Visa cardholders can enjoy savings of up to 33 percent on private villa accommodation. Visa is teaming up with leading independent villa guide Private Homes & Villas to offer up to four nights’ complimentary accommodation when booking one of 32 selected luxury private villas in Bali, Koh Samui and Phuket.

The Visa and Private Homes & Villas promotion, which can represent savings of up to 33 percent, includes accommodation, gourmet seafood dinners and spa massage treatments. Available throughout 2010, the offer is open to all Visa Premium cardholders (Visa Platinum, Visa Signature and Visa Infinite).

James Lim, Head of Consumer Products in Asia Pacific, Visa, said, ”We believe our cardholders deserve the best holiday experience, every time they travel. Private Homes & Villas’ attention to detail and focus recommending only those places that meet the highest standards in service and luxury gives us the peace of mind that premium Visa cardholders will enjoy a fabulous villa holiday.”

Jon Stonham, CEO and founder of Private Homes & Villas, said, “Asia has thousands of villas and private homes for rent. Sadly, villas’ websites are at times filled with exaggeration or outright misrepresentation. Working out what is fact and what is fiction is a minefield for even the most savvy traveler.

“The best recommendations come from people who have tried the beds, sampled the food and been served by the staff. Our team does just that. Every villa on our website is inspected by our seasoned travel staff. We pride ourselves on our complete independence and take the hard work out of planning villa holidays.”

According to the Visa and PATA Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey ‘Determining Travel Preferences for 2009 and Beyond’1, more than eight in ten travelers have recommended the great places they have visited. In essence, this means that for many destinations the most influential travel motivator is from what is said about it by those who have been there. The service provided by Private Homes & Villas is therefore a good indicator that the premises they have selected will be a suitable place for premium Visa cardholders looking for their next holiday destination.

The Visa and Private Homes & Villas promotion features a selection of high-end two to six bedroom villas. They range from romantic retreats such as the recently-opened Headland Villas in Koh Samui, the stunning cliff top villas on Phuket’s luxurious Samsara Estate, to iconic Bali villas such as Puri Bawana and The Beach House.

Prices start from as little as US$50 per person per night. The offer runs begins on 1 January 2010 and runs throughout the year (dates vary according to the villa).

Sources: etravelblackboardasia.com

I is not hard to see why the whole world wants to stay in a penthouse. There is something extremely sexy about being above the crowds, quite literally, settled into an exclusive eagle’s nest and pampered to the point of pomposity by a private butler. It is all about privacy of course – even if you decide to throw a party and invite your friends. For a private party. Above the crowds. In your own personal penthouse. You get the picture.

The Anantara Penthouse positively oozes privacy. The hotel itself – newest on the beach and already packed to the rafters – has been a hit almost from the day one. It offers something quite different for Bali … luxury in the middle of what would otherwise be the island’s ‘town’ – the beach at Gado Gado. You can sit in glorious luxury on the pool deck and watch the world go by, just as we used to do from a rather lower-budget warung in what was once a nightclub car park. It is all changed … just as the island has moved on, so have the hotels we now enjoy.

It gets better the further you go up. And up and up to the spectacular top floor that comprises, for the most part, SOS, and for another, the Anantara’s penthouse. Access is granted via separate entrance, upstairs to a lobby deck that doubles as a personal library. Open the double doors and step into a rather expensive embrace – if you have to ask how much is it to stay here, then I am afraid you definitely won’t be able to afford it. Right in front of you at this point is a set of smaller steps that lead to an inviting day bed, then onward to a private pool (into which one can literally ‘fall’) and yet onwards again to the stunning blue horizon. With nothing in between.

It is a luxury apartment, of course, and so much more. One end of your private deck in the clouds is a lounge area, dining room and another daybed, while on the other lays sunbeds, and yes, a jacuzzi. Oh hell. The plasma in your bedroom is almost as big as the bed, swivels nicely on its hinges and is supported by a fab Bose sound system that reverberates around the entire place.It is all showers and more baths and of course your own private spa room (or a second bedroom, should you be staying with your family or friends), not to mention exceptional service in the form of a very attentive and highly discreet butler. Always on hand but rarely noticed.

