Gran Hotel Bali

My husband, our two children (aged 11 and 13), and I stayed at Grand Hotel Bali from 4–12 July 2026.

After spending eight days at the hotel, I feel I have a fair and balanced basis for writing this review. We are from Norway, and since expectations of hotels can vary from country to country, I think that is worth mentioning.

From a facilities perspective, Grand Hotel Bali meets the expectations of a four-star hotel. The building itself is impressive with its 43 floors, and the view from our room on the 37th floor was absolutely spectacular. The beds were comfortable, and the water pressure in the shower was surprisingly good—something that cannot always be taken for granted in Spain.

Our room was of an older standard, with dark wooden furniture and a somewhat dated appearance. Friends of ours stayed on the 16th floor in a recently renovated room with modern furnishings, bright décor and a beautiful bathroom, so it appears that the hotel is gradually renovating the rooms.

Housekeeping was perfectly acceptable, although we did miss having a kettle or coffee maker in the room.

The hotel has two buffet restaurants serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The selection is identical in both. The food was decent, although not particularly memorable.

For guests with food allergies, however, there is room for improvement. None of the dishes were labelled with allergens as many Scandinavian travellers are accustomed to. Gluten-free meals could be prepared on request, but this often became complicated due to limited English skills among some of the restaurant staff. Other hotels we have visited have solved this very well by assigning guests with dietary requirements a WhatsApp contact at check-in. You simply send a message before each meal, and your food is ready when you arrive. It is a small detail that makes a surprisingly big difference.

The elevators are probably the hotel's biggest practical challenge. During busy periods the waiting times are extremely long. Our longest wait was 17 minutes.

I also experienced an unpleasant incident where the elevator suddenly dropped several floors before stopping abruptly between two floors. I lost my balance and fell. After a few minutes it started moving again and stopped on the 25th floor, where I left and took another elevator. Outside peak hours, however, the elevators worked well.

The hotel has large and impressive public spaces, but unfortunately the acoustics are very poor, especially in the lobby and restaurants. The noise level quickly becomes exhausting, and I genuinely felt sorry for the staff who have to work in that environment every day. Simple acoustic improvements would make a noticeable difference.

The pool area is spacious with three pools, although one was closed for maintenance during our stay. Despite the hotel appearing to be fully booked, finding sunbeds was never a problem. Shade, however, was. There were far too few parasols.

Our white swimwear also turned bright yellow after swimming. I understand this can happen due to copper in the water reacting with chlorine, which is a known issue in some parts of mainland Spain. I assume water quality is monitored regularly, although this was not visible to guests.

Unfortunately, customer service is where the overall experience falls apart.

A hotel can have beautiful rooms, impressive facilities and excellent views, but it is ultimately the people who determine how guests remember their holiday. Throughout our stay, we never truly felt welcome.

A guest's first impression begins at reception. Perhaps the simplest expectation when arriving at a hotel is to hear the words "Welcome."

We didn't.

The receptionist communicated in short English phrases while chatting comfortably in Spanish with colleagues around her. No one greeted us or welcomed us to the hotel. Combined with the large glass screens above the reception desk and the poor acoustics in the lobby, the check-in felt impersonal and surprisingly cold.

It was also clear that many members of staff were far more comfortable speaking Spanish than English. That is entirely understandable, and I fully respect that not everyone speaks fluent English. However, communication with English-speaking guests often felt brief, cautious and somewhat distant. Meanwhile, we frequently observed Spanish-speaking guests being met with smiles, laughter and warm conversations. I do not believe this was intentional discrimination, but rather a natural consequence of people feeling more relaxed in their native language. Nevertheless, it contributed to us feeling more like visitors than valued guests.

Another surprise was the sheer number of rules. For what is essentially a holiday resort, we found them unusually extensive. It took us several days to understand how everything worked, and during our stay we were corrected on several occasions for breaking rules we had never been informed about.

Only at check-out did I discover that all of these rules were actually available in writing at reception. Sharing this information at check-in could have prevented several awkward situations and unnecessary frustration.

One particular incident summarises our entire experience.

The hotel requires guests to register their room card before entering the restaurant. I completely understand the purpose of this policy.

One day my son had already gone inside, and I simply wanted to step a few metres into the restaurant to give him a quick message. Before I reached him, a security guard hurried after me and stopped me. I explained that I was not there to eat or order anything, only to speak briefly to my son, but I was told that I first had to join the queue and register my room card. The guard ended the conversation by saying:

"This is not your home."

So I did exactly as instructed. I queued, registered my room card, walked in, spoke to my son for less than a minute and immediately walked back out. When I attempted to check out again, I was simply waved through without any registration at all.

What stayed with me was not the rule itself. Large hotels need rules.

It was the way the situation was handled.

After that experience, I found myself constantly worrying about whether I might unknowingly break another rule. That is an unfortunate feeling to carry while on holiday.

Many great hotels describe themselves as "a home away from home." Ironically, the words "This is not your home" became the sentence that best summed up our stay. To me, they symbolised a hotel where procedures often seemed more important than people.

After returning home, I read many other guest reviews. What surprised me most was not the criticism itself, but the hotel's responses. Concerns about customer service were frequently met with explanations of why the procedures were correct or why the guest had misunderstood the situation.

The hotel may well have valid reasons for its policies. However, a guest's experience cannot simply be argued away. Two people can experience exactly the same situation very differently, and that does not necessarily mean either one is wrong.

Perhaps more guests would leave feeling heard if the hotel acknowledged the experience behind the criticism instead of primarily defending the procedure. At the end of the day, guests do not take the hotel's intentions home with them—they take home the way the hotel made them feel.

Grand Hotel Bali offers everything one would expect from a four-star hotel. The building is impressive. The views are breathtaking. The rooms are comfortable, and the facilities are plentiful.

Yet when the holiday is over, it is not the building you remember.

It is how you were treated.

We returned home feeling tolerated rather than welcomed.

With a warmer service culture, clearer communication and a greater willingness to see situations from the guest's perspective, this could easily have been a hotel we would gladly return to.

Instead, we left with the feeling that the hotel had everything except the one thing that cannot be measured in stars: genuine hospitality.

A hotel can have everything on paper, but without warmth it becomes little more than a beautiful shell without a soul.

Sadly, that is the memory we took home.

The hotel was awful. my family and I including other people were trapped in the lift for 20 mins. we rang the emergency bell for 10 mins and no one came. we ended up having to ring the police as no one came to help. my kids were terrified. we were later told that the alarm does not ring at reception or maintenance. the aircon in the hotel was awful we kept doors and curtains closed and still struggled to sleep. the air con in the entire hotel was shocking room was not cleaned when we arrived and the sliding door was stuck. we were told that maintenance and cleaners would sort - this never happened. Staff were very rude and abrupt. - never again!!!