I stayed a couple of nights at your hotel again recently, and this time took advantage of the new 'honeymoon' bungalow on the headland. What a great location, with stunning views both ways along the coast and inland to the mountains - a breathtaking vista, and so dramatic when a tropical thunderstorm swept by. Quite unforgettable. It is just a little isolated out on the headland, but, with the spa-bath overlooking the ocean below, it is just perfect for 'honeymoon' activities. One can make as much noise as is necessary without the concern of disturbing ones neighbours. This new building is a great asset to what has long been a favourite get-away spot for me on Bali.
I shall return!

The website of this hotel as well as some other reviews seemed to indicate that it was a nice, small property, off the beaten path with great value. We had booked a stay for 3 nights to finish up a week in Bali as our "vacation" portion of a business trip. We were coming from a large chain resort and were greatly looking forward to something much smaller and more intimate.

I will begin with the positives:
* The food served at dinner is excellent. The "Soup Gajah Mina" is wonderful and the "Rainbow Runner" entree I had was also very enjoyable. In fact, I would venture to say that the chef is one of the few people at this resort performing their duties at the level one would expect.
* The view from the cliff at the edge of the resort is really good, although you can only sit out there on a bench.
* The villas offer an outdoor shower and private garden area.
* The transport from our original hotel arrived early and was a very clean and comfortable car, which we appreciated for the 2 1/2 hour drive. (One thing that we did not like was that the car had no seatbelts... and considering that we encountered 2 very large accidents on the way to the hotel, we weren't very comfortable with this)
* The bamboo bridge over the creek is a nice touch.

Now, the issues:
Arrival staff not well-trained: When we arrived, we were brought to our room by what seemed to be a maintenance man who barely spoke English. Between my wife and I, we speak English, Mandarin, and French- so we aren't "English language snobs" but his tour basically consisted of "copi" (coffee maker), "batroom" (bathroom), etc. Considering that the "registration/reception" area had some female employees that spoke English, I was surprised that they didn't send a more "typical" orientation person that could be a bit more helpful.

We were given a welcome drink but it tasted like tang or some kind of kool-aid. Why have a welcome drink if it is cheap? This should be GOOD.

Rooms have maintenance issues: After having a few minutes in the room I immediately noticed that the skylight in the bathroom was leaking (rain) badly and the front door did not align (which made locking the front door a nearly impossible task).

Personal safety security a problem? The door opening to the outdoor shower area had a huge "master lock" type lock hanging from it... The type you might see on a junk yard fence or something. We wondered if they had serious crime issues? Who would we ask though...

Outdoor shower needs to be cleaned: The outdoor shower looked nice from a distance, but up close was kind of gross. The tile looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a very long time and was covered in a green algae-type substance. I have stayed in many resorts with outdoor showers and this is not typical.

Privacy not good from room or balcony: We were very surprised that although our villa had a wall that went around the BACK and a private gate... that the front (where our balcony was located and where the GLASS doors to the room are located) was completely and easily visible from both the pool area and the sidewalk that runs in front of all villas.

Massage pavilion needs work: We decided to book a massage immediately in the massage pavilion before dinner. We were disappointed to discover that there was only one masseuse but we were told that the 2nd person had a death in the family, which is certainly understandable. We arrived at the massage pavilion a few minutes early and were surprised to find the previous person still there and visible through the large windows. Privacy is not a priority at this massage pavilion at all. After waiting a while outside, the previous guest walked out and we were invited in... The room smelled like an NBA basketball team had been in there and left all of their jock straps behind... it was baad. I asked the lady if we could turn on the ceiling fan as I opened the sliding glass doors to their maximum width. What had been going on before we arrived? The massage was generally enjoyable, especially considering the very low price. The primary problem was the serious bug issue. During our massage time we had two 3-inch (flying) cockroaches in the room that had to be removed as well as lots of other other flying beetles and bugs I didn't recognize. Needless to say, it is hard to relax in these circumstances. Due to the fact that the pavilion doesn't have screens, they really should not have massage available at night. After the massage was finished my wife asked for a towel and was told there weren't any... odd for a massage room.

After the massage was finished we had the chore of getting back to our room in what was essentially pitch black. The hotel had provided a flash light in the room, but of course I had forgotten it. I would recommend that the hotel keep extra flashlights in the massage pavilion to help guests in these circumstances.

We arrived at dinner and sat down at a table on the "balcony" of the dining area. We were immediately so overcome with insects that we moved to a table on the "inside" dining area, which turned out to be too close to the bug zapper... which required us to move again.... About 3 minutes after moving my wife shrieked and stood up shaking and out came a 3" cockroach from her inner-most garments... it was in as bad a place as it could get... This was followed by us constantly fighting off insects throughout dinner so that by the time we had finished our entree the only thing on our mind was LEAVING the dining area... not getting dessert as we had originally planned. The restaurant music was something I could only describe as "Euro techno" which didn't seem like the best selection by any means.

The hotel is surrounded by essentially a farm: To understand the severity of the insect problem at this resort you should understand that the entire dining area and the land directly adjacent to all of the rooms... is used for farm land... for cows, ducks, etc. If you have ever been to a farm, you know just HOW MANY insects there are compared to normal "non-farm" land. I can't understand why the resort would put the kitchen / restaurant directly next to the space where the ducks, etc are kept... It's really the worst possible choice.

My wife asked the hotel staff if they had any insect repellent that she could use on her arms, etc... They said that they would send it to the room. About 10 minutes later a man arrived with a can of "RAID" (as in the poison that you spray on the floor). Not quite.

