Bliss Ubud Spa Resort — Hotel in Pulau Bali

Welp, unfortunately it's a one-star review from me and I do try my best to be fair with this things, so this comes from multiple balanced factors, rather than an emotional frustration.

Let's start with good thing. Staff. As in most Indonesian establishments, everyone were extremely friendly, smiling, and trying to do the best with the resources available to them. They did try to solve issues, when we raised them. I am grateful.

We also didn't think about the fact that the place has accommodation on 2 levels, so we had to move around on the first day, to make things right for our older travel companions and kids. totally our fault and staff did everything to help us. They put us in Room 7 temporarily for one night (avoid. super old)

Unfortunately that's it with the good things. What we didn't like and what might need improvement.

Staff. I completely appreciate and respect the fact that it was me in Indonesia, coming as a foreigner. However, client-facing staff might need to bump up their English skills for savages like us, who could just say "thank you, please and hello" in Indonesians

Staff. Taxi drivers/ coordinators at the parking lot. It's not their own staff, but as far as I understood the manager, they "hire" these guys in order to provide taxi services. Very rude, arrogant and bad-mannered. While being on holidays we widely used Gojek and Grab for taxi services and food ordering (Highly recommend. Uber was banned in Indonesia. These are local services.). The guys in front tried to offer us twice the price that was on the app and when we declined, made an attempt to insult us and harassed the drivers that we hired. To the other matter. I also didn't like the fact that I've been asked 3 times by different people on the first day "have I paid for the kids to have breakfast", since they assumed, that kids were using +1 bed, while they were not. Could have been handled differently.

Rooms. We took four rooms. 15, 16, 17, 18. First two upstairs, the other two downstairs. Upstairs rooms had nice views and were filled with light, while downstairs were dark and gloomy. To add to that - ground level rooms smelled with "dampness and despair". Avoid if you got allergies or just don't appreciate traces of mold here and there. However downstairs provided roomy verandahs for all of us to chill together, while upstairs had only modest balconies.

Rooms. Furniture, reno and equipment. They did put newer TVs in these rooms. And that's it. TV had only 6 channels. You feel like everything you touch and used is weathered. Some linen was ripped, tiles had cracks, beds were extremely noisy, walls had stains and signs of recent patches. Tea pot was super cheap and didn't open/close properly. Glass wall in the bathroom was leaking. Shower curtains were missing in some of the rooms. Rock-bedding for shower on ground floor is questionable for older people.

Walls are paper-thin (room 7). People were just talking, not shouting, and you could here them perfectly.

Water. Drinking water. They provide 2 small (0.33) bottles per room daily. I've asked for extra once and was provided, but it constantly felt like there is a shortage. Washing and bathing. Well this is a disappointment. More than twice we were running out of hot water, but it didn't look that the supply for it was limited - faulty equipment? At least once we ran out of water completely, which was a let down, while taking a shower.

Food. There are options for breakfast and they are not bad at all. Some of us really enjoyed vegan options, kids loved they coco crunch and pastry. But this was the first place mie goreng was meatless. Served with prawn chips. And not that much veggies. Also, we did try using them for lunch for kids once, ordered pizza(terrible) and a burger(ok-ish) and they charged way over what it should have costed for that quality.

Insects and wildlife. We weren't bothered that much with mosquitos. There were some, but not overwhelming. The place is crawling with small ants, though.

Aaand I hit...

WARNING: BED BUG BITES – TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

This was by far the worst spa experience I’ve ever had, and I need to warn others about it. During the massage itself I already started to feel uncomfortable itching, but once we left the spa it became unbearable. Both my husband and I ended up covered in bed bug bites all over our bodies. The itching and burning sensation is absolutely desperate – we had to see a doctor, get antihistamines, and apply creams just to calm the irritation. This is not just inconvenient, it’s a serious health concern.

The hygiene of the place was questionable from the start. Unlike other spas in Bali, they did not welcome us with a drink or anything, they just sent us directly to the massage room. They also did not provide disposable underwear, instead telling us to wear our own – which ended up completely stained with oil.

Other major issues: • One of the masseuses had very long nails, which made the touch uncomfortable. • The massage tables are extremely poorly designed – the head section is separate from the body section, so when they touched my head my face literally pressed against the wood. I could never fully relax because I had to constantly adjust not to hurt my face. • We booked four-hand massages, but none of the therapists introduced themselves. It felt very uncomfortable to be touched by people whose names or faces we didn’t even know.

But none of that compares to the real problem: the bed bugs. I never imagined a spa bed could be infested like this. It ruined our stay, our health, and left us with days of pain and discomfort.

👉 Please do not go here. It is unsafe, unsanitary, and dangerous. There are so many wonderful spas in Bali – this one should be avoided...

I've decided to share my experience here for anybody choosing this hotel. The garden here and rice field are beautiful and I had a nice view. The staff is very nice. However, WiFi didn't work, unfortunately. All textile things in the interior need to be washed. The sofa cushion is dirty. The bathroom smells like sewage and is also very small. There is no comfortable place to hang towels or other things. I was OK with all this first day but the breakfast and huge chisel noise in the morning exhausted my patience. Fresh juice wasn't fresh, it had Fanta taste. Pastry and the bread were old. I spoke to the manager when I wanted my money back for the second night. He started his speech saying that I should think about the poor hotel staff and their salary. And he wasn't delicate arguing in this irrelevant way. It felt more like aggression and naive psychological method to change my mind. He was also very passionate offering me other services to make me stay saying that my feedback is so important and asking what he can do for me. The refund is actually possible with 20% comission: it was 20% of total price for 2 nights. Honestly, I think it should be 20% of second night only. But he continued the discussion which I just didn't want to have during my short holidays. I didn't want to waste my time and energy and preferred exploring the area. Finally, some hours later he offered me a 30 minutes spa massage (hahahaha) which I won't do because of bad reviews found here in...