Four Seasons Sayan

While travelling around Bali for a month we stayed twice at the Four Seasons - Sayan. We travelled two adults and two kids. We were visting the island in July and weather was nice. We awere happy to avoid the rainy season. Our first stay was 4-5 days, we were staying in a Family suite in the main hotel. Reception and welcome was very nice. The location is magical, there is no doubt about that. The outer entrance is certainly not impressive, but the inner courtyards and walkway to the main building is very cool. The reception area is nice and I personally liked the design of the architecture. Check-in was quick and simple. The rooms were, to be honest, not really of the quality I expected. The hotel shows its age, and while they rooms had been "updated" they were rough. The indoor/outdoor design is nice and certainly compliments the awesome outside areas and jungle views, but you should notice that whatever insects you see outside will be in your room as well. We had doors so crooked that they were gaping 3-4 centimeters and you were exposed to any and all jungle critters. The modernized bathrooms were nice, but the accents of the original design showed their age. Cleaning and roomservice etc was on par with Four Seasons quality. The two main restaurants were nice, but selection at breakfast was odd to me. I know why they run a la carte instead of buffet but it just came off as weird, and the language barrier was steep with most servers so you couldn't really 100% understand what food options were available. First world problems I guess. The place was very much a honeymooner / senior citizen scene. Our kids are well behaved and pretty old, so it was okay, but as the teenager noted, it's not really a place you can feel entertained if you stay for a long time. The perhaps biggest gap in quality was the poolside restarant and pool scene in general. The restaurant layout shows its age, and while the outdoor dining in principle is a great idea, the whole structure just seems old and dodgy. The pool bar has the same vibe. My hands literally stuck to the bar counter becase it was so sticky - yuck. The alcohol selection was subpar - according to the hotel due to alchol taxes and local pracices, but there is just a minimum requirement on how poor alcohol you can serve in my opinion. The restrooms at the pool are very subpar. Both size, configuration, cleaning and just seemed way old. The pool is sorta tiny and we had several days where the pool area was so full that we ended up having to put our towels on the pooldeck and basically sit on the floor. It was just not good enough. Our second stay (6 days), we had originally booked double interconnected duplexes at the main building (not cheap!). The maintenance of these rooms were so poor that we moved to a 2BR Villa instead. We are not only talking about cleaning (filthy walls, dirty toilets, subpar all around) but a state of disrepair that I have never seen at Four Seasons. I won't post the pictures here, but trust me, those rooms should have been gutted 10 years ago. Service recovery was okay, and the 2BR Villa we moved to was nice - the experience was eventually handled okay, but really left a sour taste. But as the rest of the resort, the villa showed it's age. We had windows that could not close. One bathroom was so badly infested by insects that the kids refused using it. The Villa layout is pretty nifty, but it's really the kind of place that instagrams well but when you look at the interiors, furniture, features up close it's not crisp by a longshot. The little pool at the villas is okay, and I can see how honeymooners will stay at the villas instead of the main hotel. Getting around the hotel is pretty easy, but just walk, the buggy service is honestly a pain. Sometimes you wait a minute. Sometimes 15 minutes. The walkpaths are dodgy at night and some of the buggy drivers go *fast* so be careful. Altogether the hotel and setting is awesome. The indoor/outdoor jungle living is an awesome experience. We experienced better F&B at other high end hotels on Bali, and that surprised me. The hotel has supposedly been renovated, but in my opinion it's rough around the edges. The service recovery and experience is 5 star. After staying 8-10 days, the language barrier becomes annoying. Especially if you want bespoke food, bespoke service, or just want a diet coke. We also found the hotel cars (you pay for) and drivers to be subpar. The cars are ancient. Not luxury, and the language skills of the drivers are borderline OK. We really enjoyed the Four Seasons River Rafting trip. The external guide that FS uses was above and beyond what we expected. We had a really fun trip, and getting off the river by the hotel was pretty awesome. We also had several treatments at the SPA and they were the best we had on Bali. So that was awesome. The small plungepools in the SPA was very popular and they certainly had good views and good service. (and unlike the main pool you could actually get a sunlounger to lay on) We did notice on several occasions that restaurant guests not staying at the hotel were there for pictures/instagram shots. Personally I have never seen that before, it was pretty uncomfortable as a paying guest to be a unvilling participant on other peoples travel blogs. There are other options on Bali that are not as worn as the Four Seasons Sayan - that said, if you are only into instagram pictures, the Sayan is the best hotel in the world.

This hotel was amazing from start to finish. From the moment you walk in you are greeted with a short Bali ceremony and ushered into the lobby. Not only is the resort itself beautiful, the staff make sure your every need is taken care of.