With its 636 rooms and suites, Grand Hyatt Bali has been the island’s largest hotel for most of the resort’s history. Opened in 1991 and sitting on over 17 hectares of land, the resort was originally realised to serve as a convention centre hotel. Regardless, the resort has played host to a few US Presidents, most recently Joe Biden during his G20 visit. Whilst The Mulia nearby has since taken the title for the island’s largest hotel complex with its 745 rooms, suites, and villas, the Grand Hyatt remains the island’s largest single hotel.

Location

Grand Hyatt Bali is located in the gated ITDC Nusa Dua community, sharing its space with other upscale international resorts like Melia Bali and Sofitel Nusa Dua, amongst others. Whilst the area is popular for its pristine beaches, there also isn’t much to do within walking distance. As such, eateries are limited to the restaurants in the area’s resorts, as well as the Bali Collection shopping mall connected to the Hyatt. Despite that, there are still several local warung eateries just outside Nusa Dua’s sprawling gates.

To note, the resort is reachable within a 20-minute car ride from Ngurah Rai International Airport.

Arrival and Check-in

We arrived in Nusa Dua at 13.00, two hours before the resort’s published check-in time of 15.00. Before we could even enter the area, we had to go through a security check at the community’s entrance. Then it was another 5-minute drive to the Grand Hyatt’s entrance, where a second round of thorough security checks were done. It was only after that did we pull up at the resort’s impressive lobby.

It took a short wait before an agent became available, during which we were served a welcome drink of fruit-flavoured tea. Afterwards, we were quickly registered by a warm and friendly agent, who reconfirmed our stay details. Our keys were issued soon after, for a ground floor room in the ‘North Village’ wing.

With its 636 rooms and suites, the property is massive. Our room was located conveniently between the Grand Club and the lobby, but that still entailed occasionally getting lost. For reference, below is the map of the resort.

Our Grand King Room

We booked an entry-level Grand Room and were assigned a ground-floor room with a terrace. Whilst it didn’t look like the resort has renovated their rooms in a while, our Grand Room looked inviting and was very well-maintained.

Bedroom

At 49 sqm, our entry-level room felt very spacious and well-proportioned. The marble-clad bedroom specifically features a large daybed by the window, in addition to the large king-sized bed. There is also a marble-topped dining table seating two, that also features as a desk. A minibar is placed in the cabinet under the television.

Whilst looking a bit old, I found the room to be very functional and comfortable. I also especially appreciated that power outlets are abundantly spread throughout the room, making it very covenient to work on a laptop in various areas.

Bathroom

Separated by wooden blinds from the bedroom is the bathroom, which is similarly clad in marble. The bathroom also houses the room’s walk-in closet, which had a strong smell of wood and carpeting. The bathroom is equipped with a separate bathtub and shower cubicle, the latter of which also has a rain shower option. To me, the only drawback of the bathroom are the resort’s mediocre-quality unbranded toiletries. To be fair, I’m not a big fan of Grand Hyatt’s standard Balmain amenities, either.

Terrace

Finally, accessible from the back is a small terrace, equipped with two garden chairs. Despite the ground-level room, we were treated to superb views of the resort’s lush gardens and its Balinese Feature Pool (more on that later).

Dining

Our rate included daily breakfast, which was served at the Garden Café near the resort’s main pool area. Guests staying at different wings are interestingly directed to different breakfast venues, which turned out to be a clever strategy. I honestly had low expectations of the breakfast food but was very pleasantly surprised.

Once seated, we were offered a choice of drinks by the friendly restaurant staff, who also prompty delivered the beverages. Since only a certain number of rooms were allocated to the Garden Café, the restaurant felt smaller than the typical mega-resort breakfast venue. As such, table service was very quick and attentive. Very impressive!

The breakfast was served in a buffet, although nearly all food station was helmed by a cook. Most remarkably, they had a really nice fruit bar featuring fresh fruit cut to order. What’s even better was that the fruits weren’t just the typical three choices… it was a complete salad, too. Yum! I was also more so impressed by the above-average quality of the food, which countered the trend I’ve experienced at other large resorts. A good amount of the choices are also made to order, which I really appreciated.

The spread had a large choice of Indonesian and Western dishes. Of that, the cooked to order dishes included Indonesian soups and porridges, the typical egg station, as well as a pancake and waffle station.

Resort Grounds and Amenities

The Grand Hyatt covers a massive 17-hectare plot, which features many well-manicured gardens and ponds. I honestly thought the resort managed to strike a great balance in integrating Balinese design into a mega-resort complex. Specifically, much of the resort’s architecture took its cue from the ancient Balinese water palaces, evident from the numerous ponds around the resort.

Despite the 636 rooms spread throughout many wings, no area felt dull or uninspiring. This, of course, is thanks to all the lush and well-kept courtyards that are proportionally placed in nearly every space of the resort.

Adorably, the resort also has a number of in-house families of ducks that regularly walk in groups, pond to pond.

Beach

Occupying the largest plot within Nusa Dua also meant having the merit of the most expansive beachfront. The Grand Hyatt’s pristine beach stretches nearly 700 m end-to-end, easily eclipsing that of every other resort in Nusa Dua. As with any other beachfront in Nusa Dua, the water is calm and swimmable. There’s even a small secluded alcove you could swim to, perpendicular to Grand Hyatt’s beach.

Being so massive also meant that the sun loungers are spread in clusters far apart from each other, offering a good degree of privacy. To sweeten the deal, the beachfront also remained devoid of Nusa Dua’s infamously pushy beach-trotting hawkers.

Pools

Finally, the resort also features five different pools, four of which can be accessed by all guests. The first two are located towards the back of the resort, near the expansive beachside. These are the river and lagoon pools, which feature an organic shape. The pools are surrounded by numerous sun loungers, most of which remained empty despite the high occupany rates during my stay.

The next two pools are the Balinese Feature Pool located near my room, and the Bay Club Pool contained in the fitness centre. Unlike the main pools, the Balinese Feature Pool featured a lot more Balinese elements and looked absolutely gorgeous. This pool is spread over two levels, the top part of which had its jaccuzzi feature. I especially liked the emerald pool water alongside the many ornaments decorating the area.

Finally, guests staying at the Grand Club are also afforded their own pool on top of the other pool choices. I honestly stumbled into this pool whilst trying to find a shortcut back to my room. Regardless, I thought it looked quite solemn and peaceful compared to all the other shared pool areas.

Service

I certainly did not come to Grand Hyatt to expect attentive and personalised service accustomed to smaller resorts. Regardless, I couldn’t fault the staff members here, who I consistently found to be warm, professional, and friendly. I was also impressed by how eager to help they were – for instance, they were quick to help whenever I showed signs of getting lost or if I had questions.

Overall

Overall, I had a very pleasant stay at Grand Hyatt Bali. I came with relatively lowered expectations due to the massive scale of the resort. Despite that, I found that the resort managed to operate very efficiently by compartmentalising their facilities, ensuring that there weren’t massive groups of people trying to use the same thing at once. I also really liked their abundance of facilities and amenities, especially its massive beach. Whilst I don’t think it’s necessarily a great base from which to explore Bali, it can be an excellent one-stop resort for travellers wanting a simple and leisurely stay.

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