10 Reasons Why We Love Montigo Resorts Seminyak

We travelled very frequently and stayed in a lot of hotels. Some of them one star, some five star, but most in between. Often, it is those little touches that make the difference between an ordinary stay and a great stay. Slated to open with full facilities in June 2016, Montigo Resorts Seminyak is the newest hotel in Bali. An oasis in the heart of the city, the resort is well-equipped for a comfortable stay and ideal for 3 generations of the family – grandparents, parents and children.

Mr Dalip Singh, Managing Director of KOP Limited mentioned, “This is an area which is up and coming, because currently it is underserved. A lot of hotels and resorts are for couples, but not family kind of concept. And I think travel trends has changed a lot, with the increase number of airlines coming in. We notice that there are increased number of people who travel with the entire family, including myself. This segment has been underserved, that’s why we come up with products that are designed for this segment.”

Here are 10 reasons why we love Montigo Resorts Semniyak.

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1. Personalised Welcome

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After checking in, we were pleasantly surprised when we entered our room. They had printed our wedding photo and gifted us a cute CONY plushy. AIYO SO SWEET! When I checked out TripAdvisor, there were also other guests who compliment them of such personalised welcome. On the table, we were served with some complimentary savouries and sweets which was perfect after our flight. Towels were folded to resemble animals. They’re great playthings for kids and just bring a smile to our faces.

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2. Spacious Room

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Montigo focuses on a lot of things that matters, from safety, security to cleanliness and comfort. Blue hues blend perfectly with earthy tones creating a comforting environment. “Being the newest kid in the block in Bali, the challenge for us is to look at how we position and come up with a product in order to meet the needs of our guests. In designing this entire resort, we took a lot of things into consideration,” Mr Dhalip explained.

Even though the point of a vacation is often to get away, it’s still nice to get in touch with the office and home if need be. That’s why we love hotel rooms that are up-to-date with tech-savvy amenities such as free Wi-Fi and flat-screen TV that can put on swivel with multiple channels so that nothing is more than a click away. Instead of having three pin plug by the bedside, they replaced it with USB. So thoughtful because for many of us, we would charge our phones by the bedside or use it as an alarm.

We would come back every evening to find our room prepared for bedtime, lights dimmed, cushions removed from the bed and slippers & fresh water bottle’s at either side. Not to mention how wonderful our room smelled from the oil burner they would light each evening.

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Book by 15 March 2016 and quote “TAMCHIAK” to enjoy:
– 30% off Best Available Rate
– Complimentary Breakfast for 2 guests
– Late check-out up to 4pm (Subject to availability)
– 20% discount at TIIGO (Exclude alcoholic beverages and special promotions)
– Complimentary use of floats at the pool

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3. Marshmallow Bed

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Gone are the days of rock-solid, bed bug-filled (too soon?) hotel beds. Nowadays, hotels are making sure that all of their guests have a great night’s sleep, with bedtime-friendly accoutrements such as pillow menus and fancy linens with high thread counts.

“Where Bali is concerned, I am very confident we have one of the best beds, if not the best sleep experience in the world. Everyone who tried our beds, they love it.”

All rooms and suites feature signature Montigo beds complete with the softest down feather liners and the smoothest of sheets for a most memorable sleep experience. The beds are specially imported in, same thing for the resort in Batam. Patented by American Down and Feather Council, it’s so soft and fluffy. Together with the pillow contruction and linen, you can ensure it’s controlled standard. That’s why we love it! Normally king size pillow is 24 inch, but at Montigo, the pillows are 36inch long, so you can even use it as a bolster. The pillow molds itself to the sleeper’s head and neck cradling them in comfort and support. Ahh, we’re dozing off just thinking about it! Call me a pillow snob, but life is too short to sleep on a waffle.

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4. Their toiletries… BVLGARI!

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When you’re on vacation you want to feel like you’re being pampered, and it’s nice to enjoy things you wouldn’t normally splurge on at home. In Montigo’s bathrooms are Bulgari’s latest Blue Tea amenity range, a new scent derived from Oolong Tea and signed by master perfumer Daniela Andrier. These designer toiletries makes our shower experience feel extra special. The large bathroom is well appointed, it’s well-lit and there is big bathtub or rain shower.

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5. Local & western dishes in an air-conditioned setting

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“At Tiigo, we are strong in asian concept in serving authentic balinese food in comfortable environment. I realised most of the restaurants here are al fresco, very dark. Taking these into consideration, the restaurant here is fresh and not dark and air conditioned. These are small little details they look out for.”

While many restaurants serve babi guling, if you want to eat in comfort, Tiigo serves it too and Chef does it pretty well. His Babi Guling (Rp250,000) features generous chunks of tender roasted pork served with thick, crispy skin stuffed with a secret blend of Balinese spices and roasted for hours. Served with steamed rice, urapan, sata lilit, sambal matah, sambal goreng and sambal ulek, take time to slowly savour the porky goodness.

If local breakfast is not your thing, Tiigo also offer typical western breakfast such as Grilled Bratwurst Sausages (RP 88,000), The Big Breakfast (RP 130,000), American Breakfast (RP 95,000), Continental Breakfast (RP 78,000), Healthy Breakfast (RP 80,000) etc.

