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Part Nine
Michael Taylor is currently in Bali, Indonesia, where he is spending three weeks exploring the sights, sampling the food, learning about the culture, and checking out what’s hot and what’s not in one of Southeast Asia’s most exciting travel destinations.
So far, Michael has stayed at several hotels and resorts, from lavish five star properties to a newly opened budget hotel that offers exceptional value and throws in a yummy breakfast at no charge.
The fourth hotel on his itinerary is a boutique hotel in trendy Seminyak that opened in September 2012. It has a quirky personality that Michael finds endearing.
Indoor Swimming Pool
L Hotel Seminyak gives new meaning to the term “indoor swimming pool”. Strictly speaking, the hotel’s swimming pool is not really indoors because there is no door separating it from the rest of the property.
But it’s not outdoors, either.
The swimming pool at L Hotel Seminyak is located on the Mezzanine Level just above the lobby in the Lola Restaurant and Bar, where breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served.
Adding to the fun, a Lovers’ Corner, a table for two, is located at one end of the swimming pool. It has a cascading water feature, with water streaming under the table and then pouring waterfall style into the swimming pool below.
Boutique Hotel
A lot a properties have been calling themselves “boutique hotels” in recent years, and some of them – such as a very high end property in Macau – have hundreds of rooms! To me, a boutique hotel should have fewer than 50 rooms. Anything more than that and it is just a hotel, I don’t care how exclusive it is!
The L Hotel Seminyak is a boutique hotel in the truest sense of the word. It only has 30 rooms across three floors. And it has that other attribute than any hotel incorporating the word “boutique” into its name should have: a distinctive personality.
Resident “taste maker” Adeline Quek collaborated with Indonesian Architect Popo Danes to create what they call “polished chic”. Quirky touches include traditional Balinese carved panels on the ceiling of guest rooms over the beds that are painted silver.
Butlers, meanwhile, wear trendy dark gray uniforms with fasteners that look like safety pins. And speaking of butlers, personalized service is another one of L Hotel Seminyak’s hallmarks.
There is a butler station on each floor, and butlers take care of everything from checking guests in right in their rooms to arranging complimentary transport within Greater Seminyak.
Food and Beverage
While many hotels and resorts in Asia throw in breakfast with the price of a room, these are usually buffet breakfasts, which you either love or you hate. Personally, I’m not a big fan.
One of the advantages of boutique hotels is that – because of the smaller number of guests – they can cook your breakfast to order, and this is what Lola Restaurant, where breakfast at L Hotel Seminyak is served, does. And the two breakfasts I enjoyed there were absolutely delicious.
In addition to the Lola Restaurant & Bar, L Hotel Seminyak has Luna, a rooftop bar that opens in time to watch the sun set. Guests staying at the hotel are entitled to one complimentary cocktail and appetizer per night.
L Hotel Seminyak is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, a collection of more than 520 one of a kind hotels in more than 70 countries.