Nudity is a mandatory at some point during your stay. Let’s face it, if you can’t walk around starkers in a penthouse, where can you? The only people likely to disturb your natural tendencies (once the butler has been safely seen off, that is) are helicopter passengers who flit by occasionally in the otherwise pristine sky. All in all, the Anantara Penthouse is about as good as it gets (did I mentioned the well-stocked Smeg fridge), and very easy to get used to. Exclusivity can come in many forms, but this experience pretty much took the biscuit … and the cake, bottle of Dom and winner’s trophy. Enjoy it if you can.

Published on The YAK
Vol 20, Sep / Oct /Nov 2008

Three of the nine villas are operated under the banner of Heavenly Residence, which is run by Eric Li, who also designed and built The Asmara. The Asmara is like a satellite community living in its own space and time – Eric Li is the captain of the ship, sailing The Asmara through Bali waters. He is a man who gets things done and the place is a credit to him and his vision.

Villa 9 is a three, with the option of four bedroom villa. The two main bedrooms have the biggest views. They are situated on each side of the infinity swimming pool in the pavilion style layout of the 600sqm rental villa with commanding views over the Indian Ocean. Spacious en-suite bathrooms with walk-in robes and outdoor area complement the bedroom suites.

There are Japanese and Chinese influences adding to the tropical Balinese flavor of the design with large pillars holding up the roof of the dining/living pavilion. Furnishings and interiors are also designed by Eric Li. This area separates two front bedrooms and swimming pool from private third bedroom at the rear. Between the living and the third bedroom lies a heated Jacuzzi with stone and timber fringes that offer a tranquil and private area for guests. A modern fully-equipped kitchen, the latest sound and visual equipment and a special Skype telephone system offering free world-wide calls adds to Villa 9’s charm.

Villa 9 and two more Asmara Villas are now available for rent.

Heavenly Residence
3+1 Bedrooms
1 Kitchen
Jacuzzi
10m Swimming Pool
Land 600sqm
24 HourButler
Published rate: US$ 1,500 per night
www.heavenlyresidence.com

Article was published as Bali villas feature on Fine Restaurants & Villas (FRV), 4th edition

Let’s assume you are not living full time in the villa. Let’s also assume that you want to rent the property whenever you are not using it to recoup your investment. Cue the management company. No nightmares yet. But then the contract gets taken out and signatures are expected. It is always a good idea to thoroughly read the contract, small print included, so that owner and management company expectations are crystal clear from the start. One of the most common reasons for bad relations with owners and managers is misunderstanding.

Villa management companies are there to give owners peace of mind, and if the villa is to be rented, in order to generate revenue. Your personal goal is to have your villa available when you need it, make sure it looks fantastic when you return to it, and at least have the running and repair expenses covered by good rental income. Somewhere between these basic expectations and real-life circumstances, is where nightmares are controlled – or happen.

A tropical environment with salty high humidity, heat, and wood-eating termites is a hostile environment for villas and the physical impact begins the moment they are built. Ongoing maintenance of wood, metal, painted surfaces, electrical equipment, and more, need constant attention, quick preventive care, and occasional replacement. The threshold between well-maintained and out-of-order is often much shorter than anticipated. Expenses for a myriad of operating costs mount up more quickly than expected. Electricity, staff salaries, insurance, satellite TV, supplies for housekeeping, gardening, pool care and many other ongoing charges become regular monthly overheads and all too quickly get out of control. All of these financial details need to be closely monitored and accounted for through on-time payments and ongoing fiscal reports. It also helps if the management company is sizable enough to command reduced rates, based on volume and related economies of scale.

Typically a villa’s operating costs can be offset through rental occupancy level of 25% to 30%, meaning the management company must be capable of marketing your property successfully. Depending on where the villa is situated and countless other aesthetic and service variables, it will fetch a certain holiday market value and a nightly rate to match. So, acquiring enough paying guests is essential. However, new luxury villas are being delivered to Bali’s hospitality market exponentially and competition progressively more intense and sophisticated. It takes more experience and innovative marketing strategies and tactics to attract guests to your property. Not something to be left to amateurs. Your new Bali villas obviously built by professionals, so why stop there.

