Mandarin Oriental Is Opening Its First Hotel in Bali
Updated: 5 minutes ago
Mandarin Oriental is coming to Bali. It is the group's first hotel on the island, set to open in 2027 on the Bukit peninsula, in the south. On paper it has everything a Bali resort is supposed to have. The real question is a different one, and I'll get to it.
Where it is
The resort sits on a plateau of terraces cut into a cliff above the Indian Ocean, with direct access to a protected white-sand beach at the bottom. The land around it, developed by the Bali company Harmoni Bali, has about 600 metres of cliff facing the ocean.
It is about 30 minutes from Ngurah Rai airport, and about 30 minutes from Jimbaran, Uluwatu and Sanur. Golfers will notice the neighbours: the resort is right next to the Bukit Pandawa Golf Course, and a few minutes from Bali National Golf Club.
The hotel
There will be 110 suites and villas, each with a private terrace or garden, and most with their own pool. The design team is three names: Design Lab for the architecture, Jeffrey Wilkes for the interiors and Bill Bensley for the gardens. Bensley is one of the best-known landscape designers in Asian hospitality, so the gardens are the part I am most curious to see.
Dining runs from the top of the cliff down to the sand:
a restaurant and bar on the cliff edge
a Chinese restaurant
a speakeasy
a beach club with water sports
The Spa at Mandarin Oriental will run treatments inspired by Balinese traditions, next to the group's own signature programmes, with heat and water therapies built into the cliff. There is also a kids club, tennis and padel courts, an organic garden and a sustainability lab. A big lawn on the cliff front is meant for weddings.
One small detail I like. Every Mandarin Oriental has its own fan, made by local artisans for that hotel. I want to see what Bali's looks like.
The residences above the hotel
Above the resort, on an 8-hectare site, there will be 68 private villas with 3 to 6 bedrooms, sold as Mandarin Oriental Residences.
Owners get their own clubhouse, with an infinity pool, a gym, a coworking room, private dining rooms and even an outdoor cinema, plus access to everything in the resort.
My take: in Bali, the view is not enough
Bali already has plenty of cliff views. One more won't move anyone for long. People come back to a hotel for how they were treated: the staff who remember your name, the problem solved before you even notice it.
That is exactly what Mandarin Oriental built its name on, in cities like Hong Kong and Bangkok. A beach club in Bali is a different test. It is a resort where the competition is already very good, and where guests compare everything with the hotel they loved last time.
If they bring the service of their city hotels to the Bukit, it will be one to watch. If it ends up as another beautiful villa with a pool, people will try it once and go back to their favourite.
Until then, if you are planning a trip now, our guide to the best luxury hotels and villas in Bali covers the island area by area.
So, the question I asked on LinkedIn: would you leave your favourite Bali hotel to try it?
Written by Mirko La Rosa, founder of Luxintravels. He has reviewed luxury hotels from the inside for more than ten years, and he slept in every hotel reviewed on this site. More about Mirko.
