Bali. Flying (maybe) Jetstar Business Class MEL-DPS-MEL.

[levelnine]

That's a lot better compensation than QF gives on downgrades Did you get full Business Status Credits (assuming you booked Max)?

Indeed. Crazy that JQ offer better compensation than QF. Shows you the appalling state of QF at the moment.

Looking forward to the rest of this TR.

 

[Austman]

Looking forward to the rest of this TR.

I don’t think I’ll say too much about Bali itself. It’s been covered a lot in other TRs.

It’s lovely weather at the moment!

I’m only staying at two hotels. And not doing very touristy things. So far pretty much all hotel staff wear masks. With guests it’s a bit hit and miss.

 

[Austman]

Hilton Garden Inn Bali Ngurah Rai Airport​

It’s convenient to Bali airport. Rooms are quite nice. Bathroom amenities are poor. The buffet breakfast is good. The pool looks nice. The staff are lovely. It’s cheap.

They do need to improve the bathroom amenities a bit. They supply just two smallish, grey-white bath towels, a floor mat and two pump packs of shampoo and body wash. It’s all a bit scungy which is a pity because the rest of the place is not too bad for an inexpensive airport hotel.

You can have your breakfast, free for Hilton Diamonds, outside if you wish:



After breakfast and packing, I grabbed a Grab (similar to Uber) car for the trip to the Hilton.

The cost was IDR 96,000 or about AUD $9.60 for the 14 km/30 mins trip. Masks on.

 

[Austman]

Hilton Bali Resort​

This would have to be one of the most isolated (near) Nusa Dua beach resorts that I’ve stayed at. And that’s IMO a good thing.

It’s in a gorgeous setting. Almost a private beach - the reason being that it’s almost impossible to get to the beach area unless you go through the Hilton. It’s patrolled with flags. There are no beach vendors.

There’s pretty much nothing else around either on the beach or outside on the road.

It’s a Hilton. There are more luxurious places in Bali but here is pretty nice and relaxed. Staff are lovely. The atmosphere is really nice. It’s family friendly but lots of couples too.

The standard Hilton Diamond upgrade is to a Cliff Tower room. I got the 11th floor. Views from the balcony are brilliant:

 

[Austman]

Hilton Diamonds get access to the Nusa Dua Lounge (the Executive Lounge, which is in the Cliff Tower is closed) for an al-la-carte breakfast, all day refreshments and evening drinks with canapés. There’s an indoor and outdoor area. It’s not near the beach and is a fair walk from the Cliff Tower but it’s pretty nice:




It’s all of a high standard by Hilton lounge standards.

I’m pretty sure you can choose the Hilton’s main buffet restaurant, Grain, for breakfast. At 9:30am, I’ve sometimes had the lounge to myself.

 

[Austman]

I did have an uninvited balcony guest early one morning:



The only things I had to throw at it were in the complimentary fruit basket.

Unfortunately the banana and grapes were not very effective.



Keep the doors closed. Even if on the 11th floor. Got it!

 

[Daver6]

Looks like a nicer beach than the one at the Conrad.

 

[Hvr]

I did have an uninvited balcony guest early one morning:

I'm guessing that's not the monkey business you wanted to engage in?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

T-46.5 and no notification of sub 320 for 787 ex MEL Sun morn as yet - hopefully it sticks

 

[Austman]

T-46.5 and no notification of sub 320 for 787 ex MEL Sun morn as yet - hopefully it sticks

I received the email at almost exactly T-24 but could see the equipment change well before that.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I received the email at almost exactly T-24 but could see the equipment change well before that.

Where did you see it pls?

 

[Austman]

Where did you see it pls?

It was showing on the Jetstar App at about T-48. You could see it was no longer a 787. The seatmap was showing a A321neo but no seat could be selected. I had a seat allocated by Chat.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

- Never had JQ app b4 - just downloaded it - 787 still showing for Sun

 

[Austman]

I’m pretty sure you can choose the Hilton’s main buffet restaurant, Grain, for breakfast. At 9:30am, I’ve sometimes had the lounge to myself.

Confirmed. I tried it today. It’s a massive buffet. Quite impressive. No wonder the Nusa Dua lounge is quiet at breakfast. It’s also closer to most rooms.

But premium drinks have a surcharge.

 

[Austman]

If you are mostly going to stay at the resort, you might need to think about where to eat. There’s nothing much outside around the Hilton. You could walk via the beach to the Kempinski or further to the Ritz-Carlton I suppose.

Here are the Hilton offerings:



Add to those the 24/7 room service and the Nusa Dua lounge if you have access.

I didn’t know this until I went to pay after a meal but Hilton has a current Asia Pacific offer of up to 25% off all food and beverage (not breakfast or room service) for Hilton Honours members. It’s 25% off for Golds and Diamonds. It works very well here! Even at the Deli.

Here are the details:

Hilton Honors

Up to 25% savings and 500 points when you dine like a member at your nearest Hilton for breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks. FREE Hilton Honors membership.

asiapac.hilton.com

Seems a lot of Oceania is not participating but Bali is.

 

[Austman]

A little bit more of what’s different re COVID.

Here, when you first go to your room, there’s an outside door seal you have to break:



It’s seems it’s a one off at check-in.

And, when I went to Grain (the big breakfast buffet restaurant) today, guests that were arriving without a face mask were handed one as needed at the entrance.

I have not seen that elsewhere here, including at the Nusa Dua lounge.

