Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel — Hotel in Kuta

I would never return to this hotel. We came to Bali hoping to end our trip with good family memories — but this hotel completely ruined our last day.

On Tuesday, July 29, at check-in, only one of our two rooms was ready. We were told to wait for the other.

After lunch, we returned around 3 PM. As soon as we opened one of the room doors, we were hit with a terrible sewage or waste odor. We tried to air it out, but the smell didn’t go away. We told the staff we couldn’t possibly stay in that room.

On top of that, both rooms had damp, uncomfortable bedding, and we were worried it might even be wet.

The staff told us to choose between a ground floor room or a 3rd floor family room. We inspected both, chose the 3rd floor — and by the time we finished this process, over an hour had already passed.

They promised someone would come “soon” with new keys and help with luggage — but no one came for more than 30 minutes. Meanwhile, our dinner reservation, swimming, and sunset plans were all delayed. It was frustrating, and my parents had to calm me down.

Much later, a manager came and offered a late check-out. I agreed, just trying to stay calm.

That evening, while swimming, we were told to bring the key to the lobby to register for the late check-out — so I personally went again to the lobby.

The next day (Wednesday, July 30), after returning from an afternoon outing, our room wouldn’t open again. My parents were so upset they just went downstairs to sit and wait.

I had to go to the lobby again to get a new key.

As you can see in the photos, the shower head was old and worn out. Some reviews mentioned clean and modern bathrooms — but it seems like it's a luck of the draw depending on which room you get. Toilet and sink drainage was also very slow or didn’t drain properly at all, and overall, the condition of the room felt outdated and poorly maintained.

Is this really 5-star service? Saying sorry and offering a late check-out doesn’t make up for the time we lost. Today it rained, so we couldn’t even try to make up for yesterday’s ruined schedule. How will you take responsibility? You said you would — but is this what responsibility looks like? I truly don’t understand why this place charges this price, or how it was rated 5 stars in the first place.

👎 If you’re looking for a frustrating experience, this is the place. 🧾 This review is 100% honest — every word is true.

📌 Summary: If you want your last day in Bali ruined, this is the hotel for you.

I truly hope this review helps future travelers — and that the hotel takes this feedback seriously to reflect, improve, and offer better service...

This is our review after spending 12 nights in a pool view room at Discovery Kartika.|Apon arrival the check in was fairly slow due to the amount of guests and after standing in line for over 15 minutes guests that arrived after us were given welcome drinks while we got nothing at the time, we had to ask and did get them eventually.|After we checked in we were then ushered to our room promptly which was good, the room being decently sized with nice cold air conditioning, the view from the 3rd floor on the left wing side catching glimpses of the pool along with part of the breakfast area and gardens.The bedding being nice and comfortable and the bathroom clean and tidy.We have stayed here before when the hotel was near new and it still retains its quality of being a five star hotel however the rooms could do with a bit of freshen up for the amount of money that you pay to stay here.|The resort is in a good location within easy walking distance to multiple restaurants, deli’s and the mall next door along with it being situated on the waterfront.|The hotel staff are kind, friendly and always willing to help if required, housekeeping kept the room clean and tidy, the toilet did block up a few times and flooded the bathroom, the issue sorted out within minutes and the cleaner kindly taking care of the excess water throughout the bathroom.|The staff for breakfast sometimes insisted telling you where to sit even though there was less than 10 people having breakfast.|There is a decent array of foods which changed slightly on a daily basis but to us was lacking from what a 5 star resort should be.|We had room service from The Pond Restaurant a few times and the food was scrumptious at a reasonable cost.|Discovery Kartika still has the opulence of a five star hotel with a huge foyer that looks stunning, the resort boasting a massive pool and beautiful gardens surrounding the entire area.|The things we did not like was the noise, to us your room is the place where you stretch out and relax but from 6-10pm every night they have nightly entertainment in which you can clearly hear every part of it inside your room, yes we did go out a few nights to listen to the music but certainly do not wish to hear it banging away in our room every night, overpowering our chat and hearing the tv, due to this is why I have marked you down to a 3 star, 316 rooms and 30 people at the bar listening to the music, not everyone wants to hear it every night up to 10pm.|Tip, save your money and book a garden view room, much much quieter and...

The view was great, and the location next to Discovery Mall is convenient—but all of that was overshadowed by the terrible attitude of some staff.

The communication at the front desk was terrible. I asked about late checkout, but instead of giving me a clear answer, the staff kept responding with more questions. I had to keep asking just to get basic information—it felt like playing 20 Questions. I had to go through multiple rounds of questioning just to find out that late checkout was available until 6pm for half the daily rate. When I said I would let them know if we decided to do late checkout, the staff responded with “I’m confused” and asked, “When will you tell us?” So I had to ask again, “By when do I need to let you know?” He then said, “By 11am.” Just don’t say “confused”—you could simply say, “Please let us know as soon as possible.” All the unnecessary words and lack of professionalism were extremely frustrating. Why is it so hard to explain something so basic? I don’t understand why something so simple had to be made so unnecessarily complicated.

After checkout, I asked the luggage staff if there was anywhere we could sit and wait, and he told us to go to the café or pointed to the stair rail, saying that was the only option. I then asked another front desk staff member and was finally told where we could wait. Sit on a stair rail? Telling a guest that is incredibly rude and unprofessional. There was no proper waiting area in the lobby, and most of the lobby had “Do not sit” signs. For a resort, this is absolutely ridiculous.

The room was average. The pool view was blocked by a tree. The toilet barely flushed, the rain shower was covered in limescale, and the water filter turned orange after one use. Clearly not well-maintained.

Other staff were polite, but the ones we dealt with left a terrible impression. Their attitude was worse than what I’ve experienced even at guesthouses. That alone is enough reason for me to...