RIMBA by AYANA Bali — Hotel in Kuta Selatan

On Friday night, we decided to go to a 5-star hotel for dinner and an overnight stay. We left around 9 PM and I expected the drive to take about an hour, so I phoned the reception to find out what the latest time for ordering food was at the restaurant. The receptionist told me that most restaurants close early, however the Roof Top and Rock Bar are open until 11 and 12 respectively and you can place the last orders before 11 PM at both locations.

We arrived at the hotel around 10:10 PM, and once again asked the receptionist which restaurants were still open for dinner. They suggested Roof Top and Rock Bar. The check-in process took about 15 minutes and once we got to our room and dropped off our bags, we headed off to Roof Top restaurant arriving around 10:36 PM.

To our surprise, the restaurant manager informed us that the last order was already taken, and it's not 11 PM as the receptionist told us, but 22:30 PM. She refused to serve us, despite the fact that the last order was only six minutes ago. We told her that we had come from a long distance and we had previously confirmed with the receptionist that the last order would be at 11pm - but she still refused to help us. I then called the reception desk back and reminded them of their promise, but even then they were not willing to assist us and instead recommended that we go to Rock Bar. This was especially strange, since only twenty minutes earlier they had suggested Roof Top restaurant.

We trudged back to the lobby and pleaded with the receptionist for assistance in organizing a transfer to the Rock Bar, but all he said was to wait. With anxiousness mounting, we desperately asked the receptionist to help us book a spot at the Rock Bar before it was too late. To our frustration, he placed a call and nobody answered. Finally, after much urging, the reception staff drove us to the Rock Bar in a buggy.

We were running through the area around hotel which houses the Rock Bar. When we reached the bar, we asked for dinner and were told that we couldn't order food. I asked why, and the representative said that the last order had already been taken. I asked him three times why the last order had been taken, but he did not answer my question. Instead, he offered to order a drink, not food. On my fourth attempt, I angrily asked when the last order was, and he said 10:30 PM. I explained that we had called the hotel three hours ago, and that they had confirmed that the last dinner orders were taken at 11 PM and we also asked the same question at the reception upon arrival, and they gave us the same information, and then at the Roof Top restaurant they sent us to the Rock Bar. The hotel representative just smiled smugly.

We were extremely disappointed and went back to the AYANA reception to take us to Rimba. Surprisingly, the buggy driver didn't know the location and asked which lobby we were going to; the big one or the small one. We had no idea, since we had only seen one lobby. First, he took us to the wrong entrance, but eventually we managed to reach our hotel.

After coming back from an ultimately fruitless trip to the Rock Bar, I visited the reception desk again and asked why they had suggested going there for dinner if the last order had already been taken by the time we asked. The receptionist merely suggested that we use their in-room dining service instead. We ended the evening feeling very disappointed and frustrated, having to settle with just noodles and sandwiches in our room.

To summarize, 3 of the receptionists gave us inaccurate information about the last order time of the restaurants (which was essential to us!), the Roof Top's restaurant manager incorrectly recommended that we go to Rock Bar (the last order at Rock Bar had already been taken before her suggestion), and it took the representative at the Roof Top 4 attempts before answering my direct question. None of them apologized or even expressed remorse.

This was certainly not what we expected from a five-star hotel. The service felt like that...

This is for those who check reviews on a daily basis, my true and honest experience at Rimba/Ayana resorts! From the moment you walk in the staff greet you with a smile and offer a welcome drink and gorgeous floral necklace which my daughter loved. Check in was smooth and quick even at peak check in time 2pm. All my pre-booked requests (quiet room, cot etc) were organised and arranged with no hassle. Checking in to the room was a breeze, our luggage was only a few minutes behind us and the lead in Hillside room was honestly big enough for the 3 of us with a huge, comfy king bed, cot next to it and a lounge on the other side with room to move. Bathroom is stunning with huge soaking tub, im always skeptical of a bath/shower combo but this didnt bother me at all as its so huge and good for little ones to sit and have a bath. One thing to note is the large round table in the corner of the room, very dangerous for toddlers as mine whacked her head a few times. Housekeeping was absolutely incredible taking care of all the constant mess from my 2 year old and always showing up when we were out. Turn down service each evening was so appreciated.

The resort itself is incredible. The most beautiful extensive grounds and facilities Ive seen (ex travel agent for a decade) and truly caters for all (families, couples, friends). With access to all Ayana properties via tram service or the walking track you truly have everything you need in one spot. We never felt like there were too many people around the pool or brekky. Staff are everywhere and always smiling and happy to help and have a chat. Of the 12 pools we loved Rimba main pool and Ayana kids pool the best! One suggestion to the resort would be a small splash area/pool for little ones. My 2 yo was just big enough to stand in the kids pool area.

