After reading some of the reviews on this site, I was expecting the hotel to be a bit tired with peeling paint, but on arrival I thought those reviewers must have been to a different hotel!

Upon arrival our jaws dropped with surprise at how grand the entrance and foyer is, by far the most beautiful of those we saw at other hotels in Nusa Dua. The room we had, in the main resort (not the Ayodya Palace wing) was fantastic: huge bed and dark wooden furniture in a traditional asian style. The whole hotel is sypathetic to its location and felt luxurious but traditional at the same time.

Whilst we were there, in May 2008, it was very quiet and we felt like we practically had the hotel to ourselves. For this reason, we were glad we had not paid for a room in the Palace wing, as they only had a small pool, and the main one was very quiet anyway.

I would highly reccomend this hotel to anyone travelling to Bali. The resort is beautiful and the security is excellent - every vehicle gets checked on its way into Nusa Dua and also into the hotels. We had nothing bad to say about our stay at all, although people should be aware that the resort is very quiet, so not the kind of place if you want a really lively nightlife.

I can only imagine that the people who have been writing bad reviews must have been staying in a different wing or something. If this happens, please just ask to be moved rather than pay for the Palace wing, as our room was lovely and just a standard one with a balcony.

The reviews we'd read about Ayodya just before our visit were apt. One person described it as a 'tired old dame' and I'd concur with that. To say it's 5* and formally a Hilton, it has been left and is now somewhat dated. We asked to upgrade our room on our first day, but actually, once we looked at the more expensive rooms, we decided to stay put. They weren't worth paying the extra cash for. As you'd expect, hotel drinks were expensive and the entertainment wasn't good. That said, the staff were very friendly and helpful.

Just returned from 10 days at the Ayodya and the hotel façade and grounds are nothing if not impressive.

But it’s a Joanna Lumley of a hotel, the exterior is undoubtedly beautiful with an incredible entrance past those glorious lakes and fountains, and even this is outdone by the beautiful lobby area, and the central lagoon where the herons dive for the fish you feed and the lizards swim alongside them. But this is where it stops. Like the beautiful Miss Lumley, nowadays gorgeous on the surface, but not sure I’d like her in the early morning sunshine.

The rooms are shabby, poorly maintained and need a whole new make-over. Showers don’t work properly, (when there is water, only hot properly morning and evening and sometimes switched off) furniture is stained and old, and air con barely copes. (And we were upgraded to a “deluxe” room).

In the bars expect VERY high prices, 26,000 rupees for a bottle of water that is 1,500 rupees in the supermarket, we ordered a coke, a beer and a bottle of water, and later that night ate out for four people three courses for the same price as the three drinks. No wonder the bars are empty after the first night. The restaurant food is OK-ish, but again ridiculously high prices not justified by an increase in quality. (Eat anywhere outside the south-gate Mai Mai particularly recommended)

Breakfast was a joke, drop a croissant and add to the broken marble they were so hard, and how do you take ALL the taste out of a pineapple? Staff here, unlike the rest of the hotel, were surly and not very helpful. Still the daily omelette helps to bind up any cases of “Bali belly”

Pool area is nice but take goggles, after ten minutes the massive chlorine will have your eyes streaming with tears for a couple of hours. Beach OK, but not safe for children to swim due to very nasty undercurrents with the waves and it gets deep quickly, OK for a strong swimmer but not much else. Don’t eat at the beach restaurant next to the hotel, hot and cold running salmonella. Don’t book any tours on the beach, crazy prices go into town and buy them for at least half the price.

Nice try guys, but the hotel needs a complete refit to be given a “would go back” and then reduce all the prices by 75% for food and drink and maybe.

We stayed in the Ayodya for 15 nights the whole set up was lovely apart from the rooms which could do with a refurb. Staff were great very willing to please. We decided to extend our stay for a further week but moved hotels because Nusa Dua isnt the most happening place in Bali