Choosing a reliable, professional villa management company will guarantee you sleep well and experience your well-deserved villa owner’s dream.

Written by Guy Nelson – Exotiq Villa Services
Featured on HOT Property Vol. 10 – 2008

Bedrooms are spacious and comfortable and most come with views to the ocean. The villa is complete with a 10-meter swimming pool and manicured lawns, gardens, and gazebos, which means it is ready for entertaining in style. The compact design and fantastic utilization of space are the high points of Villa Canggu.

All bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms and the villa comes fully furnished with the sale price. The main living/dining/kitchen room is enormous and has views over the pool and garden area and to the beach and ocean nearby.

Designed to maximize the natural light, and catch the cool breeze coming across the sea, the property offers a blend of air-conditiong comfort and tropical open-air living. Whether buying this villa for a rental prospect or to live in, the excellent quality of workmanship and finishing make Villa Canggu a prime piece of real estate.

Facts:
Land size: 1,200 sqm
Built size: 676 sqm
Number of bedrooms: 4
Number of bathrooms: 4 en-suites and 1 guest bathroom
Year built: 2006

Each of the Seminyak villas vary in size between 300 to 400 square meters and an outdoor garden complimented by a wooden gazebo which may double as day bed or intimate private dining area.

Elegantly furnished with extensive use of glass and timber finishings, the villas provide a warm and refreshing ambience where guests can immerse themselves in quality time for relaxation. Moredn technology also gets the nod with all villas having access to high speed wireless internet, cable TV, hi-fi sound system, DVD player, and large LCD TVs in both the bedroom and bathroom.

The Samaya Royal Courtyard Villas complex comes complete with a luxurious main swimming pool with poolside restaurant and gym. Guests at Royal courtyard Villas also have direct access and are welcome to fully utilize The Samaya beachfront area and famed Breeze restaurant.

The Samaya Seminyak Bali has come a long way in the past two years and looks set to keep the pattern in an upward direction in the future.

More Information:
The Samaya Seminyak Bali
Jalan Laksmana, Seminyak Beach, Bali, Indonesia
Phone: +62 361 731149

Article published on FRV – fine restaurants and villas

These are the kinds of residences that can work as privileged retreats for large groups and as venues for large-scale functions like weddings. A brand new villa in Canggu now adds itself to this rare set, marrying aesthetic flair with utilitarian savvy and refreshing reverence for its surroundings.

Designed by Australian architect Guy Morgan for a second generation ex-patriot family based in Hong Kong, Villa Puri Bawana elaborates on the classical Balinese garden compound arrangement, spilling with pleasing symmetry down a valley gradient towards a small brook with a sweep of stepped rice paddies dominating the view to the north and west. Morgan has taken full advantage of this topography to create a gradually unfolding experience that begins with the property’s large garden courtyard. “This is a public space that gives hints of what’s to come,” says Morgan. “Guests can be dropped off here, their eyes are drawn to a play of roofs over the wall, it’s here they get their first sense of the property.”

The owners purchased antique Balinese doors which Morgan and his team built around; passing through this deceptively discreet entrance, guests are greeted by another traditional element – the Aling Aling, a screening monolith inscribed with a bamboo motif – chinks through which you catch the smallest glimpses of the procession of buildings beyond it. “I love this feature – it adds a feeling of mystery as well as providing privacy to those inside,” remarks Morgan.

Skirt the Aling Aling and Puri Bawana at last reveals itself, with its two wings flanking a central pavilion topped by high vaulted ceiling, which quite deliberately recalls the classical Balinese Wantilan (community gathering house). With the sheer size of the property (50 are with a further 20 are leased to the south that is currently being maintained as rice field) Morgan had to be mindful of accessibility. “I felt there had to be a logical sequence of spaces so I kept all of the five bedrooms on one side and living/dining/entertainment areas on the other side, with the wantilan acting as a central reception area.”

