Intercontinental Hotels Bali Sanur Resort

Reading through the reviews for this hotel, some of them are so bad I almost pulled the plug and booked elsewhere. I'm glad I did not as we enjoyed our stay. For context, I am Diamond Ambassador with the IHG One Rewards program. Arrived after a long day of travel, and was not at all surprised to find we had no upgrade. Reading through the reviews, this hotel is famous for that. Normally Ambassador level gets an automatic one category upgrade, and while it is not required per the T&C for points rooms, I have never been to an InterContinental where they did not upgrade me until this one. They tried to pitch the regular room was on a higher floor, which it was and it was nice. I didn't mind. Given the reviews, I was expecting this and had set my expectations accordingly. Looking around the room, it is very large and very nice, but I can see where the lack of maintenance comments come in. When something needs repair, it is patched in the cheapest way possible. In our room, the toilet paper holder was loose and hanging down causing the toilet paper to fall to the floor when you touch it. You would think the housekeepers would write that up for repair, but apparently not. Ignoring those cosmetic things, the room was quite comfortable. I had read about air conditioners not cooling, but ours worked fine. We did close the curtains in the hot part of the day and we never turned the air conditioner completely off. It did start making a loud noise one afternoon and I was worried. We reported it on the way to happy hour and it was working beautifully when we returned to the room. They sent a cut fruit plate as an apology for the air conditioner, which was nice. I didn't really need it but it was a nice thing for them to do. This hotel does not use the InterContinental standard amenities Byredo, and I missed those. I did not care for what the hotel used, so as always I have mine with me. The provided amenities (toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.) are of the lowest quality possible, so I would not rely on them. Bring your own. You should not need to do that at a 5 star hotel, but this one you do. Everywhere in the hotel, the staff are wonderful. The service aspect is great. For our welcome amenity as a Diamond member, we chose daily breakfast. One thing they do a little different here is issue you ONE voucher for your entire stay, and they want to collect it on the first day which was odd to me, but it worked and we had our free breakfast the rest of the stay. The breakfasts were more limited than I expected on non-Western choices, but the western choices were plentiful. The egg station is very small and gets backed up. Order as soon as you arrive if the dining room looks busy. Really loved the miso butter eggs. The green space/gardens/reflecting pool on the roof of the spa in the center that all balconies face is quite lovely. I saw some reviews saying you could not access it, but I saw several points where there was access so I'm not sure why the complaints. There were also complaints in reviews about the wooden walkways falling down. Simply not true. There is only one walkway that goes out around Leyang Leyang, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. It did not look brand new, so I cannot imagine it was replaced since their review. We had one spa treatment and really enjoyed it. Unlike most InterContinental hotels, no one from this hotel reached out in advance for our upcoming stay. When I reached out to the hotel, I had asked about spa specials, happy hours, etc and was told there is nothing. Turns out they had all of the above. I would have pre-booked more spa treatments had I known. Lost revenue for the hotel due to inaction. Happy hours down by the water were a favorite time. They have proper, comfortable tables in the sand by the water and under shade trees. Between you and the hotel is a walking/jogging path and a separate bike path, so an interesting parade on one side with water and boats on the other. I would not rate the cocktails to be the best I have ever had, but for the price they were good. The website has a message stating they are renovating the beach area. That area was walled off, but it is not a huge area and did not impact our enjoyment in the least. All of the beach area is shaded, so if you want sun the pool is the place to go and has a wonderful view of the water. One of the items that was just annoying: Being an Ambassador, you are entitled to a one time $20 USD Food &Beverage credit per stay. In foreign countries, it is not unusual to preset that to some slightly lower amount in local currency so they do not have to deal with currency fluctuations, which is fine. This hotel, however, as of my stay offered such a low amount it worked out to $10.51 USD credit, barely over half. There are other reviews complaining about this. It is just another example of where the "cheap" shines through at this property. When I inquired about a later check out at 2:30pm, he was set to tell me how much that would cost me. Once I reminded him that Ambassadors are guaranteed 4pm check out and I'm only asking for 2:30, it became available. Because of this hotel not having a Club Lounge, and the other InterContinental in Bali having one, I'm guessing this hotel does not get many Diamond Ambassador members. Finally, an interesting observation: I booked using rewards points, and the hotel was not full during my stay meaning they got a much lower reimbursement rate from IHG. I can only guess that they did not like giving away free breakfast to a free room, because now if you look forward on the IHG website there is not even ONE night available for points for the entire open reservation period (currently into early next year). Since every other IHG (and other brands) have many points bookings available, I can only assume that ownership is playing with the bookings to block out free rooms going forward. To ownership I would say if you don't like the rules of IHG, leave the system. This hotel was originally the Regent Bali and was built on a grand scale. As it aged, it became a Fairmont and now an InterContinental. A 5 star hotel changing brands rapidly is a clear indication of avoiding maintenance and upgrades. They are renovating some areas, slowly, but the hotel has a long way to go. The new Layang Layang is very nice, and looks as it should for a 5 star property. The lobby lounge has what looked to be a cool water feature, but it was not functioning during our visit. Maybe that area is the next renovation. It could use it. Overall we enjoyed our stay because of the staff. Would we stay again? Absolutely not. There are SO many better options in Bali, many at better prices. I agree with the assessments of the other reviews that this is a 4 star property overall.

Excellent hotel. From Check-in to Check-Out and everything in between, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Great food at the breakfast buffet and many options made-to-order with amazing staff that went above and beyond to ensure we enjoyed our meals. The room stewards were top-notch, paying attention to our schedules and slipping in to clean and refresh our room when it was convenient for us. The rooms are spacious and super clean, bright white towels and sheets - everything felt brand new. The staff working the entry/parking was superb. They helped us connect with our tour drivers and always asked about our experiences upon our return to the hotel. The staff here truly cares about your stay, not just at their hotel but also in Sanur and Bali - they go the extra mile to help you have a great vacation.

Firstly massive thank you to Puspa for his amazing professionalism, hospitality and service he provided to us throughout our stay. Intercontinental Sanur is very lucky to have him working for the resort. Also a very special mention to Novi in the members bar for her excellent service and professionalism. We stayed at intercontinental Sanur Bali on 2 occasions in March 2025. Ocean view suites and 2 bedroom pool villa. Both room and villa excellent. Room service/house keeping did an amazing job to facilitate for us all the time. The food and service from the chefs to the restaurant service team right down to the service and drinks around the pool was excellent. All the staff was fantastic and polite. This was our 4 year in a row staying with intercontinental Sanur and they never disappoint.

Beautiful property. Sumptuous rooms with comfortable beds and wonderful staff. The restaurants are fantastic and very reasonable for a resort of this quality. Beach access is easy and there are a multitude of restaurants surrounding the property. The pool area is very nice as well.

We really enjoyed our stay. The room was extremely comfortable. Breakfast was plentiful and I enjoyed the specific breakfast menu. We had the most delicious evening meal. Kurnia, (conciege) was extremely thoughtful in leaving me a pot of ginger tea in my room when he learned I had a cough. We also enjoyed the lovely pool and were well looked after by the pool attendents.