W Bali Seminyak, Indonesia 🇮🇩 -Lifestyle icon with strengths, weaknesses and lots of potential

W Bali Seminyak is a resort in transition. Once the first lifestyle resort on the island, it now has a lot of competition and has to evolve with its ageing guests. The location is great, as is the service and breakfast. However, you can find out in detail where the hotel’s shortcomings lie in our review. Enjoy reading it.

Review #106

All hotels that you can find on our homepage and our YouTube channel – and many more besides – can now be booked directly through us. In many cases, you can expect additional benefits such as upgrades, breakfast or hotel credit without paying more.

The W Bali currently offers you the following advantages:

• Daily complimentary breakfast for two guests per room

• Hotel credit to the value of 100 USD (once per stay)

• Early check-in and late check-out (if available)

• Free upgrade to the next room category – not from room to suite (if available at check-in)

In any case, you support us with your booking and – together with the other EVRYWHRE crew members – help us to continue our work to provide you with exciting flight and hotel reviews. A small portion of the booking price remains with us as commission – without you paying a cent more for your stay.

Location

W Bali is located directly on the beach in Seminyak – one of the liveliest and most popular areas of the island. Around the hotel you will find beach clubs, stylish boutiques and countless restaurants. Nevertheless, the hotel area feels like a small, quiet oasis between palm trees and waves. In the evening, you can watch the sunset directly from the beach or take a few steps across the sand to the surrounding bars. The perfect mix of relaxed and vibey.

Arrival

The easiest way to reach W Bali from Denpasar Airport (DPS) is by taxi or grab. Depending on the traffic situation, the journey to Seminyak usually takes between 30 and 45 minutes. At peak times, however, you should allow a little more time. Alternatively, you can also arrange a private driver, which is often the most convenient solution after a long flight.

In any case, we are not aware of any alternative means of public transport. During our many stays, we have never seen a bus or anything similar.

We arrived with a grab from our previous hotel, the Alila Seminyak, and were already at our destination in a quick 5 minutes – the hotel is actually just two houses down the same beach to the northwest and is just a stone’s throw away, so to speak.

Check-in

We arrived at W Bali with our grab, were greeted warmly at the car and escorted to reception, where we were able to sit down comfortably at one of the two tables. The Bonvoy app had already shown us beforehand that the assigned Suite was ready for moving in, so check-in was very smooth and quick. The hotel grounds were explained to us, we were given an unusual blue welcome drink and a resort map to help us find our way around.

In addition, as Titanium members in the Marriott Bonvoy program, we could choose between breakfast and an additional 1000 points as a welcome gift – as always, we chose breakfast. On top of that, there was a voucher for a free photoshoot. Shortly afterwards, we had our key cards handed over to us and were on our way to our Suite on the 5th floor.

W Bali Seminyak at a glance

Opened in 2011, the W Bali – Seminyak is a large resort with a main building and a spacious area with villas. The Lobby with the Living Room forms the heart of the hotel and connects the reception, bar and lounge area.

The pool and the hotel’s main gastronomic outlets, including the WOO Bar right by the sea and the adjoining restaurants, are located at beach level. This part of the hotel has an open design and is the busiest part of the complex.

The spa and gym are physically separate and are housed in their own small building complex. The regular rooms and Suites are spread over the 5 floors of the main building, while the villa area with the Marvelous One Bedroom and the WOW Two and Three Bedroom Villas is located at the rear of the hotel grounds.

During our stay in November 2025, the first renovation work was already underway, including at the Woo Bar, and gradually the rooms and all other public areas will also be given a makeover – just as the W Hotels brand is now doing at most older hotels worldwide in an attempt to keep pace with the tastes of the clientele that has grown older with the hotel. Everything will be more elegant, less flashy and colorful – but still trendy!

