Visiting the Conrad hotel in Benoa Bali

Part of my job is to visit hotel and toss in my 10 cents about how good they are.

Today I went to the Conrad Benoa, a hotel less than a year old. The Conrad is located on the beach on the first section of the strip that leads from the main gate in Nusa Dua and turns at the second roundabout to Benoa.

The Conrad is part of the Hilton chain focusing on exotic luxury hotels. This one lives up to its billing for me. The style is not Balinese or Indonesian, but rather contemporary western with a minimalist approach.

The place has 350 meters of beachfront, over 300 rooms and a spa. The thing about this hotel I really like, it was obviously designed by an American, because everything works. The doors to the rooms are extra wide, to accomodate all those extra wide Americans. The doors are on these large silver hinges that work effortlessly. Same for the bathroom and shower doors, large thick doors that handle like liquid motion.

All the appointments are tastefully done and the pathways and trimmings are thought out and taken care of. The amount of swimming pool space would rival a Las Vegas hotel.

If you want a good resort hotel where rooms are large and everything works, go to the Conrad. I’d stay there.

On another note. Its not suprising to me at all that the Indonesian military is telling aid agencies and foreign military forces that it has to be in charge of aid distribution. This is only natural, a middleman can only make a profit if he is in the middle. When I see countries and citizens groups lining up overseas to collect money the thought that goes through my mind is the army chiefs and local government officials in Sumatra are licking their lips. Many of them are undoubtably hoping to be made rich by this disaster. I do not believe that most of the aid will get to the victims. Enough for them to stay alive maybe but most will end up being sold in some market in Jakarta by the truckload to make money for some general. That is how its works here, when money arrives on the scene it is grabbed by anyone who can and forget about the reason it came.

I heard a story recently about an expat I have met. He wanted a piece of local ID that allowed him to stay here and conduct business etc. He applied and gave his fee, later finding out the person dealing with his case had been transfered. His paperwork was also lost. Dissapointed he applied again and the same thing happened. I do not know how long it took him to get his document but over $1,000 was spent. Aceh is a big black hole as far as money. What goes in will never be accounted for or seen again, especially by the people who need it.

For visitors coming to Bali soon you’ll like it right now. There are not so many tourists and the weather is great, blazing sun every day and not much rain.