Roka Resort — Hotel in Bintan Island

“Worst hotel in the world” is the best phrase which could describe Roka Resort.||||For context, I am a university student, female, and went to Roka for 5 days - 4 nights, with my 5 other university friends. We are all girls.||||Although the personnel, Dewi (at the restaurant) & Ishak at the front desk, were more than adorable, it was the Manager of the hotel (Iwan Kadly) himself who ruined my whole experience, along with his wife. ||||On my first night at Roka, I noticed that upon waking up I had visible insect marks on my legs (see photo), as well as my friends. After searching on the internet, it obviously looked like bed bug marks, but we were not sure and did not want to cause a commotion, hence waited the second day to see if this situation repeated itself. ||The second morning, we all had even more rashes from these marks. That is why we decided to check all the beds ourselves to see if there were any bed bugs. What we did find is bed bug poop under the sheets (see picture). However, we did not see the bed bugs directly since they hide INSIDE the mattress. ||||When we raised this concern to the staff on the third night, we demanded to change rooms. Since Roka was fully booked that night, we were really panicked as we could not change rooms, nor change hotels as we do not have enough money for this as university students. Hence, we asked to be refunded the 4th night we would not spend at Roka, as we wanted to leave earlier. The room itself was faulty: the curtains had mold, and when we arrived at our room the bed cover plus pillows had mold. Then, the Manager came.||||Mister Iwan Kadly’s behaviour was more than humiliating, odious and shocking towards us. He had no sense of customer service, and made me feel a way I had never felt before. As he knew I was a young girl with very little amenities, he purposely mocked me and threatened us that he would file a lawsuit against us, as we supposed our beds had bed bugs. He said that these were sand fly marks, but no one informed us of this issue. One thing for sure, and I have verbal proof of this, is that he promised he would reimburse us the night we did stay at Roka. That would help my other friends and I to pay for the clean up of our belongings, if it did contain bed bugs. His wife, which by the way is as deplorable as him, also claimed they would reimburse us one night. I may add that she doesn't even have a working visa, yet works for the hotel by speaking on behalf of it.||||A few days later, when I asked for a refund on Agoda, the hotel DENIED the refund, saying that it was a conditional reimbursement: “they would reimburse only if we had obvious proof of bed bugs”. However, that is NOT what was agreed. ||||||All of this to say, this is the worst hotel experience I have ever had, and as a human being, I have never felt so disrespected. The Manager knew what he was doing, and laughed when we were raising our concerns the whole time, and even mocked us by making us feel stupid for raising the bed bug concern. ||||Avoid this place at all cost, and I sincerely hope that the Manager and his wife will leave...

A perfect place to disconnect and de-stress, Roka Resort is a cosy and quiet little resort located in the north side of Bintan with only 14 well-appointed rooms and an expansive private beach.

Pluses - Spacious rooms with quality furnishing and fittings, huge clean bathroom with separate toilet and shower stalls, double sinks, toiletries (except for toothbrush and toothpaste) and hairdryer provided. Sufficient closet space, mini fridge and room safe but no TV. Mattress was firm but comfortable and pillows were soft and fluffy. Free use of sit-on-top kayaks, PFDs, paddles and also SUP boards. You can paddle to the little island called Pulau Sumpat in front of the resort or the mangroves to the right. Make sure to check high and low tide times as you don't want to have to drag your kayaks back when the tide goes down! The waters are crystal clear and shallow all the way to the island and immediately around it. There was a small group of Orang Laut (sea nomads) in their boats anchored near to the island. We respected their privacy and kept our distance as we circumnavigated the island. Do take note also to hydrate well and wear full UV protective clothing and apply sunblock to all exposed skin areas as the heat and UV levels were in the extreme range in June when we were there. There's also a small (highly chlorinated) swimming pool. Other than that there's nothing else much to do but maybe explore the area a bit and chillax. Food at the resorts Sambhuya restaurant was generally good but some dishes were hit and miss or not available and pricey for Indonesian standards. There's a warung (local food stall) nearby but we didn't try it. Staff were friendly and responsive when needed. Special mention to Harun who cheerfully attended to our requests and enquiries and to server Anna, as well as the housekeeping and reception staff. Late check out wasn't a problem as the rooms were not fully occupied during that period.

Minuses - There may be mosquitoes and sand flies but insect repellant is provided and available. As with most of Bintan, trash is burned on site as there is not much of a recycling culture or infrastructure there. When we checked in to our room, there were some stains on the bed cover and some of the towels although they appeared to have been washed and smelled nice. Probably stains that were not properly cleaned. We requested for them to be changed and this was promptly done. I did get some bedbug bites on my back on the last day, possibly from one of chair cushions in the restaurant or room although my...

We were greeted by the most warm and lovely Madi and Sukma, who replied to all Our emails and queries very promptly before Our arrival from Singapore..during Our stay We tried the Chef's Indonesian and Thai specialties for Our 1st lunch and the rest of the days 😋, U will be served by the most beautiful and efficient hostesses Rika,Tiara and Sasa..then We settled down in Our beautifully decorated rooms which are very luxurious, all thanks to the owner Sophie's tastefull choices because of Her experience in Interior designing 😍..Our Coffee time was also special at with the sun setting down, We even ordered a dessert 'Onde Onde' which was superbly delicious 😋..We went for a walk on 'Pengudang beach' a little later to see the Sun 🌞 setting, We also saw a little bit of the neighbouring fishing village 😊 and went outside and saw the neighbourhood..@rokaresort has created amazing spaces and a drinks menu for U to enjoy Cocktails by the pool or U can enjoy some Sundowners at thier Bar that is in the middle of the ocean, for which We were the 1st patrons for the special opening on Christmas 🎄 Eve 😍, the fabulous Bartenders Dayad and Yandy are very young, skillfull and enthusiastic trained by the Owners Iwan and Sophie alongwith all the help of their friend Christian who curated the drinks list and recipes 😊..during the course of Our stay We constantly got to chat with Iwan an Sophie who guided Us and helped Us in making Our stay super comfortable and shared with Us thier stories, they are the most passionate and the sweetest couple We have ever met..Me and My Hubby had the best Christmas 🎅...