Walk to the edge of this airy structure and there is yet another revelation as the pool appears. Fringed by a strip of manicured lawn that turns abruptly into rice field, its half-moon profiles echoes the terraced valley rising beyond it.

One issue that contemporary architects have faced in adapting the Balinese architectural style is the need to provide all weather access. Covered walkways between buildings provided and obvious solution, but for Morgan the aesthetic cost is not worth paying. “They remind me of hospitals or educational facilities,” he says. Instead, the two wings are approached via colonnades covered with pergolas which will soon be spilling fragrant creepers and vines. “Okay, there are perhaps a few sections where you actually meet the elements, but there are always umbrellas!” A fanciful and pleasing accent is the use of checked black and white tiles in these walkways – “It adds a touch of the colonial style you find in old buildings in Singapore, which I love.”

The efficacy of this medley of alang alang thatch-roofed buildings derives as much from the spaces in between them as the structures themselves. The owners employed the services of Equatorial Designs for the garden spaces – a mix of water features (ponds and cascades), landscaped elements, lawns, and private gardens within the bedroom compounds. Outside, these are used as natural screens between living spaces, reducing the need to keep everything enclosed to maintain privacy – stands of palm and other tropical flora replaces austere walls. Additional tiled mosaics by One World (founded by ceramic artists Philip Lakeman and Graham Oldroyd) complete the picture of a stately home designed for the tropics.

The bedrooms themselves all include king size island beds, walk in wardrobes, internal shower units, and most strikingly, bathrooms that are veritable temples to ablution. All of these include open spaces that encourage you to linger, whether a walled garden or in one case timber decking and lotus pond. The only second floor bedroom has its own lounging bale pavilion. “I love the idea of the bathroom being a social, interactive space. When someone’s having a bath, you have a captive audience, it’s a great time to talk. And it’s also great for kindling romance,” says Morgan with a roguish smile.

Cempaka Interiors were responsible for interiors – a rich mix of custom furnishings, including a purpose built unit for the audio-visual system in the entertainment/lounge compound, wallpaper backdrops above beds, modular lounges with multi-hued upholstery and a color palette for the walls that runs from duck egg blues to sunny yellows. The effect is refreshingly non-generic yet not overstated. A stand-out feature is the circular stained glass window, which gives a kaleidoscopic effect to the view beyond it. Whilst the other bedrooms feature tile floors, the master suite is clad in ironwood, jutting out towards the little brook that trickles along the valley floor.

The dining pavilion sits at the same level as the wantilan, atop the entertainment room, once again protruding eastward. A vast slab of reclaimed teak wood acts as the dining table, whilst a low boundary wall provides seating, as well as framing wonderful views. A neat little addition that was requested by the owner is a children room, featuring bunk beds and its own en-suite shower room that deliberately evokes a nightclub bathroom, complete with mirrored surfaces. “It means you can put all the kids together in an enclosed space that’s just perfect for pillow fights!” says Morgan.

The villa’s mechanical and engineering elements are as impressive as its aesthetics, both for their ecological qualities and for the thinking that has gone into service issue. There is a sewage treatment system that diverts biological waste into a special garden plot instead of sending it straight into the leech field. The hydraulics unit is of the highest quality, installed by a company out of Perth, whilst a generator provides complete electrical back up in the event of power cuts. Staff quarters are spacious and each compound includes its own discrete staff access. Ironwood comes from plantations as opposed to natural forests, whilst much of the rice field that existed here before has been preserved and continues to be farmed by the original owner.

Villa Puri Bawana exemplifies high design done responsibly, achieving a careful parity with its surrounds. Expect its imminent appearance on rental market, with resultan waves … just as soon as its owners can tear themselves from it.

Article written by Rufus Johnston
Featured on HOT PROPERTY – vol.8 2008

Leaving Sanur and heading east through Gianyar by car or bike had previously been a tortuous experience, dodging heavily laden trucks in search of the ferry port at Padang Bai. Not only dangerous, this was time consuming exercise, although those that made it to Candi Dasa and beyond confirmed it was well worth the effort.