During dinner, the resort initially planned it for us to have our meal by the swimming pool. But unfortunately, it was raining that night and we had to shift it into the restaurant. Not a bad thing actually, because it was quite cozy and comfy at night. Chef Alit’s grill dishes never fail us. My Lamb Chop (RP 125,000) is certainly tender, and they are truly great with red wine sauce. Some other dishes that we tried include the melt-in-your-mouth Pork Belly (RP 125,000) with cajun pears, cauliflower puree and apple sauce; Lobster Bisque (RP 80,000) with prawn wonton and coriander foam; and Chocolate Decadence (RP 80,000) with 70% cocoa mass flourless dark chocolate cake, chocolate sauce, chocolate macaron and chocolate chantilly cream.

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6. Pool that makes a splash

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Montigo Resorts Semniyak‘s swimming pool is located right at the entrance, just beside the pool. On cooling days, you can order your meal from the restaurant and dine just right in front of the pool.

Mr Dalip Singh added, “We added a swimming pool beside the restaurant, a unique concept that you cannot find it often in Bali. People love to order some food and go to the pool and relax. We have seen an increasing demand, and we have tested it out on New Year’s Eve at the foam party.”

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7. Interactive Cooking Class

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Gain new culinary skills as you learn to cook delicious Balinese food on this half-day cooking class. Under the guidance of Chef Alit, we get to visit local market, choose local ingredients and try our hands at Balinese cuisine in a cooking class. Then enjoy your lunch together!

Our class begins with a market tour to a local market nearby where you can get ingredients from food stalls filled with the mouth-watering aromas of specialty dishes as well fresh vegetables, meats, sweets and spices. We learnt about various ingredients, including herbs and spices used, and start collecting produce for our cooking lesson.

After the market tour, we are back in the resort for a hands-on lesson in Balinese cuisine. All of the equipment and ingredients are prepred and we have plenty of opportunities to interact with the chef and our fellow cooks. It really fun and Chef Alit has been very kind, letting us do simple chores like cutting garlic and onion. I had so much fun making pancakes!

We tried our hands on Balinese Ayam Betutu which is a whole steamed balinese spring chicken with a whole lot of spices. The aroma of this Balinese chicken dish alone will you have swooning. And it pairs so well with sambal matah. We also cooked papaya salad and pancake with grated coconut. At the end, each of us got a certification of completion and two happy tummies.

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8. 24-Hour Room Service

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At hotels with 24-hour room service, we can have their pick of tasty treats no matter the time of day or night. On our last day, we were feeling lazy so we decided to order room service instead. Selecting from Tiigo’s menu, we decided to go asian this time with dishes like Nasi Goreng Bali Bumbu Rajang (Rp74,000); Semniyak Breakfast (RP 87,000) featuring egg noodles soup with shredded chicken in rich chicken broth; Nasi Jinggo (RP74,000) served wiith yellow rice with shredded chicken in chilli spices, soya bean cake, egg and sambal ulek.

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9. Romantic private garden dining

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Each suite has a private garden where families can spend time together or have romantic dinner there. We were treated to an exclusive garden BBQ dinner with a mobile live station where the chef specially cooked for us. How cool is that.

Starting with appetizers, we were treated to Sate Lilit, mixing a Balinese spicy paste with mnced chicken and then moulding it around sugarcane sticks. Served with Balinese spicy condiment (sambal matah, it adds a unique depth of flavour to the smoky meat. The prawn bisque was rich with a tang, and there is a huge crispy seafood dumpling in the middle.

It’s quite meditative to watch chef grill our steak and prawns on the charcoal grill. Flip and Flip, what came was beautiful piece of wagyu beef tenderloin cooked to perfection: rare in the center, charred on the outside and dripping with salty, smoky, brawny juices. You know you already want a glass of red wine with steak. We were given a few choices of mustard and salt to pair with the steak – paprika mustard, fresh coriander mustard, herb mustard, black sea salt, rosemary salt and lemon skin salt. Honestly, I didn’t go with any because I like it as it is, with red wine sauce.

With a personalized waitress to serve us the whole night and music playing at the background, what more can I ask for?

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10. Service that goes beyond

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The most incredible feeling comes over you when a hotel embodies a destination on arrival. Right from the time we arrive till we bid goodbye, Montigo has displayed exceptional service. The driver was really friendly and chat with you like a friend (everyone of them speaks English fluently). Upon arrival, we were offered a glass of cold lemongrasss tea. The feeling continues when we spent our time at Tiigo restaurant. They even offered to drive us to a nearby shop when they don’t have to. It’s moments like this that fill you with an immense gratitude simply because you are there.

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The whole experience at Montigo was extremely personal, from the moment we arrived to the day we checked out. The staff were super helpful and friendly, catering to all our needs. It has great location as well, only less than a 10-minute walk to the beach, lots of little shops and restaurants nearby and we took a leisure walk to get to Seminyak Square.

The hotel is still in the soft opening, so some of the facilities such as the gym and spa are not ready yet. But even so, we still enjoyed every moment of our stay at Montigo. By June 2016, you will have everything ready, including the spa which focuses on water treatments with a range of water pool facilities.

Montigo Resorts Semniyak is about 40-55 minutes’ drive from Ngurah Rai International Airport. The nearest shopping mall is Seminyak Square, which is about a 5 minute drive or 20 minute walk from the resort.

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PROMOTIONS

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Book by 15 March 2016 and quote “TAMCHIAK” to enjoy:
– 30% off Best Available Rate
– Complimentary Breakfast for 2 guests
– Late check-out up to 4pm (Subject to availability)
– 20% discount at TIIGO (Exclude alcoholic beverages and special promotions)
– Complimentary use of floats at the pool

CLICK HERE TO BOOK NOW!

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No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are honest and are my own.