In My Opinion, Think Twice Before Staying in this Hotel
When travel to Bali recently I had a bad experience staying at Villa Coco in Double Six area, Bali . It relates to how local traveler treated, especially a female. Discrimination would be a strong word to use for what happened in my favorite getaway island, Bali. But I have seen it in some area and experienced it myself, like Kuta or Legian, not only in hotel but also other places about how foreigner (we called them “bule”) is treated way better than local guest. I wrote a post few years back, titled “My Worst Stay” But that time happened in Kuta area. That is why now I chose a hotel in Double Six, in the border of Legian-Seminyak. Never thought this problem would reach this area.
I have to admit that it still makes me upset to just think about what happened last week. It reminds me of other unpleasant stays as well. Good thing, it inspires me to write another post, after being absence for a while… share it with other traveler, especially Indonesian. Because I believe it is not only me who have been experiencing it. I do hope you do not, as it sucks and may ruin the holiday.
So far, I encountered with 3 places that having this issue and hopefully the list will not grow. I link it with my review in tripadvisor but I did not write the complete story there about what actually happened or after I posted in tripadvisor. But you can read it here.
First time was when staying in Kuta Lagoon Resort Legian in November 2012
You can read what happened in my TripAdvisor review: “Need to know their guest“.
I still remember that was my birthday and the security kept asking me everytime I parked my bike “are you this hotel guest?”, while he did not do it to foreign guest. I met the manager. She told me they had experience with unknown female entering the property and interrupting male bule. Oops… come on, not all Indonesian female are like that… But overall, the response of the Manager was good. I actually said to her that I would stay there again in the future because I love their lagoon pool, though never happens. I did mean it when saying that, but I found other places with nice swimming pool and good service to local guest ^^/.
Second time was when staying in Pondok 3 Mertha Kuta Bali in September 2017
You can read what happened in this TripAdvisor: “Not my kinda place“.
It was so stupid asking for my passport when front desk know I am Indonesian. He said they had experience with Indonesian who stayed for a week, broke their tv, and just left. I was like, “hello, not all Indonesia does that”. Then he asked for a deposit of 1 nite when I already paid in full for a nite and clearly saying I was only there for a transit (6 hours).
Third time was when staying in Villa Coco Seminyak in January 2018
You can read what happened in this TripAdvisor link: “Great Manager“.
Yes, all started from their “free beer/cocktail per day per person” promo that we should get from booking through their website, but front desk and even their manager did not know about it. Then it ended up with their front office responded like saying I am a working girl (ouch!!) because I am with a bule, who is my real boyfriend. What a j*rk! Then I heard their bule manager saying “I don’t care, just give what they want” from behind the door, next to front office. Then she went to see us just to say something like “better to not continue the issue and ruin our day. We will give you what you want” – not in a nice tone. No apology.
We were so upset and just went for lunch, decided not to continue our stay there even we would lose all we paid for 6 nites, and went to look for other hotel nearby. Then at nite, they called to ask for my ID Card. I hesitated to give it because I was very upset plus we planned to check out the next day. But I gave it to them anyway. They gave us an apology letter but we don’t care. We check out the next day. The manager finally approached us to say sorry of what happened and offer us an upgrade. That is too late. We just wanted to get out of there asap. Front desk asked for my boyfriend bank account after saying they would refund our money but then they said they could not. What a b*llshit.
After tripadvisor published my review, the manager email my boyfriend, again to apologize for her staff behavior. Mentioning about Javanese – Balinese thing, which I don’t understand what that is (I am not Javanese or Balinese) and others. Eventually they refunded some of our payment for the remaining 3 nites stay.
Until now, I kept thinking… how come they treated me like that. Why the manager not simply said that she would check the problem or why we were upset at first, instead of dismissing it.
I never stay in a hotel, paid for 6 nites but wanted to check out as soon as possible. My boyfriend check in first and I arrived at 2 am, then had the problem around 2pm, and the next day, we check out around 2pm. It is not only my boyfriend but I also spent my money to stay there and I regretted it every single day. That was not the best holiday. We chose the wrong accommodation.
How about you?
– have you ever been treated unequal compared to foreign tourist in your own country?
– have you ever been misinterpreted as working girl when travelling alone in your own country?
– etc
if you have experienced it, feel free to share it in the comment below, with a note that I believe any of your comment here is truly yours and I held no responsibility whatsoever on the outcome by posting it here.
By the way, I came across to this post “Diskriminasi Di Rumah Sendiri” (discrimination in your own home). The writer mentioned something interesting, “In Bali, when local tourist is discriminated in term of service given, Bule/foreign tourist is discriminated in term of the pricing” hahaha… That is true though.
Back to the issue, it is sad that you still have to experience this kind of treatment in this era, especially in your own country. When I was in Bali last week, I did not see many foreign tourists as I usually seen. The hotel we moved to also have problem with their facility maintenance because of low number of tourists. Mount Agung eruption is a big factor of these. Hence, that is too bad and will be their lost if the people in service industry (hotel/villa/restaurant/etc) in Bali still treats local tourist differently. I am not sure if local tourist who has money will accept being treated that way.
Hope you can avoid this kind of service when travel to Bali.
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