we went there - so no complaints here
4. New Year Eve's food was terrible and way overpriced! We went to a Reggae Club at 11 pm [skipped the over-priced dinner at Wulandari even though we had paid for it] and had great fun while the guests at Puri wulandari played Bingo for New Years!!! The hotel skimped on spending on a professional sound-system / live-band / DJ for new Years despite the fact that almost all of 50 odd people paid over $100 each [including the drinks that were not included] for mediocre fare! Food at Nuri's [5 minutes drive] - a road side warung - or a 1 star restaurant with benches and wooden tables is superlative at only 1/20th the price of Wulandari!
5. For a boutique 5 star plus hotel not to have a working cappuccino machine is unacceptable!! did not get a single cup of cappuccino or espresso during the stay!
6. No concept of Draft Beer when 1 star road-side restaurants have better tasting Bintang / Carlsberg Draft choices!
The property is simple stunning with great architecture and vistas but there is an utter lack of service as the hotel staff does not care if you return back or not! Mainly clientèle is Japanese and honeymooners [90%]
I holiday in Bali at least 3-4 times a year and have been doing that consistently over last 15 years now! I do not recommend Puri Wulandari and would rather recommend Alila or Royal Pita Maha which both have the same views of the Ayung river [in fact Royal Pita Maha has way bigger private pools and most of the pools are filled by natural spring water - which the staff refers to as a holy spring] - the property is owned by Cok Ace who is royal family of Ubud and it has the best staff!
Other choice is Komaneka, Monkey forest which does not have the same stunning views but the service and food is 5 stars!
I felt elated when i stayed in the 3 Udaipur properties in India 3 months ago and paid 3-4 times the Puri Wulandari prices! Puri wulandari was a very bad experience! Zero concept of value for money! |