Suite

As is usually the case, we booked the cheapest room category at the W Bali. In this case a Superior Garden View room. However, we still had a Suite Night Upgrade Certificate left and applied this early on for the booking. As mentioned above, we were even informed via the app before check-in that we had been upgraded to an Escape Suite. However, as soon as we walked down the hallway to the Suite, we noticed construction noises – never a good sign to be honest!

Nevertheless, let’s take a look at Suite No. 550 together.

Welcome

As we arrived at the Suite, we were greeted by a very extensive welcome gift, which already referred to an upcoming birthday, although this was actually only due a week later. That was a real and great surprise for us.

So in addition to the two pink coconuts and an original Balinese cloth with a handwritten welcome card, there was also a small birthday cake, a paper crown and a handwritten birthday card waiting for us. Amazing, isn’t it!

Living room

As soon as you enter the Suite, you are standing inside the living area. On the right-hand side of the wall, a 70s-style living area sofa stretches along the entire length of the room. It is very comfortable, huge and offers plenty of space. The matching coffee table is place near the entrance and the TV is installed on the wall opposite. There is also an armchair in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Just to the right of the room door is a minibar station with a Nespresso machine, noname capsules, water and cups. More alcoholic beverages and snacks are available in the corner. There is also a kettle, an ice cube tray and glasses in the drawers below. The fridge, which is also hidden here, is filled with soft drinks, water, beer and wine and, everything except tea and coffee, is not included in the price.

Bedroom

The passageway to the bedroom is located approximately in the middle of the living room on the left. This is of course dominated by the bed and also offers a narrow desk.

The king-size bed was as well decorated for the birthday – another surprise!

It offers guests a total of 4 pillows, two of which are each the same size and firmness. There is also a large and cozy comforter. On the right-hand bedside table is a telephone with notepad and pen, as well as a clock radio. Sockets and individually controllable reading lamps are installed on both sides.

Bathroom

The bathroom is accessible from the bedroom and the living room. It is quite spacious and has two washbasins on separate washstands also providing soap and body lotion. W Bali uses care products from Oaken and their own brand instead of the usual Skin Regimen and Momo products found in many W hotels.

Interestingly, the wet room is placed in the middle of the room as a glass cube and is effectively a huge walk-in rain shower in which the bathtub is also located. Care products such as shampoo, body wash and conditioner, as well as bath salts, are of course also available here.

By the way, it’s really great that there’s a really big skylight here, which lets a lot of daylight into the bathroom.

There is of course also a separate toilet at the back of the bathroom.

The walk-in closet, which is positioned between the entrance door and the toilet, is also part of the bathroom. Thanks to the sliding door mechanism, a maximum of one side can be opened at the same time. This is where you will find your slippers, iron and ironing board, as well as enough space for your clothes, safe and luggage rack. Of course, you will also find everything you need for dry cleaning and a hairdryer.

View

The view from here is of course really great and extends over the entire pool area to the sea and the horizon. In terms of floor space, the Suite consists of two normal rooms and therefore has two balconies joined together. Unfortunately, this amount of space is not really used and the sparse furnishings are squashed against the wall. I’m a big fan of balconies and am happy about every hotelroom that features one, but I was really disappointed here. It felt as if the hotel didn’t know what to do with the space.

The Suite is located at the very end of the building and directly in front of the WooBar. Unfortunately, this was being completely renovated at the time of our stay and the jackhammers could be heard all the way up to the 5th floor.

Change from Suite to Villa

So as we stood there on the balcony, we thought: Nah. That’s kind of crazy. So we simply called reception and asked what could be done. After just two phone calls, we were very kindly given the opportunity to upgrade to a one-bedroom pool Villa free of charge. The Villa was not yet ready for us to move in at the time of the phone call, but we could very much cope with this fact and about an hour later were very kindly helped with the move. It was much quieter in the Villa and fortunately there was no sign of building works being carried out.

Villa

So we were assigned Villa No. 32, pretty much in the middle of the villa complex. Let’s take a closer look at it together.

Living room and bedroom

You get to the entrance by first walking past the large entrance gate along the path by the pool and then entering the Villa through the double glass door. When you come in, you are already standing in the shared living room and bedroom.

