Sau Bali Beach House Canggu

You really can’t beat the location, and we loved our stay. A few things to know before booking: our room was cleaned and given a new bottle of water only every other day, even when we asked for cleaning. The AC wasn’t cold, and you can’t flush toilet paper. There’s nowhere to hang wet clothes or towels, which is strange for a beach and surf stay. The room was a bit noisy from the restaurant above, though it wasn’t the worst. To reach the room you have to pass through Hippie Fish Restaurant, and sometimes they stopped us while we were walking through. That was annoying, but understandable since it’s a very popular restaurant. I’m not criticizing the place, just sharing what to expect.

We travel often, but this was the worst hotel stay we’ve had. The air conditioning didn’t work from the start. The receptionist tried to fix it when we arrived, without success. That night we reset it ourselves six times and still got nowhere. We raised it again the next day and were offered another room, where the AC also didn’t work. After we made an official complaint through Booking, the hotel admitted it knew the AC was broken but still refused to refund us. They also misrepresented the proposed solution as a move to another room, even though that room had nonworking AC too. Communication was awful, with no apology or refund, and management seemed more focused on arguing against negative reviews than dealing with the problems. Booking should seriously reconsider working with this hotel. The bathroom had mold, the soap dispensers were broken, the door handles were rusty, and we were given a dirty towel. The so-called sea view was actually a large wall and a parking lot. There was nothing worth three stars here. It felt more like a one-star hostel.

The room design needs professional attention. At $40-50 a day, the quality wasn’t good. The WC door handle was broken, the lighting was poor, and the doors didn’t block the noise at night. Better sealing might help. The room also needs a table. While packing in a hurry, I hit my head on a wall shelf that was fixed up amateurishly and had sharp edges.

It’s basically a room, bathroom, and AC, but it’s cheap and good value for the money. The location is perfect, just a short walk along the beach to great restaurants and bars. There was some noise from the sea and furniture being moved upstairs, but it didn’t bother me, though it may not suit everyone. I’ll come back.