Narvik Villa

The owner was fair and did as much as possible to address the problems we raised. Since we had only four nights planned on the island, we moved on after one night rather than let the issues affect the rest of our trip. The villa is nicely laid out; it looked smaller than the photos suggested, but the seven of us would still have had plenty of room. Ignoring the repairs we needed, I'd give maintenance and cleanliness 6/10. Hot water wasn't working when we arrived, and AC was ineffective in three of the four bedrooms. The lounge and dining area were okay but could use at least one larger unit. Dust, cobwebs, spiders and dirty outdoor furniture took away from what could be a lovely property. The cleaning team needs to be more diligent. Think about the location before booking. With your own transport, or if you plan to cater for yourself and stay in, it works well for privacy and seclusion. Without transport, going out is difficult. Parts of the road are treacherous for anyone unsteady on their feet, and walking isn't practical even if you're reasonably fit. It's 1.6 km to the main road, an 18-minute walk for me, then another 20-25 minutes to the main stretch of bars and restaurants. I'd skip their airport transfer: their local driver quoted 300,000 per car, while a metered taxi was 192,000. When we asked for a supermarket stop to buy snacks, he tried to add cigarettes to our bill. Their car-and-driver offer was 750,000; you can get one for 500,000 or less in town, or use a metered taxi or make a deal with unlicensed town drivers. Hire cars and bikes are also much cheaper in town. It's a nice villa with potential, but it needs better cleaning and preparation for guests. For evenings out, bring transport.

The villa was quiet, in a friendly neighborhood, and we saw monkeys. Its current TripAdvisor photos seem accurate, and the first impression was good. The rooms and bathrooms are large, and the pool was a good size for the family. There are two bicycles for exploring the roads. We also appreciated the large TV with international and sports channels, TVs in two of the four bedrooms, Chromecast for Android devices, a Playstation 4 and a karaoke DVD, though you need to bring your own karaoke CDs. Staff were friendly. At an average rate above 320USD a night, a relatively high premium for Indonesia, many basics weren't up to standard. The rooms weren't cleaned, beds weren't made, towels weren't replaced, and outdoor furniture pads weren't dried after rain. The kitchen items hadn't been cleaned before we arrived, cookware had oil in it, and dust and spiderwebs were everywhere, especially on the artwork and lamps. The villa driver, Wanwan, was unpleasant to deal with. He charged more than Bluebird taxi and took us to an expensive, subpar restaurant. He probably gets commission there, but it felt like bad comradeship. We later found much better, cheaper warungs (cafe-like restaurants). Internet was slower than average. Breakfast was awful each morning: orange cordial and cold fried noodles, even after we complained. Toast, eggs and some fruit would have been much better. The water kept cutting out, once for almost half a day. It wasn't a one-off; other guest book reviews at Narvik Villa showed it had been happening for nearly a year. There's a lot of potential here, but basic things like cleaning the kitchen and changing towels make a real difference.

A belated thank you for the five-star hospitality during our Lombok trip over Chinese New Year 2019, especially from Ms Renita, the manager. A few days before we travelled, I contacted narvik Villa to arrange transport from bangsal harbour and learned that our AirAsiago booking hadn't been sent through. There was no reservation under my name, and the villa was already booked by other guests for our dates. Ms Renita quickly helped us sort out somewhere to stay and even arranged our itinerary. She kept checking on our travels throughout the trip to make sure my family and I were having a good time. My parents enjoyed the whole journey too. With such kind and responsible service, I'm looking forward to staying with them on my next visit. Thank you, Ms Renita and Narvik Villa, for helping us all the way.

I really like your villa and think it's a good place. Your website security was very weak, though. I defaced the site, and I'm sorry about that. I backed up the files on your site. I hope you can improve its security. Regards, RaBiitch.