Bisma Eight — Hotel in Pulau Bali

To the people who are reading this, this is a sign and a serious warning that you just shouldn’t stay at this hotel, run as fast as you can and stay somewhere else. You might think this is long, but it’s worth every second of your time if you are considering staying at this hotel.

I acknowledge that some of the general staff I met at the beginning seemed very nice and polite, but this is in no way worth the risk of anyone’s health and safety.

On my second night at the hotel, I was utterly disgusted to find a strand of hair inside one of the bath towel. I can still remember the feeling of touching it as I unfold the towel, it is just purely awful. I was so shocked, as a frequent traveller since young across many many different countries, I’ve stayed in so many hotels, and this is just a serious health concern that I had never encountered.

However, I’d rather find hair in my bath towel every single night, than to experience what comes after. I made the mistake of giving the hotel another chance, and agreed to be upgraded to their villa the next day, as they told me they have a seperate laundry facility for the villa.

To begin with, when I got back to the villa that night, I found many many ants crawling all over the bedroom wall. I called the staff and they came with the spray, however, many more appeared later and I felt uncomfortable for the whole night. But hey, that’s fine, comparing to what happens later.

I woke up at 6am by my daily alarm, I was annoyed that I actually wanted to sleep in a bit, however in hindsight I feel so lucky that I was awake then. Not long after, I heard a very loud bang outside my balcony, with firework-like sparkles exploding. Lights were soon completely shut down inside the room, and that’s when I realised, it’s an explosion from their electricity facilities. I literally froze as I didn’t know what to expect next - will there be anymore explosions? Has any electricity leaked into anywhere of the room? I called the reception, but the staff only came as I was walking outside after a long time of packing with shaky hands.

I was told that monkeys chewed up the wires and caused the explosion. That staff also said to me, “that is not unpredictable”. I was so shocked at what he said and had to ask him to repeat. And he said it again. I guess this must have happened so frequently. But if it happened so often, and is “not unpredictable”, why have they not done anything to prevent it? I’m not a professional electrician, but I assume covering the wires would help a lot. I’m sure there are ways to amend this serious risk, but the hotel didn’t do anything and couldn’t care less when it happened. No help was offered, and never asked if I was ok. I had to drag the luggage myself in the 6am quite street to find another hotel to stay in.

I was in complete shock in the next few hours, as that explosion was only meters away from me and happened right on my balcony. What if I was on the balcony when this happened? I could very well end up being electrified and dead.

When around 10:30am I finally gathered myself and started heading back to the hotel to check out, as I have told the reception when I left. When I was about 5min away from the hotel, I received a WhatsApp message saying the hotel took the liberty to deduct my previous stays from my deposit, along with the invoice. This is some kind of unprofessional and rude behaviour beyond my understanding. Have I exceeded the checkout time? No. Did they ask me if it’s ok to deduct the payment from the deposit or another payment method beforehand? No. Did they try to call or contact me at all? No. I was only told after the payment has been deducted. I would have understand if they had repeatedly tried to contact me and was not able to reach me. But this happens when I’m heading back to the hotel, to return the key cards and settle the payments, despite what happened, and hours before the check out time? This is just some serious greedy, unprofessional and uncaring people that you’d hope...

As soon as you walk into Bisma Eight, you feel a sense of calm, all contributed to by the design, lighting and music of the hotel. The welcome and check in wasn't very smooth, and there were quite a few miscommunications from the woman that checked me in throughout my stay. Otherwise, all other staff members were super friendly and genuinely helpful, the most authentic I’ve had in Bali so far.

I walked into my Canopy Suite and I could hear meditation-like music from outside playing. I asked the staff walking me through the room about it, and if it would be playing all day/night. She said it wasnt very loud and that it shouldn’t be an issue. I tried to take a nap but could not block the music out. I called the front desk and asked if there were any other rooms available. She said there was only one room left but it was being used for a project. Otherwise I would have to pay for a Forest Suite upgrade. I declined and tried to go back to sleep. I couldn’t fall asleep so I went to find the source of the music. It was coming from the restaurant right above me. I called back to see if/when the other Canopy Suite would be available. A manager checked on the status, came to me in person to apologize and said I would be able to move in within the hour. He personally helped me move to the second room which was further away and thankfully super quiet, exactly what I needed. Thank you to the manager for being so accommodating!

