Villa Jumah is a great villa to be in. It looks as good when you're there as it does in the photos and felt like an oasis of calm compared to the chaos of Seminyak (particularly the traffic - which for most of the day felt more like the UK at rush hour than what we wanted from Bali). We tended to spend our time by the pool in the mornings before going off and doing some exploring in the afternoon. The staff were really nice and very helpful. One night we had the babi guling (roast pork) banquet, which was delicious. Breakfast was simple but nice.
There were a few points that let down our experience:
1) We noticed a rat near the dining area on one of the nights. Later on, I also saw a rat in our bedroom. The next morning I told the staff who said that they would tell their supervisor; however, little more was said on the matter. Considering we had our 4 year old son with us it would have been nice if more could have been done to deal with this.
2) We used the villa's driver to take us out to a few different locations. Later on, we asked him to take our group of 11 from the villa in Seminyak to a restaurant in Kuta. He said this would be 150,000 IDR one way (about £9). Later on, we discovered this we could take the local Bluebird taxi to do this for about 30,000 IDR using 2 cars. It was difficult to not feel ripped off, something I thought the placed where we were staying wouldn't do.
3) I was slightly surprised to see a security guard outside the villa every night. This suggested that safety in the area wasn't as good as you would hope. We were told a member of staff would be in at the villa 247 and that the villa was secure. However, one of the days we came back from a day out none of the staff were there, which meant we couldn't get in. The villa's driver (who was with us, although didn't have a key) then had to jump over the fence to let us in. The fact he did this so easily showed how easily someone could jump over the fence. Considering none of us were given keys for our rooms (meaning we couldn't lock them) I think someone could break in if they really wanted to.
I know on holiday events can sometimes get lost in translation, but better communication around all of the above points would have given this review a higher score.
All bookings are direct with the owner 