There are sooo many options when it comes to accommodations in Bali. From hotels to Airbnbs, expensive luxury hotels to more affordable ones, the list is endless. The Ramada Encore by Wyndham in Seminyak is just one of the many hotels I found and chose to stay at for my first 3 days in Bali.

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When looking for a place to spend my first few nights in Bali, I was a little overwhelmed with all the options I came across. I knew that I wanted to stay in a pretty nice place but I also wanted something that wouldn’t be too expensive. Searching through Airbnb brought up some options and I found a really nice villa that I ended up booking for last part of my Bali trip.

Although Airbnb is my go to when looking for accommodations, I decided I wanted to stay in a hotel on this trip. You can normally find nice hotels in Southeast Asia that are much more affordable than here in Canada. When looking to book a hotel, I usually search through Booking.com or Agoda as the prices on these sites are usually much better than other sites.

Alas after compiling links of potential options, I settled on a hotel in Seminyak that I thought would be a great option. It looked beautiful, had some good reviews, and the price screamed “Book me now!”

The Hotel

The Ramada Encore features 280 rooms that all come with mini-fridges, flat-screen TVs, free Wi-Fi, with many having balconies that overlook the pool. The hotel has a huge lagoon pool that is situated in the middle “courtyard” of the hotel with poolside bar and a restaurant just beside it. It also has a kids’ centre, a fitness centre, and a small spa. Breakfast was included in our room rate.

Its about a 15-minute drive to the beach and the hotel offers a free shuttle that runs to Seminyak Square and other locations throughout the day. 

Our stay

We had a pretty decent stay at this hotel. The room was pretty standard, what you’d expect a typical hotel room to look like. We had a view overlooking the pool which I loved as the ambiance was always wonderful. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom was okay. The only downside was that we had a bit of an ant issue. Tiny little ants walking along the wall adjacent to the bed and in the bathroom as well. 

I did contact the front desk letting them know about the issue hoping they would swap our rooms but instead, they sent someone out immediately to treat the area with a spray. We appreciated the promptness but it didn’t really fix the problem. As we were out pretty much all day during our stay and were really only there to sleep, we didn’t make a big deal out of it. The ants stayed to the wall, save a few that crawled across my laptop keyboard that I had on the desk, but other than that, they didn’t really bug us.

Our first night, I ordered us some room service and I will admit, it was not worth it. The food was pretty bland and the drink was just okay. We did however try the buffet breakfast one day and the options were okay. Nothing fancy but much better than the food we ordered to our room.

The pool area alone makes staying at this hotel worth it. Our last day, we made sure not to book any activities and opted to lounge around the pool and just enjoy the space. We took part in happy hour and just had a very relaxing morning by the pool. The ambiance of the whole outdoor space is just wonderful, from the music playing to the bar and seating area to all the greenery surrounding the courtyard.

The Price

For our 3-night stay, I paid about $50 per night bringing our total to $184 CAD after taxes and fees. There were many different hotels we could’ve stayed at but they were all priced higher than this one. The price of the Ramada Encore couldn’t be beat and the gorgeous pool area just solidified our choice to stay here.

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In conclusion while the hotel was a beautiful and I absolutely loved the pool and the entire ambiance, I would try to find another hotel to stay at for my next visit to Bali. A place that is in a better location, probably not in Seminyak but in a more secluded place. I would recommend this place as it was a lovely stay despite the ant situation. My overall experience was good!

Pros and Cons

Pros:

~Amazing pool 

~Peaceful ambiance

~Very friendly service

Cons:

~The ants

~A little farther away from the popular spots