So you are thinking of a vacation on the wonderful island paradise of Bali, which has more than a thousand temples, which is why it is called the ‘Island of the Gods’. Excellent. Bali is a pleasure to behold, but there are some difficulties for travelers in relation to the type of accommodation they choose.

If you are like 70% of tourists who go to Bali, your next thought will probably be ‘which hotel should I stay in’. You’ve made your first mistake, which could make your vacation more expensive than it should be.

Yes, Bali has hundreds, if not thousands, of hotels – so many, in fact, that the Indonesian government is attempting to implement a ban on more hotel developments. The problem is that there are now so many hotels, mainly in and around the capital, Denpasar, that the industry is suffering: too many rooms even though the number of visitors to Bali continues to grow every year. If the number of hotels in South Bali continues to grow at the current rate, it will inevitably put many players out of business.

Denpasar and southern Bali, to a lesser extent, now have so many hotels that all too often they find themselves crammed ‘shoulder to shoulder’ with each other, especially in the busy, noisy and congested areas of the city center. Denpasar has become so crowded that when it used to take 30 minutes to get from Ngurah Rai Airport to a city hotel, it can now take up to 2 hours. The Balinese government has built new highways that will hopefully alleviate this congestion.

There is an alternative form of accommodation available in Bali, which is typically occupied by approximately 16.5% of visitors. This alternative is the Bali luxury villa and there are an estimated 10,000 of them scattered around this beautiful island. Luxury villa accommodation in Bali is not the first thing travelers think of, perhaps because hoteliers are very good at promoting and spending a lot of money promoting their businesses.

You may be thinking that the nightly rental rate for a luxury villa in Bali is beyond your vacation budget, but you may be wrong because you probably don’t have all the facts. The open secret is that if you make a group reservation to stay in a private Bali villa, with its wonderful privacy, peace and space, you could probably save hundreds of dollars that you would otherwise spend on the hotel vacation model. .

You see, the key to saving your hard-earned vacation dollars is making a group reservation at a luxury villa in Bali. This is the open secret of the Bali villas. Most of these impressive houses, which are usually built by private owners, can sleep up to eight people or more. This means that you can share the cost of the rental per night among your group.

Let’s look at an example. A private Bali villa, which I know quite well, located on the beachfront, about 8 kilometers east of Singaraja, on the north coast, currently charges US $ 340.00 per night. Wow, I can hear you say, that’s expensive. But, if you were to gather a group of friends or family to share the cost, each person would only pay $ 42.50 per person, per night, certainly a cheap rate in anyone’s language.

And remember, what you pay for a hotel room is just that, a hotel room, unless you spend and rent a suite, but that’s a very expensive alternative. Regardless of how they dress it, hotels often base their business model on booking rooms with a double bed, an en-suite bathroom, a chair and, if you’re lucky, a table. Oh, and they will definitely have a bar fridge, with each item scrupulously cataloged and charged to you, at high convenience rates, adding to your hotel expenses.

When you choose a luxury villa in Bali for your vacation in paradise, you get plenty of space. Typically four or more bedrooms with their own bathroom, ample living space, including two living areas, and even private patios for each room in some cases. Oh, and then there are the private pools that are almost standard for private Bali villas. Most have the pool just steps from their main living room. If you’ve even booked a poolside hotel room, you’ll know how much more they’ll charge you for this. And it can be a mixed blessing, because in hotels, everyone can use the pool, which can mean unwanted company, noise, crowds, yelling, splashing – you get the picture.

Of course, if you book a luxury villa in Bali, you have your own private pool, accessible only to the people who have rented the villa, unless they want to invite special guests to join them. And if you like friendly, personalized service, there is nothing better than what Bali villas have to offer. The Balinese are among the friendliest, warmest, most sincere and charming group of people you are likely to meet. Just check the guest testimonials on the many villa sites and you will see many glowing references to the high quality service that Bali villa helpers offer their guests. Guests often comment on the friendly relationships they develop with their Bali luxury villa helpers, far beyond any service experience hotels can offer.

Of course, hotels also have their staff, usually busy dealing with many guests at once, but most sophisticated Bali villas have their own villa manager, who is fluent in English and Bahasa Indonesian, probably in other languages ​​as well. . The villa manager is in charge of making sure that any problem that arises during your vacation will be fixed immediately. If you commit to a luxury vacation in a private villa in Bali, you can expect to become a first name with your villa manager and the other villa helpers. It is now unusual for some villas to have as many as four or five helpers, so you can expect to receive a standard of service that goes far beyond what many hotels can offer.

Having local Bali people employed as villa helpers ensures that guests receive the most up-to-date and knowledgeable information on local attractions and must-see locations. Often times, local Balinese helpers and the village manager will know about fantastic places to visit that are not even listed in popular tourist manuals. After all, they live there and they know their own backyard.

Many Bali villas are built by their owners to be a home away from home, so they put their heart and soul into the design to make sure they are as comfortable as possible. Therefore, the decoration and atmosphere of many villas is diverse and varied, reflecting the local Balinese culture and that of the villa owners. Unfortunately, many hotels, particularly multinational ones, are built with profits in mind and can look the same regardless of the country they occupy.

If you are an ecotourist, then the obvious choice for you is to stay in a well-appointed Bali villa because many of them are built in particularly beautiful and environmentally attractive locations. Permission from the local village is required to build any villa, and they are generally welcome for the employment opportunities that well-equipped Bali villas offer.

So you have the choice of thousands of well-appointed and intelligently located Bali villas to stay in for a truly authentic Bali experience. No matter how well hotels are marketed, they simply cannot offer the same cultural integration and atmosphere of a large vacation home.

The real choice you have is between a hotel room or a full Bali house and the many benefits this offers. If you haven’t yet enjoyed the Bali villa experience, do yourself a favor and take advantage of this opportunity the next time you’re on vacation on the Island of the Gods. Ask anyone who has stayed in a luxury villa in Bali and you will find out why they enjoyed it so much.