Sol by Melia Benoa Bali - All Inclusive

From the moment I arrived, I felt warmly welcomed by the entire team. My room was spotless, beautifully maintained, and exceptionally comfortable, creating the perfect environment to unwind

I had a wonderful stay at this hotel. The view was absolutely stunning, and everything was spotless and well maintained. A special thanks to Vina, the Guest Experience Manager, for making sure every detail was taken care of. Riyan and the entire team were warm, attentive, and truly professional. Highly recommended!

Location - good. Atmosphere - lovely. The empty stores in the lower level were a little bit creepy though. Staff - were very responsive and friendly. Rooms - spacious and clean and the bed was SO comfortable. Gym was very good. Spa was nice, but it would’ve been much better value to go somewhere down the street. The bad stuff….. - the entertainment was mostly bad, and sometimes cringeworthy. - there were only a few hours in the afternoon where there was any shade in the pool. - I had termites in my bed. Lots of them. I understand termite problems are common in Bali with the humidity and lots of wood. And yes, the staff was very responsive in sending the cleaning staff down immediately and cleaning everything up, but there was no follow up from management about how I felt about sleeping in the room (dreaming of termites crawling into my ears). Nothing. - the tour desk tried to be helpful but I didn’t understand why they wanted me to drive to Ubud for the yoga and classes that I wanted. Surely there was something closer to where we were.?! - the housekeeping staff washed my coffee cups and water glasses in the bathroom sink! Tap water. Their bare hands. Luke warm water and no detergent. The fact that he did it in front of me suggests he doesn’t even realize that it’s a problem. Fortunately there was a kettle so I was able to disinfect everything after he left, but that’s seriously concerning for a resort. The absolute worst and most disappointing part was the food and drink. Restaurant - At best - edible. I was absolutely stunned that the à la carte food menu was consistently bad, even for the Indonesian food. The wine and cocktails were terrible. I literally could not drink some of the cocktails. Most of them are made with a local spirit called Arak, which is kind of like a rum. The cocktails were watered down and just generally bad. Buffet breakfast was pretty good. Buffet lunch and dinner were ok at worst and good at best. Cocktail lounge near reception had better cocktails. Not great, but better. Pool bar had a good diversity of cocktails and the bartenders were very cool :) It was really disappointing to see the lack of recycling at the hotel. Even something is basic as the egg shells at the omelette station. Those eggshells were going straight in the regular bin. Massively overpriced for what I got. I won’t be back.

My wife and I visited Benoa for 4 nights to end our Balinese holiday. From start to finish, we were very impressed by how friendly every single member of staff were; whether they were at the front desk, working in the restaurant or keeping the resort tidy. There is a walkway by the beach to walk down to the Bali Collection which are a group of shops if that interests you too. The hotel had a lovely atmosphere of mixed ages. There was a rota of evening entertainment, which included fire dancing, but noise levels were low at night. We opted for the all inclusive package which gave us access to almost the whole menu for both food and drink. Menu in the main restaurant was a la carte and there were plenty of different food choices to keep everyone catered for. There was a buffet style lunch at offer by the pool-side restaurant which was a little more limited, but we still ate well there. There is a specialist mediterranean restaurant, where the service was great but the food was no better than the main restaurant. The pizza at the buffet lunch was actually better than the main restaurants as they had a pizza oven with fresh dough and the others looked/tasted pre-made. There is plenty to do to keep you busy through the day. An aspect to be aware of is there are limited sun loungers around the pool and those which are to the left hand side are in shade from around 1pm. We were two of very few British tourists and other European guests had the sun loungers reserved before breakfast opened at 7am, so if you do want the best loungers, you have to get in very early! There are loungers on the beach which we opted for. We would not hesitate to return to the Benoa resort.

Great location, friendly staff, clean rooms, and a relaxing beachfront. Breakfast was good and the atmosphere was peaceful. A few minor improvements could be made, but overall a very enjoyable stay at Sol by Meliá Benoa Bali.