In some respects, similar to Canggu on the west coast, there are mountain views, rice fields and distinctly rural atmosphere. However, there are pockets of white sand beaches, sleepy fishing villages, and plentiful five spots to suit the most exacting individuals and as well as being much, much quieter.

Vic Faulkner gives his perspective on the attraction as a developer: “Beachfront is always going to be in short supply and always desirable. People will pay to be right on the beach. For those with money, helicopter access is easy and even road access is nowhere as painful as it used to be. Luckily for us we have had a small resort in Candi Dasa since 1995 so know the area well … it is a natural next step for us.”

Now there is a brand new road connecting Sanur, almost all the way to Candi Dasa, cutting drive time from two and a half plus  hours to a little under one, and as you wuld expect, the rush is on.

Vic also believes that East Bali offers great opportunity to investors: “A basement-level investment always produces the best prospects for capital growth – look at the Bukit – those who got in early are enjoying 100% increase after just two years. If you want to mane the big gains, get in early with a developer you know will deliver. In terms of lifestyle, we’re constantly surprised by the quality restaurants and small resorts cropping up in the area. It used to be just the Amankila and the Serai (now Alila) but now there are plenty of  quality alternatives. It’s also close to unspoilt areas of Bali, beautiful scenery, temples, Mount Agung – a big attraction for those trying to escape for a bit of winding-down in a spiritual environment. Also, don’t forget the new marina – under construction which is likely to attract a whole new wave of big spenders to the island as well as provide easy and quick access by boat to Nusa Lembongan and the Gilis.”

Existing properties such as Amankila have always attracted certain niche, which will now certainly expand to those wishing to buy in established developments, such as Karmas forthoming property and Axure Suites in the low cliffs at Padang Bai.

Written by James Foskett
Featured on HOT Property – Vol. 8 2008

Over several kilometers of beach front, the world’s five star resorts are cosied up giving first time visitors the ersatz introduction to Bali style and culture. Not for every one to be sure, buth with these 5 star global brands offering ownership packages the potential cliets net has broadened.

Michael Martin agrees: “Nusa Dua is ideal for investors from nearby places like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Jakarta who can get down to Bali for long weekends and vacations. It also suites the Indonesian market which is reflected in sales.”

A gold course, mall and shopping area, independent eateries abound, so there is no need to venture beyond the gates. For potential owners and investors alike, condotels provide a quality lifestyle experience plus virtually guaranteed returns.

Again, Michael Martin believes that “The condotel concept is ideal for a property market like Bali. The investment is managed by a hotel who has good service systems in place to keep the property well maintained as well as good marketing systems in place to get good rental returns. This trend will continue for the foreseeable future.”

Written by James Foskett
Featured on HOT Property – Vol. 8 2008

One of the original tourist development areas of Bali, the Grand Bali Beach Hotel was the land mark structure from the early sixties. Aesthetically graceless, a concrete block looming over the palm fringed beach, the Balinese soon realized the need for building regulations and impose the “not above palm tree” height building restrictions.

Nusa Dua was then designated the tourist development area for Bali and Sanur settled down to playing its trump, creating small boutique style properties such as Tanjung Sari which attrated names such as Jagger and Bowie in the seventies. Always popular with long term stayers, numerous Bali style residences have consistently been sought after, with Batu Jimbar the eponymous expat enclave. And, that’s the way it remained until a few years ago whenBali’s real estate market took off.

Dominique Gallmann belives that Sanur is “still good value” and attracts a mature market who: “don’t think they miss something if they don’t have the Hu’u bar and the likes around the corner.”

Plenty of refurbishment along the beach front, a number of stylish eateries and revamped tourist hang outs have made Sanur an attractive destination once more. Seminyak it is not, nor does it pretend or want to be, offering a more sedate and yet refined Bali experience.

Written by James Foskett
Featured on HOT Property – Vol 8 2008