To the right is the living area with sofa, table and armchair, as well as the wall-mounted TV.

The large king-size bed is more or less in the middle of the room with a view of the pool. As in the Suite, it features two different pillows on each side and a large, cozy comforter. On the bedside table on the right is the telephone, a clock radio, a notepad with pen and the remote control for the TV. There are also light switches and a reading lamp in addition to the regular bedside lamp on each side.

A relatively small first closet is located behind the bed to the left of the window. Here you will find the iron and ironing board as well as the safe.

There is also a long desk built in directly behind the headboard of the bed and in front of the window, here you will find everything you need to get your work done.

The minibar, on the other hand, is installed in a niche next to the living area. In a cupboard you will find crockery and cutlery, as well as the kettle, ice cooler and fridge. This contains soft drinks, water, snacks and alcoholic beverages.

On the sideboard next to it is the capsule coffee machine and there are even more alcoholic beverages, snacks and everyday items, such as sunglasses, available for purchase.

Bathroom

Past the headboard and footboard of the bed, you then enter the bathroom. Here you will find a very beautiful and spacious area. Straight ahead you will find a washstand with two washbasins and, of course, all the necessary care products and a bathrobe.

There is a piece of seating furniture in the middle of the room and at the end of the room, directly in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the terrace and the pool, is the free-standing bathtub. We particularly liked the fact that the board across the bathtub, on which things can be placed while bathing, is a wooden paddle! This brings life and coziness to this very beautifully, but also very soberly designed bathroom.

At the back of the room, there is a toilet on the right and a walk-in rain shower on the left, where care products are of course also available.

Opposite the washbasin is the second, much larger built-in closet. There is enough space here for your clothes and to store your suitcases. There is also a second bathrobe and a clothes horse that you can set up on the terrace to hang up wet swimwear to dry.

You’ll also find slippers and flip-flops for the pool and beach here.

Turndown

Of course, a hotel like W Bali also offers its guests a turndown service. The bedspread was removed from the bed, the pillows were laid out differently, water was provided in the living room, slippers were placed in front of the bed, the lights were dimmed and the curtains were drawn.

However, the blackout curtains in this room don’t really deserve their name. Unfortunately, it was anything but dark in the morning after sunrise and so the night was over quite early for us!

Terrace & Garden

The real highlight of this Villa is, of course, its own small garden with terrace and pool. Here you can spend wonderfully relaxing hours and be all to yourself without being disturbed.

There are two sun loungers with parasols and a round table with a chair placed on the terrace. There is also a great, super cozy covered cabana from which you can overlook the entire terrace.

The pool itself isn’t huge, of course, but it’s not particularly small either. You can get in via a small staircase and definitely do a few swims if you want to.

Resort activities

Pool

The beautiful large freeform pool is located directly on the beach in the center of the hotel complex. You can swim really well here, but in photos the pool looks a lot bigger than it actually is because there are also shallow areas placed around it where you can sit at most.

Otherwise it’s great here. There are plenty of sun loungers with parasols and of course there is the usual W Hotel DJ booth, which is regularly in use at weekends.

Unfortunately, however, the construction work on the WooBar was also very audible here and also had a visual impact, as the bar area was partitioned off with tarpaulins during the renovation work.

Beach

The beach here, like almost everywhere on the island, is open to the public and therefore W Bali cannot offer sun loungers directly there. Of course, you can easily go to the beach from the pool and swim there right away. However, as you’ve probably already seen from the pictures, the weather wasn’t particularly great during our stay and so unfortunately we weren’t able to try out the sea for you.

Fitness Center

The AWAY FIT Gym is open 24 hours a day, even offers a personal trainer during the day and is well equipped. In addition to some equipment and cardio machines, there is also a free weights area as well as an area for bodyweight training and yoga.

Spa

The AWAY Spa also offers 24-hour access. A hot tub, a cold tub, a sauna and a steam bath await you there around the clock. You can as well spend time in the outdoor area, where you also have the option of getting into an ice bucket for a fee.

