Review: Amertha Villas

We recently had the chance to stay at the Amertha Villas in Pemuteran. Pemuteran is not a destination often associated with villa accommodations and indeed the arrival of villas in this area of Bali is fairly new. The area is more typically associated with backpacker type accommodations and mid-priced resort properties, all catering to the snorkeling and diving crowd that flock to Menjangan Island. From what we can see, with the notable exception of the long-standing luxury property Puri Ganesha, operators in the region are still struggling with the concept.

Amertha Villas was created about two years ago by the operators of Taman Sari. The Taman Sari property, just down the beach from Amertha, is a low-priced accommodation aimed at the budget traveler who wants a bit more than an un-air conditioned shack on the beach. Taman Sari has always done well with their model and have provided one of the more consistent experiences in the area. Taman Sari is not, however, a villa property.

The opening of Amertha marked Taman Sari's entry into the villa resort space. The property consists of 14 individual villas. The villas are on common grounds, with no dividing walls. The property also operates a restaurant and a spa. All of the villas include small pools, but there is also a main pool near the restaurant and bar. All the pools are salt water.

Like Taman Sari, Amertha is right on the beach. Three of the villas are beachfront. We took the 3 bedroom beachfront villa. Outside of Peak Season, the villa's rack rate is $350 a night. We arrived at the last minute and were able to negotiate a much better rate. The rate includes breakfast, but not the additional 20% in taxes and service charges.

The grounds of the property are a bit sparse. The owners decided to go with non-native landscaping and given the hot and dry nature of this part of Bali, they are struggling to get it to fill out. Much better results -- and much more responsible water management -- would have resulted from the use of indigenous plants and more trees. I suspect this property wastes tremendous amounts of water in their attempts to achieve golf course fairway expanses of grass.

The villa itself was nice, but had some serious gaps in the quality. The decorations were really all over the place, ranging from Indonesian, to Kashmiri, to outright cheap and tacky. They looked like they were decorated by committee. They obviously tried to save money on fittings and fixtures as well. The attention to detail is what makes a property and here that is missing.

The biggest problem is the design of the villas. Of the three bedrooms in our property, none were equivalent. There was one master facing the ocean with a large en suite bathroom. The other ocean-facing master was significantly smaller, and critically lacking in an en suite bathroom. The third bedroom had no view, but a massive outdoors en suite bathroom. It frankly made no sense. Moreover, they had clearly intended that 2 parties could share 1 villa -- yet there was only one living area (indeed they tried to do that with us when we checked in and we flatly refused to go along with the idea!).

These design decisions may not have an impact if the villa is being occupied by a family, but if the villa is intended to be rented by friends or couples traveling together it is a disaster, as the parties wind up in disagreement over who gets the decent rooms and who is relegated to the sub-standard rooms. Moreover, more sophisticated villa guests demand privacy and there is no way they will share the common areas with people they do not know.

The lack of privacy here was another major concern. As mentioned previously, the villas are not walled -- there is no barrier between the villas. Our second night on the property we were entertained with very loud karaoke from the property immediately behind us. (And frankly, one of the reasons we rent villas is to be able to stagger out of the bedroom and collapse into the pool while clad in, well, nothing. That's a huge no go at Amertha.)

The food was a mixed bag. Not a complete disaster but certainly not a highlight. It was a bit pricey given the lack of sophistication in the menu, but probably not too surprising given the remoteness of the location.

The service was well-intentioned but amateurish. A request for a blanket brought the response "I don't think we have one. How about another sheet?" Housekeeping also never actually managed to clean the kitchen while we were there -- a bit of an oversight.

All things said, if they would have insisted on charging us the full rack rate, I would have found it poor value for money. However, given deep discounts and a very flexible travelling partner, it was acceptible. I can't say that I'd recommend it, but if you go in knowing what to expect, it will be an OK experience.

If you would like to learn more about the property, you can visit their website: http://www.balitamansari.com/amertha-villa.htm

Reviewed November, 2009.