Betterplace (formerly bnbprofits) — Hotel in Pulau Bali

Book with them if you want your holiday ruined.

Rented a villa in Bali, Uluwatu and it was an awful experience. The villa had no hot water which we only found out near midnight after having been out for the day. The team had insufficient support to come and fix this, and despite the manager agreeing to come at 1am to take a look, stopped replying at some point and disappeared.

Furthermore, the brochure promotes a 24/7 customer service, but the concierge that we reached out to (also on a brochure in the villa) insists they’re only 9am-9pm.

To their credit, the team came the next morning to fix the issue. However in the afternoon they mentioned that it was spoilt and they wouldn’t be able to fix it in time - meaning that for the entirety of our 2 day 2 night stay we wouldn’t have hot water.

Management however refused to refund us for our stay - almost as if hot water isn’t a basic service to be provided in an accommodation, much less a holiday villa. They didnt have any spare villas in Uluwatu for us to move to either. From their responses, it was clear that they didn’t think having hot water was important. Extremely frustrating dealing with their customer service team who clearly does not understand what service means within the hospitality industry.

For our sanity, we decided to cut short our stay, checking out early that night instead of the next day. And even then, it took more than an hour to get hold of anyone despite reaching out to the manager, customer service and the concierge desk. Eventually we found that there was someone from the team who was sitting outside the villa - with nary a word that he had come to assist for the check out, nor anything from the service teams acknowledging our check out request or even that they’d already sent someone.

I don’t know what’s wrong with this provider. I simply wouldn’t book through them again.

1. they don’t have the team necessary to support basic needs of their clients, to run a hospitality business, which is 24/7.
2. clearly they don’t understand what’s important in the hospitality business either - ie hot water after a long day out
3. serious communication issues with and between their teams

Go ahead and book with them if you want your...

A group of us rented a villa through BnBprofits. We found the company very hard to work with as renters. After flying 24 hours from the US, the reservation manager, Ika, insisted we use TransferWise to pay, an app none of has had ever heard of. Despite that, we attempted two separate wire transfers and both times the transfer time took too long to meet the check in date. So, we had to withdraw the requests and try to get our money back (stressful - the money had already left the bank).

We then offered to pay online via credit card - a seemingly simple request elsewhere in the modern world. However, the company cannot process online credit card payments and wanted us to drive two hours each way to physically process the payment at their office.

Finally, we offered cash - we had plenty of USD and would have paid a reasonable exchange fee. This was also refused as they only accept Indonesian rupiah. And, the small town had ONE ATM that only dispenses only $60 USD at a time and was frequently out of cash. So, we had to make MULTIPLE trips to the ATM to aggregate the cash that Ika kept aggressively demanding.

Not a great start to a dream vacation in Bali.

Looking at their website, the company seems to be very owner/landlord focused, but I can't say the same for guests. I would avoid this company as they are only interested in your money (the company name makes sense).

I will note that villa was lovely and we enjoyed it once we got through the stress of arriving on the other side of the world and basic commerce systems not working or supported by the BNBprofits host management.

Also worth noting that most recent positive reviews are all fakes. Drill down and read about the writers and their other...

Betterplace really went above and beyond to ensure that our holiday at Villa Bloom Umalas was a memorable and enjoyable holiday. They truly made our first trip to Bali so special. Excellent communication, quick responses and nothing was a problem in helping with our requests. Our villa manager Adi and our housekeeper Arya were excellent. We had a slight power outage which was resolved within 30mins. Our driver, Widi was friendly and efficient — he picked us up and dropped us off at the airport, both trips were very smooth. Even after we left our villa in Canggu and switched to a different villa that wasn’t managed by their team, they were still accommodating and always willing to assist us — we continued to use their services as it was easier than coordinating requests with our new host. We also had an amazing snorkel tour of Nusa Penida which was all fully organized by their team — we saw manta rays, turtles, schools of fish, colourful coral reefs and amazing beaches. Their staff and their partners (like tour guides, massage therapists, drivers, etc) were all so friendly and provided great service. They really ensure that all the little details are accounted for so you don’t have to worry and you can just focus on enjoying your holiday in Bali. We hope to use their services again in the future if we are able to visit Bali again. Highly...