Restaurants

Fire

The hotel’s grill restaurant lives up to its name and mainly grills meat and fish over an open flame.

Star Fish Bloo

This restaurant is the all-day dining option at W Bali. Located directly on the beach, it mainly serves fresh fish and seafood. Brunch is also offered on Sundays.

W Lounge

The Lobby at W Bali is also the W Lounge, where you can enjoy refreshments and snacks and a great afternoon tea all day long with a view of the pool and the beach, but especially in the evening you can also try delicious cocktails and snacks while watching the hustle and bustle on the beach.

Breakfast

W Bali serves breakfast in their Starfish Bloo Restaurant. Breakfast includes both a very large buffet and an extensive à la carte selection. This means that hot drinks and selected dishes from the menu are ordered and served at the table. For the rest, you simply help yourself to the buffet. We tried a few things and found everything very tasty.

Mondays to Fridays are served until 11:00 a.m., Sundays only until 10:30 a.m. – the paid Brunch starts at 11:00 a.m. and is also open to external guests. Somehow such a decision always leaves a stale aftertaste to me. Especially on Sundays, as a hotel guest I would rather have a later breakfast than an earlier one. In my opinion the hotel certainly puts revenue over guest satisfaction at this point which I find to be a real shame.

Check-out

The check-out went smoothly and was very friendly. We were asked again how the stay was and if we needed any help with our departure.

Costs

For this one night at W Bali – Seminyak, the cost in November 2025 was around 6.3 million IDR, which at the time of our trip was equivalent to around 320 euros. Mind you, this was the price for the lowest room category.

The breakfast was included as a gift due to the Titanium membership at Bonvoy and the upgrade first to the Suite and then the Villa was possible due to a usedSuite Night Upgrade Certificate.

Departure and onward journey

From here we jumped back into a grab and drove on to our last hotel in Bali. After just under three quarters of an hour’s drive, we arrived at the Nirjhara. From there, we continued our journey in Singapore Airlines Business Class with a stopover before flying back to Bangkok. There we’ll take a look at the Waldorf Astoria and the St. Regis for you before heading back to our home airport in Frankfurt.

Conclusion

This stay at W Bali – Seminyak was a mixture of very good moments and clear weaknesses. The smooth check-in, the extensive welcome amenities, the very good breakfast and the professional handling of the noise complaint including the Villa upgrade were really great.

On the other hand, we thought the general condition of the house was a real shame, as we felt that a lot of it was getting on in years – the ongoing renovation is really urgently needed. Of course, the noise pollution from this renovation has its downsides. Therefore, we found our stay really rather mixed.

We can recommend the hotel for all target groups. Families, couples and solo travelers are equally well catered for here.

On our EVRYWHRE internal scale, we place W Bali accordingly in the Lifestyle category.

Rating

We award this stay at the W Bali Seminyak a very favorable 8 out of 10 possible points.

We deduct one point because we really think that such basic renovation work can only be done when the hotels are closed, or in this case at least when the rooms in the main building are simply not available and there is proper communication about the current status beforehand.

A second point is deducted because the hotel is currently in urgent need of renovation.

Go there?

From 2027 on, when the renovation work is complete, we would say: Yes. Go there! But really only then. Up until there we´d recommend other hotels.

Booking with EVRYWHRE

You want to go on vacation at W Bali? Then book via our Preferred Partner Rate! It won’t cost you any more, but will bring you real benefits:

✔ Free breakfast
✔ Upgrade subject to availability
✔ 100 USD hotel credit
✔ Early check-in & late check-out
✔ Collect points – on a regular basis

You can find all the details on our Booking Hub.

YouTube Review

If you want to hear more and, above all, see moving pictures? You want to hear the sounds of the ongoing renovations in the original? Then I warmly recommend you watch our YouTube review. I can’t wait to hear what you think. Feel free to leave a comment!