Inna Grand Bali Beach

We stayed 5 nights in an ocean view suite and could not fault this hotel at all. The staff were wonderful. Nothing was ever too much trouble for them, and we felt welcomed from the moment we arrived. Our room was sublime, very clean with an incredible view and great amenities. The food was outstanding with a great selection at breakfast. Location of this hotel is fabulous. Close to great restaurants, lovely beach and Icon in a 10-minute walk away.

I don't usually stay in high rise hotels, and I chose this one as it is close to Sanur harbour, so I was very pleasantly surprised. Bali and the Balinese are well known for excellent service, but this hotel does it well. Quiet, spacious rooms, great facilities, excellent breakfast. 15 minute walk to Icon Mall.

We arrived early (two rooms, two couples) and as expected our room was not ready - no problem. We checked in on arrival though and were taken back when the hotel wanted $AUD100 surety a night. We opted instead for the pay as you go option. Check in pleasant but as we found out later, not informative. No brochure given. We found out almost at the end of our stay about the yoga. While we waited for the room to be ready we were directed to the pool. Not enough sunbeds that adjusted properly and those available were set under large trees , covered in bird droppings. We were also covered in bird droppings. We ordered food and drink poolside (beautiful pool) and waited over an hour for it. The food was good.

The two rooms, on the ninth floor. Beautiful views. On arrival each room had ONE sachet of coffee and ONE sachet of tea. These meagre offerings (in a 5 star hotel??) were ?upgraded to two daily in each room after we complained about the paucity. We were told by staff that we could get more on request if we went to the front desk and asked. No bottle opener in the room. Again reader, consider that this purports to be a 5 star hotel!

Three lifts for 10 floors. The wait is at times long.

One of our two rooms was not cleaned until after 3pm for the first three days of our stay.

We four went to take two bikes out on our first day. We were told that the first hour was complimentary but subsequently the charge was IDR97,000 each per hour (around $8 an hour each, so $AUD32 an hour). Apart from the charge (we've never had to pay for bikes at hotels be the 5 or 3 stars!) we would've also had to wait until some were returned. There were only a few on display. We could not prebook. Eventually enough bikes did return and off we went, fuming.

The office where you "rent" the bikes also rents out aquanaut scooters for people to use in the one (large and lovely) pool. Entirely inappropriate. Pervert potential as well as disruptive.

Our two rooms were booked via two different platforms by me because one the first showed no vacancies. One contacted via email me to ask how our stay was going. I told them, honestly. Ayu from the hotel contacted me and we discussed the above issues. Results - Our room was cleaned earlier after that and two sachets appeared in each room daily. We were also told by Ayu that for the remainder of our stay we could have free bike use and she would make sure more bikes were available.

The next day, there were not four bikes available and the bike office wanted to charge us again when they were. Unpleasant. I asked them to phone Ayu. Miraculously (!!) after that, several bikes were wheeled out from the storehouse a few metres away and we rode off for the day with (100% rightly for a hotel at this price point) no fee charged.

However, the bike saga was not quite over for my husband and I who returned later. My husband is brown skinned (looks almost local) and looking at another review on here, I sympathise with the reviewer and back him/her up. I was not challenged but my husband was, by a BBH security guard when we rode in to return the bikes. "You cannot come in here, you need to be over there (pointed to the public beach path)". I told the security man that we were returning our bikes (which carried hotel signage on them) and our room number. No apology offered. Poor form!!

As stated earlier, no informative brochure is offered on check in here but on entry to your room the TV is on with supposed information, but there are gaps in it. We noticed the TV info telling us about Promo Code ALLINONE food and drink specials but when we asked AYU about it she had to get back to us, was unsure. It turns out that this only applies if you book directly with the hotel. Mmmm....

Great views here, the staff are 99.9% wonderful and the breakfast is the best we four have ever seen. There are however, problems here. Too many for the price point and unacceptable for a 5 star rating.