Review: ibis styles Bali Petitenget – Bali’s best beach on a budget

Petitenget is the nicest and most expensive part of the Southern Bali beaches. The ibis styles Bali Petitenget offers new, modern rooms, friendly service, a pool, gym, full service restaurant and even a kids area – all at a bargain price. If you can live with the distance to the beach, this is a good choice. Check out my detailed reviews and photos to see if it is right for you!

Location: The ibis styles Bali Petitenget is located in the most upscale part of the Southern Bali beaches stretching from Kuta to Legian, Seminyak and Petitenget. You’ll find luxury hotels like the Oberoy or W Hotel in this area. Alas, it’s located about 1.5km or a 20 minute walk from the beach to achieve the budget price in an expensive neighborhood.
The hotel offers a shuttle to the beach, the Potatoe Head and KuDeTa beach clubs and Seminyak Square shopping area a few times a day. There are lots of nice restaurants, including one of my favorites, Mozarella, in easy walking distance, as well as convenience stores, shops and massage places.
The ride from the airport is a lengthy 1h by grab or taxi and the streets around the area are very busy, making this a less-than-ideal location to visit other parts of the island.
If you want to be in the nicest area, without breaking the bank and don’t mind the long walks – the ibis location is acceptable. But you’ll find similarly prices independent hotels in the area that are closer to the beach, if that’s important to you.

Service: We received a warm welcome to the hotel and the staff was well prepared to check us in quickly. They processed our paperwork, explained the hotel amenities and elite benefits and had us on our way.
Housekeeping did a good job cleaning the room each day, but weren’t very thorough in refilling toiletries or responding to make up the room on request while we were out.
The restaurant staff was friendly, recognized us soon enough and stopped asking for our room number at breakfast. Staff was quick to clean up tables and restock the buffet.
The bell staff operating the hotel shuttle was equally friendly, the driver was safe (not a given on Bali!) and got us to the beach or Seminyak Square quickly.
At check out, the front desk had our bill done quickly. She asked politely where we were heading next and when our destination happened to be her home town, she volunteered some tips for restaurants and sights. While I do expect friendly service on Bali, this type of kind and personal service goes well beyond expectations.

Room: We had booked a Superior (standard) room and were upgraded to a Superior room with balcony on the top floor, facing the rice paddies next door.
I had inspected the ibis styles prior to our stay and like the modern decor. The room has wood-look floor tiles and brown furniture. The walls are decorated in painting with bright, turkoise accents and yellow accent pillows. The queensize bed has a matress topper, high quality sheets, pillows and comforter and is very comfortable – much more comfortable than other hotels in this category!

Opposite the bed are a metal desk & shelf combination with a stool. While you can get some work done in a pinch, it’s really small and not very comfortable. You’ll also get a wall mounted TV, coffee/tea facilities, a small fridge and safe. 

The bathroom is open concept and has a sliding wooden door to enter and one that separates it from the bedroom. It’s shared with the closet, so you can close it for privacy in the bathroom or to close your wardrobe. 

The bathrooom is held in grey stone tiles, also much nicer than most ibis. The vessel style sink on the granite countertop faces the bedroom. There is plenty of space for your toiletries and a full set of bathroom amenities, including dental and shaving kits, is provided. The towels are large and thick.

The shower is fully glass enclosed and has both a handheld, mounted and a rainfall shower head. You’ll find a standard toilet in the corner.
The free WiFi internet was reasonably fast at 4.6Mbps, but not the most reliable and consistent, making it ok to browse the internet, but not good enough to get work done, stream movies or hold video calls.

Restaurant & Amenities: The ibis styles Bali Petitenget has a full service restaurant, offering a buffet breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks from the bar. The seating is indoor and outdoor, all open air. The tables are packed closely and it gets crowded during breakfast time.

The breakfast buffet has a good selection of bread and pastries, fruit and yogurt. The automated coffee maker provides espresso drinks and you’ll find tea and juice as well.

There are a number of hot Western and Asian dishes and you can order eggs to your liking from the cook. It’s a full, hot breakfast and I’d consider the selection and quality average for this price category on Bali. 

The hotel checks all the boxes with regards to other hotel amenities. The pool faces the restaurant and has a glass enclosure. There are loungers around the pool and some are set into the shallow part of the pool, so you can cool down a little by dangling your feet from the chair. The pool makes the most of the space available, but it’s a tight fit and during the afternoon, it might be difficult to find a chair. Pool towels are available for guests.

Beyond the pool is a very small gym, with very basic cardio equipment and a few weights. While it does tick the “gym” box, it doesn’t really allow for much of a workout.

I’d evaluate the kids zone in a similar fashion – it’s a small room with kids furniture and toys – check – It is great that the ibis offers this for families, but I’m not sure how long kids would be happy in there…

Value & Rewards: I booked the ibis styles Bali Petitenget on the Accor website during a sale at a rate of $33/night including breakfast for two people. I received a 10% discount as an AccorPlus member and earned 8.7% Accor LeClub rewards points. Considering the area, the full amenities and nice rooms, I’d call this very good value on Bali! You can find the current rate here.

As Accor LeClub Platinum members, we received a one-category upgrade to a preferred room on the top floor with an added balcony. We also received two welcome drinks at the bar (including wine, beer and cocktails) and a small welcome amenity. The ibis styles Petitenget delivered the promised elite benefits, without going above & beyond the call of duty here. 

Bottomline: Petitenget is the nicest and most expensive part of the Southern Bali beaches. The ibis styles Bali Petitenget offers new, modern rooms and a full set of amenities and services at a bargain price. If you can live with the distance to the beach, this is a good choice. The challenge for the ibis styles is that there are other, similarly prices hotels closer to the beach, so you might want to look around, if that’s important to you!


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