 

[Austman]

If you are mostly going to stay at the resort, you might need to think about where to eat. There’s nothing much outside around the Hilton. You could walk via the beach to the Kempinski or further to the Ritz-Carlton I suppose.

Thanks to Google, I did find a nearby beach shack!! I do like a beach shack now and again. It was right beside the hotel but a bit hard to get to:



It wasn’t where Google said it was but close enough. I think Google has the beach name wrong too?



A beautiful location with beer at half price compared to the Hilton.

And food too, but I didn’t try:



The Hilton had signs up warning that it was private property. I also had to step over tape barricades to get back in. There was a guard on duty but my room key wallet let me pass:



And if I wanted to let Google know that their map is wrong, I do have an opportunity tonight:



They are in the garden. I’m 11 floors above. Mmmmm…

 

[Austman]

Back to the Jetstar issue.

The offered $400 voucher has now been issued. It’s valid for 18 months.

I haven’t received the promised fare difference refund but I can now see how it was calculated. Here is the original fare breakdown:



And here is what it looks like now:



So it does seem that the outbound fare class was changed to the cheapest saver fare and the refund was based on that.

If only Qantas would do the same when they downgrade you.

 

[Austman]

A slight stay extension and a move from the Hilton Bali Resort to the Conrad Bali.

Plans can change and events can occur. On the day I was leaving Melbourne for Bali the National Day of Mourning public holiday was announced for 22nd September. I had appointments on that day that all needed rescheduling. All done on the way to and at the airport. The new public holiday made for a 4 day weekend in Victoria.

Not needing to be back in Melbourne a few days before the 22nd September meant I now had an option to extend my Bali stay. All the non-stop Jetstar flights from Bali to Melbourne were sold out in Business Class for days but then a seat did become available for 21st September and there was no charge at all to move to it, so I did. That gave me two extra nights in Bali. Next was to book some extra accommodation.

I could book the Hilton for the 19th but it was "sold out" on the 20th due to a conference apparently. So I looked at the Conrad and could book a basic Deluxe King Room, for the 20th, at a rate not too much more than the Hilton if I booked it at an advance purchase rate - a rate which was now unavailabe at both hotels for the 19th. Done. A day or so later I received the email "We're upgrading your upcoming stay, Austman!" As a Diamond I had been "pre-upgraded" to a Deluxe King Ocean Front. It seems to be a new system Hilton is using ... It also shows in the Hilton App. I was happy enough with that upgrade.

I explained my one night extension to the Hilton staff in the Nusa Dua Lounge (it has check-in/out ability) and they assured me that I would not need to move rooms and proceeded to re-code my key cards. All worked well until I was locked out of my room after an early morning swim on the 20th. A call on the hall phone and someone came to open my door. Hotels seem to have trouble extending room key validity.

I checked-out at noon. I had pre-booked a hair cut at a place not far from the Conrad for 12:45pm. The Hilton check-out took quite a while for some reason but was all OK. I then booked a Bluebird taxi using their quite good Uber-like App which still got me to the hair cut place, 7km away, before 12:45pm. It's mask on in Bluebird taxis for drivers and pax.

After the hair cut, which was pretty good and only $10, another Bluebird taxi got me to the Conrad at about 1:30pm. I was looking a bit sharper than usual haha

Conrad Bali

I've stayed before. It's a very nice place. I found it a bit odd that this time there was no one to meet the arriving taxis and cars. Not a problem for me as I only had one cabin-luggage roll aboard. Off to reception and I could see why. All three desks were occupied with guests and there were one or two more waiting in a line. So a 5 or so minute wait for me. No big deal at all. All good at check-in. I usually say "no" to the welcome drinks. The check-in staff said I had a "very nice room". I didn't need help with my luggage, just a direction to the lift. The lifts are a bit hidden at the Conrad.

So to my room - I'm expecting a Deluxe King Ocean Front - and what a surprise when I opened the door... It seems the hair cut worked! I had been upgraded to a King Lagoon Access Suite! That's a bit of a wow. It has four private deck areas, three on the lagoon with one on the garden, living and dining areas, an (unequipped) kitchen, huge bathroom etc. I counted 24 chairs!









A few minutes after arriving in my room suite, there was a ring at the door. It was a Conrad manager apologising for the poor arrival experience. I was a bit puzzled as I had not complained at all. But he said that it had been noted that some guests had arrived without the usual Conrad arrival experience.

All very nice but the room upgrade was more than enough! A few minutes more and the fruit basket arrived.

 

[Austman]

Conrad Bali

It was just a one night stay.

It's a polished upmarket property. And Diamonds get some perks. The executive lounge is currently closed meaning that complimentary afternoon tea and evening canapes and drinks are served in the East Lobby Lounge. Breakfast is in Suku, the Conrad's main restaurant.

I had some lunch at Azure (the pool bar). It's very pleasant and Golds and Diamonds currently get the 25% discount. I skipped the afternoon tea.

The evening canapes and drinks (5pm to 7pm) in the East Lobby Lounge are pleasant enough. The location is fabulous. The drinks are fine except perhaps for the Hatten wine... And are unlimited. The canapes are thimble/teaspoon sized items. You get three, brought to your table, but apparently can ask for more:



The setting is great:




Breakfast in Suku is an extensive buffet. It's quite polished for a buffet. All very nice.

The mask situation seemed to be about the same as the Hilton. Most (nearly all) staff are wearing them. It's hit and miss for the guests. I think they are required inside the main buffet restaurant.