Amed Cafe & Hotel Kebun Wayan

Cool place

Think of this more as a love letter than a review. In many ways I love, and am committed to, Amed Cafe and Hotel more than my own brother. But sometimes love needs to be tough, and relationships need to be worked on. So let's sit down with The Good, The Bad, and The (best lol) Ugly. The Good: first time I came to Bali i was recovering from a job loss, the ending of a long relationship, a proper midlife crisis. Sunariyani and Buddhi in particular have been family to me, looking after me better than my own family just by being themselves. When i got caught in Culik with no food, hungry, drunk, fading, and trapped by the crowd, Sunariyani spotted me and bought bananas and water which basically saved my butt! That's what a good Auntie does right?! I have long philosophical conversations with Buddhi and I've been in touch with both of them after I left Bali. Now I'm back again to live. Last night was New Years Eve and the hotel hosted a local children's event where all the children sang, danced, did spectacular traditional dance, beautiful prepared speeches in English, and more. I've never seen anything like it in a hotel. This is the incredible beauty of Balinese culture and the hotel personifies that. The Bad: In terms of actually being a hotel and looking after the customers, the hotel has always been pretty poor. if you order laundry it takes more than a week to come back. The hotel is super spread out but there are no phones to call reception. Then if you walk up to reception sometimes there's no one there. Then you go down to the restaurant to get the staff to find the receptionist and the receptionist tells you to come back over the road to the reception, it's like being run around in circles! I've been shuffled through three rooms in two days this time and every room doesn't have a working shower. the fridge in the new room doesn't fit in its place and is falling off the edge. If you complain the staff get defensive, make excuses, and try to pass the buck saying "oh that wasn't my shift" or "oh that's not my department". Come on guys you are one team and one organisation, take responsibility for each other, you aren't a government department!!!! When i ask to have the shower fixed a man comes and informs me that all showers in the world can only spray hot or cold water, so they can't be fixed lol!!!! That's really a unique worldview isn't it. The Ugly: I came back from a four hour hike exhausted. There was a weird smell in my toilet. A staff member had done a big diarhea poo in my toilet, it was on the seat, all over the inside of the toilet. This is like the worst thing that's ever happened to me in a hotel. So to break it down, connection to local community: five stars. personification of the beauty of Balinese culture: five stars. Room preperation: two stars. Staff work ethic and customer service: Sunariyani 30 stars, Buddhi four stars, most of the staff two stars, guy who shat in my toilet negative 5 million stars. Come on guys lets be the hotel you could be, keep the good and sort out the bad and the ugly, I believe in you.

The room was nothing to brag about. It was just a place to sleep, but the air conditioner blue cold. The bed was not that uncomfortable. The shower and the sink were comparable so maybe something the caveman might’ve used years ago.