La Boheme Jakarta — Hotel in Jakarta

I normally don’t leave reviews for Hotels because often time it’s a personal experience which varies from person to person, and day to day. There are just too many factors that can influence the overall experience, more so than ever now with the impact of COVID. However, this time it’s different because I got to spend an entire month at La Boheme. And I can say with confidence that it was one of the most delightful and charming experience. Let me share my experience with you.

The Location: The location was perfect for my stay, central and conveniient. It was a 10 minute walk to the Citywalk plaza, 5 minutes to Indofood tower, and a 7 minute bike ride to plaza Indonesia. The train to Bandung is also close by, perfect for a day trip. Other things within walking distance includes a wide variety of authentic street food, coin laundry, and convenience store such as Alfamart and Indomart. I recommend you check out the Nasi Padang place called Rumah Macan Manunggal and the Ayam Bakar place in front of the hotel Enak! Enak!

First Impression: One of the things that surprised me when I arrived was how well maintained and modern the building is. You walk through the door and can immediately smell the coffee. And I highly recommend that you try their Latte and iced long black, similar to an iced Americano. The beans are solid, and it’s much better than the stuff you get at the brand name places (I won’t mention any names - green straws). Aside from the coffee, there are many areas to sit, indoor, outdoor, and even the rooftop which have a panoramic view of the city skylines. So far, you are already off to a good start.

The Place: Now for more important matters, the room. The room I booked was called the “Hippie Deluxe” which was spacious and smartly designed with a natural touch. There is a collapsable wooden table that allows you to set up your laptop and get work done. A mini fridge is also included, which is essential for a long term stay. If you travel as much as I do, you know how tiring it is to eat out all the time and needing to store leftovers. The room I stayed in also have a large window that can be open with a nice view of the city, which I appreciate. A smart tv is also included with access to popular streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube. The bathroom is spacious with a stand up shower, well designed, clean, and a rack to hang your towel and clothes which is often missing from other hotels. And I didn’t need to ask for toiletries, a set of toothbrush and toothpaste was already included when I arrived. A small but important detail that the big boys in the hotel industry often neglect. But not La Boheme, because they care.

The People: If you got this far, then you made it to the best part of this review which I will now speak about the staff. Like I had mentioned before, I travel quite a lot, for work and for pleasure. And I have stayed at hotels that ranges from hundreds to a few thousand dollars a week. And what amazes me with La Boheme is how well trained, professional, and friendly the staff are. From what I can see, they operate more like a family run business, with great teamwork, that understands what it takes to deliver a good customer experience. I wanted to give attention to this point because I think this is the missing link in todays hospitality industry. And I hope that other travelers, like myself, will also get to enjoy the same experience that I had at La Boheme. My entire stay felt like a home away from home because of the people here. So kudos to the entire team including management.

One thing I left out of this review was the Live Band that performs every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! Good Music, Good Food, and Good Vibes! What more can you ask for?!

Terima Kasih...

La Boheme Coffee and Resto located in Setiabudi, with such a mired alley to get into. It is very hard to notice from every where, but do not worry you can rely kn Google maps tho. First of all, I kind of having doubts to book my stay here as the photos surround this place seem not promising. So I observe there alone and found myself stunned.

The ambience is totally quiet and homey! The outdoor cafe is offering guests a calming wind during the day and the night. In the weekend, the ground floor would be so crowded since people often coming here to chill.

The staffs are very helpful and I kind of feeling taken care of by them. They all friendly, really and never hesitate to lend us a helping hand. Not only the staff, but the security Officers are all kind. I am amazed on how they Manage people that working here.

For the building itself, it such a VERY LOVELY PLACE. I took my mother and mother-in-Law here and surprisingly they were very happy and choose to be here anytime they're gonna visit Jakarta. They especially love the rooftop, to meditate in the morning and the afternoon. La Boheme is really have a cool rooftop! (too sad, sometimes in the morning this spot was not yet cleaned up)

The corridor at the second and third floor was really nice. When the Sun shines, it would be very beautiful and relaxing. When the rain comes, it would be such a warm place. However I dont sense the same in the ground floor. It was bit gloomy and humid.

They place cold and Hot dispenser on every corridor, in terms of eco-living. Such a good idea for reducing plastic during people stay, and guess are actually happy that we can refill the pitcher ourselves.

The room itself amazing!!! All the room....Just cool in it's own design. The gypsy room was big enough for two people, they a cool spot to study or to work. However the shower room is a bit small. Other room, the hippie...it is big! The bathroom is average. They have additional spot on the wall for such a compact long sofa, and mini wooden desk. My family and I used this spot for having dinner together in the room. Super kewl! The last room is the Boho room. It is huge and soooooo homey. Good for study and work, good for do yoga inside the room and totally good for staying! They provide us a big window and charming balcony.

For the breakfast, you will get some tasty croissant and coffee or tea as you wish. The system is grab and go. Understand that they have no restaurant. The croissants are very delicious and satisfying my stomach. Awesome!

For the facility, as I mentioned earlier they have super cool cafe (AC&Outdoor), gym, prayer room, basement for parking (limited), and beautiful rooftop. In every room, they complete it with mini refrigerator, Laundry bin, safe deposit box, pitcher and two glasses, desk lamp (not in all room), in room sink, compact drawer, and tv with netflix. Too bad, safe box at some rooms are not working properly and we dont get amenities for brushing teeth, comb, and hotel sandals like how it should in every Hotels. Other thing is...based on my personal experience, it was sad to be in queue for borrowing hair dryer. Some days I need to wait for more than thirty minutes for having it delevered to my room. And I found it a bit noisy if I get a room located in the corner near the dispenser and am not sure where the noise are coming from.

Overall, I feel happy and Content staying here. I wanted to give 4.6 rate but I cant. Hence I send you 5 for all of the lovely experience during my stay! Thank...

At first, I thought I'll give almost perfect score for this hotel. It turns out after experiencing staying for 2 nights, I could only give 2. The design, hospitality, food, and cleanliness are outstanding. What lacking in this hotel is quiet and calming environment. It is the combination of building structure and rooms location in the middle of the building, especially with an open space from the first floor to the highest floor which leak every kind of noise easily entering the room, not to mention about the quality of brick that is also not thick at all.

On the other note, specifically about the room door. Every time the room door is closed, it always result the very loud noise like people slamming the door. The design and construction of the door itself already produce very loud noise whenever people close it even slowly. The hotel management should really put additional tool of "door closer" to make it less slamming noise. I stayed 2 nights and felt like my hearts jumped countless times whenever other rooms' doors closed, it felt like the thunder was hitting me directly though I am inside the building! It was never a good experience when you were trying to sleep at about 00.00 midnight, then the slamming-thunder door hit you and wake you up so many times from other rooms...

The experience of such slamming door countless times was also combined with the other noise like hotel stuffs talking very loud, laughing, yelling to their peers while cleaning or whatever they're doing at the corridor, all the noises enter the room loudly and easily. Probably the hotel management don't realize about it. Dunno what they can do to fix this noise problems at the hotel, adding the bricks or soundproof materials...

Lastly, I know guests are welcomed to bring their children to stay at the hotel. But, hotel management should also make policy and remind them to be considerate for other guests, especially to put their children inside the room after 10 PM and not screaming and running in the corridor freely at 11.30 PM, even though it was Saturday Night. Well, probably the children below 5 years old nowadays were joining the party with their parents on saturday nights...

So, after the experience of lacking sleep badly and such thunder-door noise... I think might visit the hotel again but only for the restaurant or taking photo for instagram only, but definitely not anymore for staying...