On a recent family trip to Bali, travel author Brian Thacker, shared his time between a villa in a resort in Nusa Lemobongan and a private villa in Ubud booked through Airbnb. So which is better for a family trip: a resort or rental?
Booking the accommodation
Resort villa
I booked our resort in Nusa Lembongan only two hours before we arrived, after discovering the resort we’d originally booked had burnt down the day before. Luckily, it was the off season and we had plenty of options to choose from. I simply went to my Trip Advisor App on my phone and found a 2-bedroom villa in a resort, then went to the Trivago App and found the cheapest deal and then to Bookings.com to make the actual booking. All up, it took about nine minutes.
Private villa
I booked our villa in Ubud through Airbnb when I booked our airfare 8 months earlier. If I had tried to book it two months before we left, the villa would have more than likely been booked already.
Arrival
Resort villa
A staff member from the resort was waiting for us on the beach – we arrived by boat – and he carried our bags up five flights of stairs to reception. We got the usual fruity-flowery welcome drink and cold face-towel, but our room wasn’t ready. (We arrived at 11.00 and had to wait until 2.00). We could use the pool, though, so we went for a swim and had lunch by the pool.
Once we were shown to our room a staff member went through the usual ‘Here is the light switch’, etc.
Private villa
Our host’s son met us at the top of the steps down to the villa and carried our bags down. Although it was 11.30 and ‘check-in’ wasn’t until 2.00 we could move straight in. We were shown all the light switches and handed a PDF print out of the latest Lonely Planet guide to Ubud.