We returned to the room and after finding bugs on our towels, spiders on the table, etc tried to get into bed and cover ourselves up as much as possible. I was awake most of the night with the sensation that things were landing / crawling on my arms, face, etc... whether this was real or imaginary. My wife had about 20+ bites on her legs.

The next morning we arrived back at the restaurant for breakfast to find construction going on (loud hammering/banging construction). This was not to repair something that had broken (as in critical repair), but seemingly work that could be done at any time (not just during the specified breakfast time). The staff immediately recommended that we eat at the pool rather than the restaurant. This wasn't something that either of us wanted to do since we knew that there were 3 very loud children running around at the pool like monkeys, which is what woke us up in the first place (our villa was directly adjacent to the pool). The staff finally said "ok no problem" and shrugged... ??? I felt a bit upset about being made to feel guilty that I wanted to have breakfast at THE restaurant during the specified breakfast time.

The breakfast menu consisted of 3 groupings: Continental / Western / Asian. We focused on the "Western" group which had 6-7 options, 5 of which included "smoked swordfish" instead of bacon... I thought this sounded interesting so I ordered the omelette and smoked swordfish, etc. The girl taking our order informed me that they did not have any smoked swordfish. I asked her if they would have it the next day, and her response was "no". I then asked about the day after that and she again said "no". Wow, so a primary option on 80% of the western breakfast choices was just not available. I later discovered that the previous hotel had had this every morning, so it wasn't a local stocking issue. I changed my order and also asked if we could get 2 mangoes sliced. I was fully expecting to get 2 mangoes, sliced... and pay for them. Instead they brought 1/2 of a mango and then didn't bring our "fruit salad"...After a while I asked about the fruit salad and the girl said "ok" with a sad face and then brought out those, which had clearly been prepared in advance... After learning that they didn't charge me for the mangoes, I was more understanding as to why they had given me so little...but this could have been solved with better communication. I wanted 2 and I was fully prepared to pay extra for 2. The other surprise was the the items listed were all mixed together. So for example, if you ordered "2 Eggs Scrambled, bacon, and grilled tomatoes" (approximate quote) you didn't receive those things separately, but rather they were all mixed up together in the eggs. This would not have been my first choice.

Before we were finished with breakfast, the construction began again... This was frustrating to say the least.

My wife tried once again to obtain bug repellent from the staff and was told that she could walk 20 minutes to the nearest market and buy it there. After speaking to another staff member he informed her that she could walk there, but they wouldn't sell it. "Oh gee thanks!" For a hotel that is soo covered in insects, this would be a good item to have on hand and sell to guests who need it.

I returned to the front desk to exchange some US currency into Rupiah (for tips) and was told "Sorry your bill has been folded so we can't exchange. Do you have different money?" This was the point at which I had just had it... This money wasn't even for me. This was so that we could tip their staff... It was a normal bill and it was in very good condition, but she wouldn't budge. (After returning to our previous hotel, they immediately exchanged these same bills without a single question).

So, after this, I could tell what the rest of our time at this resort was going to be like... frustrating and insect-ridden. We made the decision to abandon ship and leave after just 1 night and return to our "McResort" where we could at least relax and enjoy ourselves.

I can't say enough how DISAPPOINTED we were with this resort. It has SO MUCH potential but seems to be so poorly run. Where were the owners??? We never saw them or heard from them, even during our decision to leave.

Although comfortable, our hotel transportation was Rp 800,000 ( ~ 68 USD) which is almost as much as another night at the hotel. I would think they could get a much better price for this, even considering the distance.

Strange observations:
* The owner's house is in the best location of the entire resort... Given that this is a business, this strikes me as terrifically odd & self-centered? Wouldn't you want either the restaurant or the honeymoon suite, etc in this location?? Strange.
* The "honeymoon villa" is *BEHIND* the massage pavilion... meaning every person who walks to get a massage walks by your villa...back and forth...back and forth. It is not in the location indicated on the resort-drawn map.
* As noted above, the owners seem to be MIA - which is very usual for a resort of this size. Perhaps we were there coincidentally while they were away... According to the staff they were there, but we never saw them.
* The area of beach that is within the resort has a drainage creek that runs directly into the beach off of local land. These types of drainage creeks are notoriously dirty and filled with biofluids, fertilizers, etc. Not exactly the water you want to be frolicking in.

Recommendations to Hotel Owner:
* Dedicate someone to be "Welcome Staff"
* Improve your welcome drink.
* Put massage oils in proper-looking containers. The "motor oil" plastic containers are tacky.
* Add screens (including door) to massage pavilion or stop massage at sunset.
* Keep at least 2 extra flashlights in the massage pavilion at all times for guests that forget theirs and have a massage that finishes after dark.
* Buy some insect repellent (spray type) and sell it to needy guests
* Move the cows and other animals to somewhere farther away from the resort and work on the insect issue.
* Give the chef a raise since he is actually doing his job.
* Hire transport cars with seat belts in the back seat. Having been in other hotel transport vehicles in Bali that DID have seat belts, I know that this is possible.

Gajah Mina is a lovely small resort in western Bali. Only a handful of private villas and a gorgeous central pool. The beach next to the resort is just fabulous - huge and deserted. But it is more for surfers and not great for swimming.
The staff at the hotel are very sweet and accommodating and you must not miss the house soup - just delicious. The restaurant offers some really great fresh food.
Overall great value for money and somewhere I would return to without hesitation.

What a great and lovely place! So relaxed and quite. Well equiped and romantic villa's with the traditional outdoor bathroom. Good breakfasts and dinners in the Restaurant at the site. We made long walks at the beach and enjoyed the fantastic large swimmingpool. Really a place to unwind and not forget!