Detailed review by Vodkaboy
Vodkaboy(46)
Somewhere Over Here98%
The Novotel Lombok is a beautifully designed hotel. The rambling paths, whitewashed walls and towering thatched roofs all bring to mind traditional villages. The people are welcoming and friendly, the sunset bar is the perfect place to watch a fiery sunset and there are plenty of activities every day, from archery lessons to night time movies on the beach.
So what's wrong? Well, it's just that the hotel is in the wrong place. The beach is passable for kids digging holes and making castles but swimming? Forget it. It's shallow, the bottom is strewn with sharp coral and at high tide it's full of rubbish. Apparently there is a beautiful beach a couple of miles up the coast. Add to that the infestation of flies during daylight hours (two meals a day) and it begs the question, why not build the hotel there, instead of somewhere unswimmable and full of flies?
It's a shame as the hotel and people are lovely. But I wouldn't go back.
Novotel Lombok5
Ratings
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Room
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Size
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Cleanliness
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Features
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Room Condition
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Design
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View
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The room was fairly standard, if a bit basic and worn, but perfectly sufficient. The layout is a little different - the corridor has small alcoves with a room on each side. Going through the door, one enters directly into the bedroom (unlike 99% of hotel rooms where one enters into a corridor with the bathroom to one side), with the bed immediately to one side. The bed was a good sized, comfortable double bed with bedside tables on both sides. Opposite was a shelf and the desk, with a small TV. To one side was the washing area with two sinks and towels in a cupboard underneath. To one side was a sliding door (with no lock) to the toilet; to the other side was the shower.
The main tone of decor was wooden and the room was slightly different to the worldwide norm for hotel rooms, so that small difference already made the hotel, well, 'different'. There was internet access via a cable, though I didn't use it - I was on holiday.
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Hotel facilities
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Appearance/Architecture
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Lobby Atmosphere
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General Condition
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Front Desk
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Staff (Friendliness/Service)
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Variety of Restaurants
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Guests
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Hotel Bar
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Pool & Outdoor Facilities
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Sports facilities
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Spa Facilities
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Childcare
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The hotel is of a beautiful design, evocative of a traditional village from the region with simple buildings, whitewashed walls and high, towering, thatched roofs.
Reception is in a small, open sided building. Check in is done over a juice, seated to one side. It was at this point that we first noticed the infestation of flies.
There are two restaurants, the main restaurant which looks onto the beach and has buffet breakfast and also dinners when the hotel is busy, and a seafood restaurant which has some seafood among other things. Most evenings that we were there, the hotel was not busy enough to warrent a buffet (good to avoid wasteage but not good for choice). One evening there was a set menu, another just a la carte. We had one dinner at the seafood restaurant, which was very good, and two at the main restaurant.
Being open at the sides, the restaurant was infested with flies at breakfasts and lunches. Every plate at our table was attacked by flies; every cup and spoon. The dishes on the buffet were covered except, for some reason, the bread. I pointed this out on the first morning and it was soon covered but the next morning was not. We had to cover every plate at the table with napkins. Despite that, within 24 hours 2 of us had diarrhea - which of course may be completely unrelated, or not.
The bar is inbetween the two restaurants. All three look onto the beach. There is a long happy hour at the bar over sunset and we thoroughly enjoyed supping a cocktail or three while watching the sun turn the ocean gold.
There are numerous activities on offer throughout the day, from treks to have breakfast on a steep hill overlooking the bay (why?) to treks to see monkeys, to basket weaving and archery. It is not easy to get bored, unless one really tries!
The spa offers a good range of treatments (I thoroughly recommend the one with two masseuses in harmony!) and a massage is also available on the beach. The pool, though, is rather different; it is plain, rectangular and seems to be in a container on top of the beach so is high up with no pool deck or loungers, just a wall around the water. There is a small pool area to one side but barely swimmable. All in all, a rather odd arrangement.
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Food & Beverages
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Food Variety
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Food Quality
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Range of Beverages
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Dining Area Ambiance
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Service
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The seafood restaurant offers a choice of seafood and others; the one dinner I had here was very good. The other restaurant offers flies with flies except for the evenings when a buffet may be available if there are enough diners. There are also shows put on by the staff some evenings, which are well worth watching as everyone joins in with great gusto and enjoyment. One of the best evenings we had was with the staff and other guests limbo dancing.
Being open to the elements, the sea and the sand is fantastic execept for the flies. The bar, of course, is not so badly affected. They serve snacks in the day and evening mealtimes, they have a happy hour over sunset and the perfect view of the setting sun. The staff were all wonderful, having our orders ready, looking after the kids, and generally helping us make the most of the beautiful view and the ambience.
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Location
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Transportation Connection
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Night Life
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Quiet Location
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Beach (Size)
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Beach (Cleanliness)
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Beach (Space)
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Water Quality
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The package that we booked included transfers and the driver was there to meet us. He chatted away for a while, asking if we wanted a car to take us places, and never stopped. Several times he offered himself for drives that we didn't want, to places that we didn't want, and in the end we had to be blunt and almost rude to stop him offering us what we didn't want.
The hotel is located on a beach in northern Lombok. Now it is a 90 minute drive from the airport, once the new airport opens it will be 20-30 minutes. Right now there is little else in the area, so one is effectively stuck with the choices that the hotel offers, though in time doubtless there will be more available.
The most import thing of course is the beach. Here, the sand is new (small balls rather than grains) but, more importantly, it is shallow, so shallow as to make swimming almost impossible. I swam quite a way out and still was barely clearing the coral or the sandbanks. At high tide, there was a host of plastic and other debris brought in so that most people would not want to swim. Effectively, swimming was not an enjoyment.