The use of different woods, textures and natural hues with colored accents made the room warm and welcoming. For me, most hotel room living rooms are for show and don’t really serve a functional purpose. I lounged in mine at Bisma Eight for a few afternoons, reading and waiting for the rain to pass. The floor to ceiling windows overlook the canopy of the trees and I loved waking up to the feeling of being in the trees. The bed is settled in the center of the divided room. I absolutely loved the amount of natural light that flooded the entire space in the mornings and afternoons. The bathroom is spacious and has a huge Canadian cedar wood hot tub-like bathtub that is perfect for that Instagram shot ;). Although not completely my own personal design aesthetic, I loved the overall look and feel and felt right at home.

Once I was settled in, I could finally take in the fullness of Bisma Eight. The grounds are beautiful, and they lead down to the infinity pool and bar overlooking the jungle. Upstairs is the Copper restaurant, bar and event space/yoga area. I enjoyed my morning yoga sessions, had my breakfasts at Copper and I loved hanging there in the early evenings to watch the sunset. The yoga mats do need a bit of a cleaning though. It's a good thing I brought my own.

There was a photography exhibit titled Raw on the main floor. I walked through the exhibit and felt the impact of the subjects and their stories of loss. I looked up the photographer, Vanessa Van Houten, and her work and found that the exhibit opening happened just a week before. I was bummed to miss it, but thankful to have discovered her work through Bisma.

The food from Copper was very good. Breakfasts were simple but flavorful and the ingredients were super fresh, and I was told that most of the produce came from the organic garden. I ordered in a few times and I was surprised at how fast the staff made and delivered the food.

Bisma offers a car to go wherever you might need. I had to go into town a few times and normally I would have walked, but since I was recovering from a sprained ankle, having the car drop off and pick up was much needed.

You definitely get the sense of holistic wellness that Bisma Eight is all about. Their mission stands true and was reflected in my experience. Though there was a bit of a transition in the beginning, all was smooth and I was very happy...

Interesting concept but it fell a bit off odd. I stayed here for 4 nights. I booked this hotel as i have previously stayed next door at Komaneka Ubud and loved my stay there. Also I love Jalan Bisma in Ubud for its convenience, location yet being away from the busy center. |In terms of the hotel, to be honest it was a bit disappointing. Although, i really like the modern Japanese/Balinese architecture of the room - being, it wasn’t exactly too comfortable. We booked the most expensive room at the highest floor at the back of the resort. The bed was not comfortable. The couch was too low and there was a constant moist-mold-stale odor in the room, especially in the bathroom where the wooden Japanese style tub was. Both the toilet room & washroom smelled unpleasant and did not have a clean feel. I did not use tub due to my recent knee injury- it was too difficult to get in so only used the shower which also way too slippery and the water kept spilling onto the bathroom floor. There were little black flies (or bugs flying around constantly) which made me feel very uncomfortable and unclean. The room had a balcony with a view (but it was a bit underwhelming) with a table and two small chairs where we did have breakfast one time as you have the option of having in-room or going to the restaurant. Actually we did have in room breakfast 3 times but had it inside the room as the balcony chairs are not comfortable at all and it was way too hot to actually sit and enjoy breakfast there. So for the other 2 times we had in the living space of our room. The in-room breakfast was great and looked great. Only once we had breakfast in the restaurant and were very disappointed with it. You have to get your own fruit and juice and yogurt and the other foods served at the table. The fruits, yogurt and juice were not chilled properly and looked like they have been sitting out for hours. There is no air conditioning in the outside part of the breakfast and there were not enough fans for guests to eat comfortably. Mind you, this is on one of the rooftops so it’s very very hot. The shakshuka was terrible. Just had one bite and couldn’t stomach it. The waffle was too hard, too. So being disappointed- both of us stepped out and went for breakfast to another hotel. ||The pool is tiny and there are not enough loungers. The pool sits on top of another building and although it does have a nice view into the jungle with a peek over Komaneka, it is way too small.,The water was clean and comfortable with steps to get in; however the pool being so small with so many people snd kids standing around, you cannot get a good swim. Given the atmosphere of the hotel, one would think this would cater to adults only, but it seemed like every single guest had an infant with them or a small child and it was hard to relax due to the small space and all the crowd and children screaming, yelling, crying. It’s super hot on the rooftop so the 4 or 5 cabanas were a great option, but they were always taken. The bar next to the pool offers some really good small eats which we had for lunch on all 4 days and enjoyed. Watching the sunset from the pool was also nice. However, i found it unpleasant that there were so many dry leaves from the trees above, & bamboo shrubs and no-one swept or cleaned the deck during the day while guests were there. |Overall, I would not...