W Retreat and Spa Bali Seminyak

Stayed at W for 4 nights. The hotel is beautiful but is starting to look like it needs a bit of TLC. The pool is very dark which I feel looks a little uninviting, otherwise very good, staff are amazing, breakfast is so good. Worth a visit if your wanting a nice hotel in Seminyak

Just checked out of the W Bali, staying for 2 nights total. Just looking for a place to relax, during a short solo vacation.

Background: I booked the basic room (Superior Garden View, King, Balcony) via 2 FNA certificates, topping each one up by 19k points. I'm Titanium.

I arrived at 10am of check-in day, mid-August. The hotel was completely booked out. So, in mid-August, on points/certs, don't expect any upgrade.

The hotel is very nice, still in very good shape for a 15-year-old hotel. Kudos to the GM's for keeping it so well-maintained.

When I checked in, I received a coupon for 2 mocktails, and a notification that there was a complimentary personalized photoshoot session. I didn't use either of those, for my trip. No need, but I'm sure others would like those!

The room I received was #411. Well-appointed in general. The bed is extremely comfortable. It seems to be a California King, King Koil mattress, with a couple mattress toppers (one thick, one thin). Overall, the bed setup makes for an amazing rest.

The room was a very good size, with a large couch, a good-sized safe, and also an excellent TV/electronics setup (with Bose sound). The color palette ranged from greens (esp. peridot green) to beiges (e.g. from parchment to hazelnut).

The bathroom area is quite Bali-esque, with a remote-controlled glass-enclosed skylight over the very large bathtub/shower area. Two vanities. The bathroom area is almost as large as the bedroom area (like, maybe 90% of the size). In between the bathroom area and the bedroom area is a very large 9'-tall sliding door.

Room also includes a refrigerator, coffee machine, and kettle. 4 nespresso capsules and some teas. The snack bar and cold drinks are all chargeable, but I did get 4 large glass water bottles in my room when I arrived.

The pool area gets busy in the afternoon after lunch, if the sun is out. At 2:30pm on a Thursday, I couldn't find any sunbeds by the pool, so I opted for one of the daybeds by the beach. Temperature outdoors during my stay was 24-28 degrees, sunny all day.

The access from the beach is fairly lax, anybody can come onto the premises. If you are looking for a hotel with stricter entrance policies, you may want to consider The Legian a few doors down. But I appreciated the relaxed policy here at the W.

Where I felt that the hotel really shines is the F&B service. The service is prompt and professionally cheerful, and the food is very tasty and very well-prepared/presented... Breakfast buffet spread at Starfish Bloo is quite basic (for Asian standards), but those foods are all fresh; and then you can also order unlimited dishes from the a la carte menu (17 entrees)... I also had lunch off the menu at Starfish Bloo on my check-in day, while waiting for my room, and that food was also very good. Much of that menu is also offered by the pool/beach... I also had room service for dinner my first night (tuna sashimi salad, tomato soup, banana fritter). All tasty and well-made... Out of 2.5 days of F&B at this hotel, the only thing I didn't care for was the "Tiramisu Croffle" during breakfast, so don't order too much of that. :-)

One part of the stay that might jar you a bit is the stone driveway that you encounter with your transportation, whenever you enter/exit the hotel premises by car. It can be quite bumpy depending on what car you're in, and the stone driveway is long. Not a big deal at all, but it is part of the experience.

Late check-out not granted, unfortunately. Expectation during my stay was a 12noon checkout. Check-out was smooth.

Overall, though, it's a very nice stay. Staff are all quite cheerful. A few times during my stay, I saw staff giggling/smiling together while they were working. They do a good job, and I can imagine that they're proud of helping so many guests enjoy their vacation.

No problem coming back again in the future.

We only got to stay one night on this trip, but it was a wonderful night.

The location on the beach is beautiful, the waves look amazing crashing against the shore (one tip: the current when we were there was too strong for safe swimming; I don't know if that changes at other times of year). Watching sunset at the beach is a very nice experience, everyone comes out for it. The pool, gym, and spa (open 24 hours, with Happy Hour prices midnight-6am) were exactly what we wanted. The only meal we had was breakfast, and it was excellent; a big buffet, plus some items you can order a la carte (small portion sizes, so you can sample a few things). We stayed in a villa and apparently it's the example of what the renovated villas will look like - if possible, get a villa!! It's nice and quiet back there.

Ultimately, it's the staff that made this so great. The Insider and Reservations teams reached out to me over a month in advance and asked if we were celebrating anything and I shared we were celebrating my new job. Well, they pulled out all the stops, including the villa upgrade, decorating the room, having drinks and cake waiting for us there, and so many on the staff congratulated me while we were there haha. Big thanks to Cahya, Yunda, and Putri for their efforts. Shoutouts also to Putu in the restaurant for his recommendations, and to Deywa who got us back and forth from the villa to the front.

We'll be back!