Large resort with beautiful pool on the edge of Ubud – Best Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud

The Best Western Premier Agung Resort Ubud is one of the few chain hotels in Ubud and larger than most. It has a peaceful setting on the edge of town, a beautiful resort pool, but you’ll have to make do with basic rooms in need of renovation and middling service at relatively high prices. Read my detailed review if it should be your choice of hotel for Ubud!

Location: The Best Western Ubud is located on the Northern outskirts of Ubud, about a 15 minute walk from the Ubud Palace and town center, walkable but not the most convenient.The large resort is on a quiet street and is more peaceful than an in-town hotel. Rooms either look out over the pool or the neighboring fields, with a forest in the back of the property. While you won’t get the iconic rice field views, it’s a very nice and peaceful setting. The ride to the airport is about 1h30min to 2h depending on traffic, similar to other hotels in Ubud.

Service & Rewards: The front desk was professional, but not very friendly by high Bali standards. I had to wait for my turn at check-in, it took a while to process the paperwork and take a credit card for deposit. The bell staff escorted me to the room and gave me a tour of the resort and explanation of the room features, certainly an upscale touch!
Housekeeping did a nice job each day to clean the room and refill coffee and bathroom amenities. The restaurant staff, similar to the front desk, was professional but not particularly friendly or attentive. They did keep the buffet stocked and cleared tables quickly during the busy breakfast period. Getting a coffee refill was a challenge though – not a good start into my morning!
Best Western Rewards introduced elite benefits that are similar to other loyalty programs, but yet again none of the promises were delivered. As a Diamond member, I received one of the worst rooms in the house, instead of an upgrade, no welcome amenity/points or any recognition. The front desk had a deer-in-the-headlight look when asked about elite benefits, apparently not having received any training. Best Western Rewards is best understood as a discount program – it has a long way to go to inspire any type of loyalty with this type of performance as standard procedure!

Room: My King Room was technically pool facing, but was located half under ground. That made the room dark and with a view of a wall. The patio had no furniture and you probably wouldn’t want to spend any time there anyway, given that you’d look at a wall and other peoples feet. 

The room had a Balinese look to it with traditional wood furniture, hardwood floors and white walls. Local fabrics for the bed-throw and pillows added a nice touch. It does look better in the photos than in reality though: The furniture is old, heavy and cheaply made. The king-size bed consists of two twin beds pushed together. The mattress is comfortable and sheets and pillows are of good quality. The room amenities include a small safe, a TV and coffee/tea facilities, all in working order. The free WiFi internet was reliable and very fast at an average speed of 16.4 Mbps, one of the best I’ve had on Bali and great to work or stream video.

The bathroom was large, more modern and recently renovated, held in grey stone tiles. To the right is a white vessel-style sink on a black marble countertop with plenty of space for your toiletries. There are a large mirror and plenty of light. The toilet is installed in the middle and a walk-in shower with glass partition to the right. I liked the rainfall shower head.

The towels are of good quality, but the provided toiletries were of poor quality – I’d recommend to bring your own!

Restaurant & Amenities: My favorite part of the Best Western Agung is the resort pool: It’s large and flows over two levels. There is a larger pool to swim at the upper level, with loungers around it.

The water flows over the edge down a wall into a shallow wading or kids pool at the bottom. You’ll have more loungers and the pool hut with service staff at the lower level. The lower section faces the forest and was my favorite place to hang out and relax after walking through the rice paddies! Despite the hotel being full, there were plenty of loungers and I was able to find one whenever I went!

If you want to keep up with your fitness routine, there is a good-size gym with cardio and weight equipment for a full workout. The hotel also has a spa, so you can enjoy a massage or other body treatments.

The restaurant serves a buffet breakfast in the morning. The buffet includes a selection of fruit, yogurt, pastries and juice. You’ll also find some hot local dishes and you can order your favorite eggs or omelette at a make-to-order cooking station! Coffee was brought to the table, but slow to get refills, so if you need your morning coffee, you might want to ask for two cups to get started! The quality of the food was ok – more similar to hotels in lower price categories than hotels at this price point!
The restaurant also serves a free afternoon tea, including coffee or tea and a small snack. It’s a set food item each day, and very good one day and so-so another. I do like the idea of an afternoon tea or happy hour at a hotel, it just feels a little more luxurious and homely!

Bottomline: The Best Western Ubud offers a peaceful setting, great resort style pool and other resort amenities, but the traditional rooms could use a renovation, but the middling service and lack of Best Western Rewards recognition are downsides. I ended up at the Best Western Ubud after being “walked” from the oversold property I booked via hotels.com. Tellingly, it was one of the few hotels not sold out on this busy holiday weekend. At a rate of $94/night on my arrival (or 16,000 BW points), the BW Ubud is only fair value and there are much nicer, independent hotels in Ubud, like the Ubud Wana or The Lokha, at roughly the same price point. I wouldn’t choose to stay here again and unless you are a die-hard Best Western fan, looking to score some reward points or promotion benefits, I wouldn’t recommend it.


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