The Angsana Bintan Resorts & Spa (hereinafter referred to as ‘Angsana’) is a hotel located in Lagoi Bay in Bintan Island. ‘Angsana’ is a sister brand of Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts.
Angsana Bintan’s swimming pool is illuminated by dramatic lighting at night
If someone were to ask me if I’d recommend this place to them, I doubt if I can give a definitive answer. Instead, I will probably just enumerate what I liked and disliked about the place and let that person make his own decision.
First off, let’s get the nasty stuff out of the way:
1. Wayyyyy EXPENSIVE! Due to Bintan Island’s extremely close proximity to Singapore, the Singapore dollar (SGD) is accepted preferred everywhere. Or, to be more accurate, most hotels and commercial establishments charge in SGD, even though the Indonesian Rupiah remains the official legal tender. In Angsana, however, I was shocked when I opened the menu and found everything listed, not in SGD, but in US Dollars (USD)! To give you an idea of how much things cost over there: a can of Coca-Cola will set you back by USD4, a milkshake costs USD5.50, a regular thin-crust plain cheese pizza is USD10.
2. Cut off from the outside world. Even though the hotel is just 15 minutes by bus/car from the ferry terminal, there is no free/paid shuttle to/from the hotel. If you want to go out and explore the island, you’d have to rent a car, which costs an arm and a leg. As a result, we ended up just staying in the hotel after calculating that we’re better off eating what’s on the overpriced menu rather than shelling out extra bucks for car rental.
3. Less-than-satisfactory cleanliness of the room. Granted, I booked the rooms through the internet with the best internet rates (USD115++ without breakfast, as of this writing). But it’s no excuse for sloppiness when it comes to cleanliness, in specific, the shower curtain in our bathroom. It reeked, it stank, it almost drove me mad. So I took it off myself before even requesting for a replacement because I just could not stand the smell any longer. Perhaps it was an isolated incident, which would not be a sufficient grounds for me not to recommend this place to people. Unfortunately, that’s the sad fact about consumers — I’ve read somewhere that when one customer is disgruntled, he’ll tell 10 other persons. In my case, at least 25 readers a day (as of this writing) will know about this. Sorry, Angsana, but that shower curtain just ruined the first day of our stay because the stench permeated the whole room. Just imagine my distress as I searched high and low for the source of the offending odour, only to identify the problem on the morning of the second day, after taking out the trash bin and sealing all the twins’ soiled diapers in a plastic bag.
4. Lacking in some of the small things that make the difference. Sure, they had complimentary coffee- and tea-making facilities and a small daybed to curl up in with a book or for lounging on to watching TV, but with their cold, tiled floors, I felt that a small rug right in front of the daybed would have added a much-needed ‘soft touch’ to the room. They didn’t even have plants or flowers in the bathroom, or, in keeping with the spa theme (because they’ve got the word ‘spa’ in their name), a scented oil burner. They did have perfumed incense on top of the desk beside the TV, but they only smelled of smoke. An isolated case of old incense sticks whose perfume was already gone, by any chance?
5. A dark lobby. Their lobby was surprisingly dim at night. Sure, it looked romantic with flickering candles on every coffee table, but I think it would have been better if certain portions of the lobby were more sufficiently lit, especially by the computer table.
Angsana does have its redeeming qualities, however:
1. Impeccable service from the staff. Their staff are so well-trained, they anticipate your needs and offer a solution even before you ask for it. It’s uncanny how they almost read your mind. For instance, a couple with 2 young children were exploring the grounds and the beach, when one of the staff politely approached the father and asked if they’d like baby-sitting services at some point of their stay. Or something as simple as — the kids are slurping on the remaining 1/5 or so of their milkshakes when a waitress discreetly asks if we’d like to order some more. I couldn’t help but admire their marketing savvy when they’d call me up in the morning to ask first if I had a good night’s sleep, then ask if I had breakfast, then finally, asking me if I’d like to have room service send something to my room after I told them that I was busy with my kids. As for the stinky shower curtain, when the hotel staff saw me hang the offending object in the hallway outside my room after I took it down myself, they immediately installed a replacement without my asking for it.
The verdant, well-manicured gardens make strolling within Angsana’s grounds sheer pleasure
2 . Well-maintained grounds, pool and beach. The hotel decor was subdued and low-key (there were no fancy lighting fixtures — just lots and lots of tea candles on tables and lining the dramatic staircase every night), but the grounds, pool and beach were impressively well-maintained. The grass was impeccably trimmed, there was nary a stray leaf in sight everywhere, the pool waters were crystal clear, there was no sign of any mildew in the pool area, the lounge chairs were wiped clean and lined with fresh-smelling bright yellow towels, the beach was spotless, the toilets near the Lotus Cafe were sparkling clean.
3. Beautiful pool. I feel the pool merits special mention because it was beautifully designed. There were two wading pools on either end, surrounded by whimsical fountains in the shape of frogs. The wading pools themselves had the shallow main portion and several even shallower portions with jacuzzi-like bubbles. Thus, the twins had fun in the bubbly shallower part, while RoundBoy stayed mostly in the shallow main portion even though he did venture into the pool meant mostly for adults (1.2 meters deep all throughout), which was in the middle of the two wading pools. Yup, RoundBoy can swim, thanks to compulsory swimming lessons in his school from 1st to 3rd grade in primary school.
4. Beautiful and challenging golf course. Or so DH said, even if the golf greens are terribly expensive.
5. Amazing spa. Details in a separate post. But it was amazing, that’s all I’ll say on the matter for now, even if it was expensive.
6. Free internet. There was an internet-enabled computer in the lobby which anyone could use to check email or surf the web. There was also free wi-fi internet access in the lobby, Lotus Cafe area and even reaching some of the guest rooms.
Quick side note: Angsana had a Kids Club, where children 3 years old and above could stay and engage in activities that varied from day to day, at a USD6 fee per child, per activity. However, I didn’t use their services, hence I can’t comment on it.
From the lobby of the hotel, go down the imposing staircase for all-day dining at the Lotus Cafe
As for the food in the hotel’s restaurants, I suggest you stick to the Western menu because their Indonesian food was very bland and disappointing, bearing little or no resemblance to the stuff that I’ve gotten accustomed to eating.In conclusion, depending on what’s most important to you, I leave it up to you to decide if this hotel is worth visiting or not. From the list that I’ve given above, the pros seem to outweigh the cons, in terms of number. In my case, however, since I’m a stickler for clean rooms (especially clean bathrooms!), my (isolated?) bad experience on the stinky shower curtain pulls down Angsana’s ratings for me. Perhaps, I was expecting too much in the first place because the hotel is, after all, affiliated with the ‘Banyan Tree’ brand. The excellent service of Angsana’s staff does make me waver and wonder if it makes up for that unpleasant experience which plagued me on our first day (and the seemingly endless stinky first night) in the hotel.