Pondok Bali Cottage

We left feeling stressed and unsafe after what we believe was a scam involving staff at this place. I hope the owner checks how the employees are behaving, and I think the police should investigate. Please read the other reviews too, since they may help explain the situation. The road to the hotel was badly broken, and when we arrived, the rooms were filthy and clearly hadn't been cleaned. The kitchen was dirty as well. There was no staff or security to help us sort anything out. We had paid half in advance, but nobody met us. The person we had been communicating with through Airbnb, Agoda, or Booking didn't answer the phone, and a different person appeared instead. That felt like a scam to us. A group of young people then tried to send us to a cheaper hotel and said they'd refund this booking. We didn't agree. We cancelled on Airbnb and asked for our money back, but were told it couldn't be refunded because we'd paid already. We didn't want to risk staying while surrounded by two or three young people we considered scammers in a foreign country, so we left. We contacted Airbnb support afterward and got a full refund from the official Airbnb administrators. They weren't at fault, in our view; the people involved had registered on their platform. The people we believe were scamming us got nothing, and we feel their actions have been exposed. If they're the owner's relatives, the owner should act. If they aren't related, they should still face consequences. Other reviews describe issues too, and we believe these people even scam fellow Indonesians. As foreigners from Vietnam, we felt they were happy to try to cheat us. Please deal with this, because it harms this business, Batur's reputation, and Bali as a whole. People may avoid staying in Batur because of this. We nearly did, though after moving on we met wonderful local people in Batur and saw its beautiful nature.

What made my stay stand out was how attentive and kind the staff were. They kept checking that I had what I needed. The place itself is beautiful and the rooms are lovely too. I'd absolutely recommend staying here. ✨

The views are stunning, and the rooms are amazing. Staff were kind, and the location is handy for a Mt Batur trek or jeep tour since it's very close. Food choices are limited, though.

After travelling all morning, we got there to find our rooms had been given to someone else. They tried to offer different rooms, but when we said that wasn't what we'd booked, they apologized and said they'd forgotten to close the booking site, so our rooms were full. We asked for a refund and were told they had no money and the boss, who lives in Ubud, wasn't there. A really terrible experience. We had nowhere to go for the whole day.