Hotels in Indonesia in general

This is very difficult to summarize but here goes. I was mostly a backpacker in Indonesia and the hotels were excellent value for money. I often had rooms for around $2 a night that were perfectly acceptable, especially ones by the beach. The smaller places in towns with not many tourists were often very good value and pleasant to stay at. Smaller hotels generally have better (more genuine) service in my experience. In big towns in Java like Jakarta and Suryabaya and in other big cities like Medan, it was a different story. Rooms were smaller and sometimes awful. Even when I upgraded to better hotels the quality in the cities was poor. These were still cheap ...  Read the complete review

I have stayed many times at the Mandarin Hotel in Jakarta, always on business trips. It is a fairly compact hotel, situated in a very handy location for traveling to just about anywhere in the city and there are always taxis available on call. I would say that quality of service was probably the Mandarin Hotel's strongest point. The staff go out of their way to help. I got to know a number of them quite well and was always greeted in a friendly and polite manner. The bell captain service was always prompt and efficient, including the reconfirmation of flights. Room service was good and there was a good choice of food on the menu, including dishes ...  Read the complete review