Restaurants: First night was sunset drinks at Rock Bar - oh my goodness what a place. In a previous life (pre kids) this would have been a once in a lifetime experience but I must admit taking a toddler sort of dampens the mood, we got a spot up at the main bar but the music was way too loud. Nonetheless it is a must do even for a quick drink. I suggest arriving around 545pm otherwise the heat from the sun is intense.

Togè - Buffet brekky here every morning and yep, lives up to the hype. Amazing extensive selections all fresh and pastries/breads baked on site! Staff are just gorgeous too always taking care of rhe little ones. We had brekky at Padi one morning and Togè is much better in my opinion. Tip is to take some zip lock bags and fill up on pastries, bananas and pb sandwiches for little ones through the day.

Damar Terrace - Food was lovely and the restaurant itself is beautiful- bit dark at night though so a few bugs!

Sami Sami - This was the most gorgeous restaurant location. Its a must. And the pizza is SO good.

Ah Yat - Best chinese food Ive ever had!!!! Roast duck was out of this world. Devastated I couldn't try the all you can eat dimsum.

HonZen - The set menu is incredible and seafood is so fresh. The little private booths upstairs are great for rowdy toddlers.

Unique- Best cocktails I've ever had, chili margarita was a winner. The food was so tasty as well, fresh and reasonably authentic tex mex. Gorgeous view, in fact for me it beats the rock bar sunset, especially with kiddos.

Kids clubs- both Rimba and Ayana have cute kids clubs, 4 and up can stay without a guardian and they do daily activities etc. like outings to the organic farm and temple visits. Ayanas is bigger and with an outdoor playground and we preferred that.

Aquatonic pool is as good as everyone says! Kubu beach is also gorgeous but not a good swimming beach especially for little ones/inexperienced swimmers. Overall we will find it hard to consider staying anywhere else in Bali! Thank you Rimba,...

We recently stayed at the Rimba by Ayana in a Resort View Suite (2x families of 4, including young children under 4yo) for 8 nights.

Firstly, the estate as a whole is absolutely breathtaking! Every inch is seriously stunning and like nothing we had ever seen before in all our trips to Bali and other parts of the world.

The welcome to the hotel was very warm, however the warmness didn’t carry through many of our other interactions with hotel staff for the duration of our stay. Other interactions were polite, but not what we are use to in Bali with super friendly staff who are happy to go above and beyond to make your stay memorable.

The food for us was average. The buffet breakfast at TeGo was great! Lots of choices, fresh, and very friendly/ helpful staff. They even have koi fish feeding for the kids which was a hit! Sami Sami and Danmar were both family friendly in terms of menu and outdoor seating (probably really the only ones?) and the food was good. Scusa is such a beautiful restaurant and staff were great with the kids - the food was delish. Honzen unfortunately disappointed with the menu items we chose. We couldn’t find a decent coffee anywhere and I feel like the hotel is targeting the Western market with their current advertising campaigns so I think decent coffee is a must.

The pools are stunning, very aesthetically pleasing, and there are plenty of them! They looked and felt clean however I wouldn’t consider them family friendly - maybe for older kids but not younger. Many of them are adults only also.

We took a travel stroller and often our baby was sleeping in it, so rather than catching the tram and having to fold down the pram/ wake the baby, the concierge helped arrange for buggy transport for us between the resorts/ facilities which was a huge plus and super helpful!

There are LOTS of steps throughout the estate and garden bed edges with “drops” as well as water with no fencing so it is quite difficult to easily move around with kids - it was fine for us but logistically it took a long time to move from place to place.

There are two kids clubs - the one at the Ayana is better than the one at the Rimba which was a shame because it seems that the Rimba is more targeted towards families with kids. An upgrade to lighten and refresh the Rimba kids club would fix this.

We used the hotel baby sitting service once for 3 hours, and were very happy with the baby sitter and service as a whole! Would recommend.

Lastly, our room. It was spacious and big enough for the 4 of us, including a play pen that we hired.. however relative to the price, It was very underwhelming otherwise. Most concerning was the mould in the bathroom behind the basin/vanity and in the shower; and the constant dampness in the room and mouldy smelling air-conditioning. We have been to Bali over 10 times, and at different times of year and we have never had this same mould or dampness in a room. When we advised the reception of the issue, they advised they would ask the cleaning team to clean the mould. Two days later the mould still hadn’t been cleaned so we spoke to reception again and still no one came to clean the mould. We gave up after this. This wasn’t isolated to our room as my sister also had the same issue with their room which was directly below ours. At check out we advised them again of the mould and dampness and the staff simply said “thanks for the feedback” which was also underwhelming - it seemed as though they didn’t care generally speaking.

Ultimately we had a great family holiday but we wouldn’t recommend the Ayana to anyone with kids, and we wouldn’t recommend the resort view room at the Rimba due to the mould and dampness (not sure if it’s a whole-of-hotel issue?). Next time we would probably chose to stay at the more family friendly 5 star resorts in Nusa...