Pink and Undecided: July 2021

Mini Review : Senyum World Hotel Batu

Hi guys!

How are y'all holding on?

For those of you who are in Indonesia like me, things must not be easy for y'all too as we're in the midst of PPKM (as i type this, it was just announced that PPKM is officially extended until 25th with relaxations starting on the 26th, fingers crossed that the infection rate will continue to go down significantly in the next few days so we can restart our activities without further delays), and especially seeing people on the other side of the world having their world opening up again - but we must persevere, get ourselves vaccinated as soon as possible (i am waiting for my 2nd jab on August 2nd) and keeping health protocol, it WILL happen to us too and it'll happen soon, we just NEED to reach the same herd immunity like them too. Hang it there, my fellow Indonesian (and South East Asian in general as see most of our neighboring countries are struggling like us too) - better days WILL come!

Anyway, before the trainwreck of Covid tsunami that hit us in early July, things were a lot more peaceful so in early June i decided to book a hotel in Batu for a little reality escape as my son was gonna have his school holiday and things seems to be pretty safe for a short getaway. But seriously, planning anything that is more than a week away is NOT a good idea for this day and time because we all know what happened next. Things escalated fast and crazy my mum decided that they would not come anymore and forbade me to bring my son as well. Thankfully somehow the hotel rooms that were not supposed to be refundable were cancelled (and fully refunded) after we seek assistance from the hotel - and for this i must applaud their services.

The hotel that we booked was this :

Senyum World Hotel
Jawa Timur Park 3
Jl. Ir Sukarno No.144, Beji, Kec. Junrejo, Kota Batu, Jawa Timur 65236
Telepon: (0341) 3073999

So i was attracted to the hotel because they have thematic rooms and i thought since i haven't been on any vacation in over a year, if i am finally about to go on one (albeit a super short one), i would want to be able to make a lot of contents out of it too. The thematic rooms means i can take pics in room and plus it's sort of a resort (with mini golf etc) so there should be a lot of spots to take pics at - but since the reality was different than how i originally planned the whole thing to be, there are things that i have to adjust accordingly.

First of all, i planned to have photoshoots around the hotel itself - reality was we didn't even arrive to the hotel before dark and then i immediately wanted to go to Millenial Glow Garden (a new park at Jatim Park 3, we got 2 free tickets from the hotel and it's awesome!) before it gets too dark so in the end we didn't even explore the hotel at all *LOL*. Second of all, i was pretty paranoid the whole time i was there (honest to God, it was the beginning of the second wave and things were very scary, it felt like another apocalypse and with things circulating around it get the feeling like we'd contact the virus as soon as we stepped out of the house *LOL, like the air outside is contagious *sigh*) so i discarded my plan to change clothes often and stick to the very minimum so we'd have less things to sanitize WTF.

Since we didn't even get to see the hotel apart from our own room (hubby also decided to stop at every level when we got back to check on the other floors because each floor has different themes LOL) and the lobby, i initially thought i wouldn't blog about the hotel but seeing that i want to update the blog and i'm not in the mood to write about beauty, i decided okay lah i'll do a short review (and look at me yabbering away already so it's probably not gonna be that short anyway WTF) and when (because i totally plan to) we return and can explore more then i will do a 2nd, more thorough blog post.

First thing we noticed, there are actually 2 buildings. this one is where we were staying and the other, taller building has a simple minimalist interior

For the thematic building, i'd say that everything's on brand *LOL*. Like, it's loud and brightly colored, you know right away that you're in a theme park's hotel right away

If i'm being honest, the lobby is a little bit tacky for my liking *LOL*

And honestly i was worried about the place being crowded as it was during school holiday, but i got the inkling that it'd be better during weekdays (personally i was like, really? People still go on vacation on school holidays? Honestly, the kids has been online schooling for more than a year already, what's the difference between regular days and school holidays anyway? LOL) and as you can see that the place's practically deserted so i felt better immediately. There were a lot more people around when we checked out (probably all the occupants of the whole hotel that were checking out as well) though

And just our luck... We got the theme that i like the LEAST LOL. It's Africa >.<. It's just personal preference ya, i just prefer light colors and brighter lit rooms so i was really hoping for Japan (looking at the photos in their website, China and Greece seems nice too although hubby said Greece's too tacky and comical but i don't think i mind), or anything but Africa >.< i'm not a fan of all these tribal, wooden, brown, animal printed decors. There is even a (REAL) taxidermied lion welcoming you once you enter the level *LOL* (i forgot to take pics but i took a video, you can check it out on my Instagram reels as i like to take short videos for my reels now). I think we can totally request for any floor, and if we want we could probably asked for a room change but i decided that we shouldn't bother... I'll just experience Africa for now and i'll specifically ask for Japan next time

And here's the room. It's pretty nice and cozy, and very large - one of the reasons why i was drawn to try to stay here is because they have 36m room and i love large rooms (well, you should see our bedroom in our home, then you'd know why small bedrooms are driving me crazy LOL)

Hubby said that the room's similar to Baobab, i strongly disagree because Baobab is like a LOT more luxurious LOL, but yeah probably a similar, safari vibe.

Seriously the patterns and all the decors really didn't vibe with me *LOL*, i mean... You take one look at me you'd know that this is not my vibe, right? But to be totally fair, it is a comfortable and generally clean hotel room. FYI, i was so worried that i specifically asked the hotel if the sanitize the room every time a guest checks out and they assured me they do, that's why the check in time is 3 PM during pandemic as they need more time to sanitize.

A little bench to sit around if you haven't change your clothes yet *LOL*, pre pandemic i was already pretty anal about outside clothes never touching our bed, you can bet i become crazier after pandemic hits

And another super important part of a hotel room for me (apart from if there's any staining in the bed sheet) : the bathroom

I'm pretty happy to report that the bathroom's pretty much sparkling clean so i felt very comfortable immediately

Geez look at the leaves wallpapers -____- sorry guys i'm just not a fan of jungle themed, if you're a Tarzan fan you'd have a field day here tho *LOL*

Enjoyed my 1st cup of coffee in a hotel room after a year...

Despite my aversion to the decor and theme of the room, i had a great time at Senyum World and i had a good night's sleep (without much difficulties to fall asleep at all) which means it's pretty much #PinkApproved!

Before this i never really considered Senyum World at all because my son is a teenager already (if he's younger i'd definitely checked it out sooner) and honestly pre-pandemic pricing of the rooms didn't seem to be worth it for me. I don't remember how much their room rate was but i remember comparing it to like, Aston and found Aston (which is obviously a little more luxe) to be more worth to stay at. Right now their room rate is around 550k per night for weekdays (weekends seems to fluctuate between 650-800), do i think it's still high? I'm cheap so i'd say, a little *LOL*. But if you can experience the full place, and if you 1. have young kids or 2. want to take pics, then i'd say you should consider it in the (safer condition) future! I don't think they still have the promotion where you get a free tickets to Millenial Glow Garden (i think it was only for June) but it was a seriously good deal as the ticket costs 60k per person (for weekdays) so it's already 120k off the 550 paid for the hotel!

I personally would love to return, on a weekday and hopefully when they have more promotion on the room rates *LOL*. What do you think? Would you like to stay here too for a vacation?