Hotel Shri Ganesh

Location: Situated near Lovina Beach, with easy access to dolphin-watching boats and a quiet, peaceful environment.

I had booked on booking dot com some months prior to may stay, and had communicated with the hotel re non smoking room, and motorcycle parking. Checkin time was 1400, and I arrived right at that time. On arrival, the staff were saccharin sweet, I was offered coffee, and we talked about my having stayed there previously, and just small talk. I was then told that there was no room. They had sent a message at noon asking me to confirm, but I was on a motorcycle, enroute from Kintamani, and didn't receive it. They said that since I didn't confirm, they gave the room away, but had made arrangements with the hotel "next door" for accommodation, and asked me to go with a staff member to check it. A staff member offered me a ride on his motorcycle, so I asked why ride, if it was 'next door'. It then became about 150 metres. In reality it was 400 metres, AWAY from the beach. It wasn't acceptable, so I was shown another, this time it was next door, closer to the beach, but at almost three times the cost, which was also unacceptable. The reception person then asked me to cancel and she'd accept on booking dot om. It later became clear that if I cancelled, I couldn't give a review on the booking site. I left to find a room, and it was particularly difficult, being late December. I did find one after about an hour of searching in the heat, and then went to booking dot com and brought up Shri Ganesh. They STILL had rooms available, but at twice the cost at which I'd booked. It became clear that there was considerable demand, so they threw me out to take a booking at a higher price, a short term gain but longer term stupidity. When I received the cancellation confirmation from booking dot com, it showed a cancellation cost of one nights charge, so I suppose I'll have difficulty recovering that. This organization is deceitful, At BEST. After this experience, I cancelled my booking for March, and could never recommend a place that does such dodgey business. If I could give it a zero, I would. This was an awful experience.