We have just returned from a week at the Grand Bali (no longer called Swiss Grand ), which was a timeshare exchange through RCI. As I usually stay at Legian or Seminyak, I was a bit worried about being so far out, but we ended up loving it!
We had a deluxe suite on the top floor at the end of the building, overlooking the pool and golf course. It was the biggest hotel room I have ever seen, beautifully furnished with a four poster canopied bed, timber desk, lounge, TV, DVD player and mini-bar. The marble bathroom was about 3 or 4 metres, with separate bath, shower and toilet. (Why were there no hooks or towel rails in such a huge room?). Outside we had a large terrace, with views on 3 sides with a full lounge suite. (It felt a bit like being in Ubud, so relaxing). The air-con was not very cold, so if we came in from the heat, we would have to sit on the lounge in front of the vent to cool down, but it was fine at night.
Breakfast was not included, so it cost us about $AUD10 for buffet breakfast, which had a reasonable selection, but not as good as other hotels I have stayed at . We had to serve our own coffee, even though there were always staff members standing around. Nobody walked around with the coffee pot.

It was very quiet, with not many of the 60 or so rooms occupied. I did not see an Aussie for 2 days as most of the guests were Russians. At least there was plenty of room at the 2 pools, which are separated down the centre by sun lounges, shaded by frangipani trees as the sun moves around.

There is a very nice spa by the pool, although we only went in for our free 15 minute massage.

The bar off the lobby has a pool table and seating overlooking the entrance to the hotel.

As the hotel is not on the beach, they have a free shuttle every 2 hours to their Nusa Dua Beach Club. There are plenty of sunlounges, umbrella, chairs and tables, as well as a beach bar to provide food and drinks. It was very nice, although in the morning the tide is way out.

On the way back from the Beach Club we were dropped off at the Bali Collection, which has lots and lots of shops, including a Sogo department store, and restaurants. We had a delicious light lunch at Aromas, and were then given free transport back to the hotel.

The hotel has a once a day shuttle to Kuta and you have to find your own way back. We found a taxi cost 80,000 to 100,000 and took about 40 minutes. We went in twice, bought a coffee at Gloria Jeans to use the internet in airconditioned comfort, went to Discovery, Matahari to stock up on snacks, fruit etc. the tailor for some clothes, and found we could not wait to get out of all that traffic back to our peaceful life at the Grand Bali

It is a 5 minute walk down the road to the corner to a street of shops and restaurants (Bualu village), where I had very inexpensive massages - one was 100, 000 and one was 70,000 rupiah for an hour ($8.50 to $12). The shopping was not bad and I did not have to bargain as hard as in Legian. We found some great little restaurants, and they all drive you home - Mai Mai has barbecued seafood sold by weight and then grilled, as well as a variety of other dishes. We ate there twice and the food was delicious. Laguna was another great little restaurant offering free welcome drinks, garlic bread and salad bar. They also had live entertainment several nights a week.

We also did the Safari Under the Stars tour at the Elephant Safari Park and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The best thing about this hotel is the rooms. They are spacious, big kingsize beds, very big marble bathrooms, etc. They are not quite 5 star standard but are better than the other hotels which market themselves as 4 star. The pool was not so big but it was fine for us as there was rarely other people using it anyway.

Breakfast was just average, I liked the freshly made omelets and the danishes though.

The location is both good and bad. Bad that you are not right at the beach or surrounded by restaurants and shops. Good that it is a quiet place to get some sleep and not be harassed by hawkers and taxi drivers. It is only 5 minutes walk to some shops (Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, + boutiques, etc.) and restaurants, about 20 minutes to the beach.

I've been to Bali 8 times and am going again in November, Feb 2010 and June 2010 for my wedding. Every time we go we stay at two places (more fun that way). This is a very average hotel.

First, the website makes it look like the hotel is right on Nusa Dua clifftops - it's not, it's a good 10 minute drive to Nusa Dua Beach.

Breakfast - VERY average for Nusa Dua hotels. And constantly running out of food - you had to wait for everything to be replaced at any time of the morning.

Most of the staff were very nice, as Balinese people have to be the sweetest people in the world. They were about the only good thing about this hotel.

HOWEVER, our package was supposed to get 4 bottles of water for free every day. My dad bribed the water boys on our first day there to give us a couple of extra bottles (as the free ones were TINY and there was no other source of good quality water unless you paid very high prices for it). So, from that day on the water boys wouldn't put our free water in our rooms unless we bribed them!! Not good.

We had the best suite you could get in the main hotel area (the next thing up is a villa - they looked lovely) which was nice, however the toilet in one bathroom stank, the showers leaked all over the floor around a toilet (which doesn't make one feel confident in where that water came from!). The bath leaked and we had to call a plumber to fix it. The door to the verandah was very hard to open.

The rude Japanese guests (speak to any Balinese person and see how they feel about the way many (most?) Japanese guests treat the Balinese and you'll see I'm not kidding) are not the fault of the hotel, however they just added to our unhappiness there. I saw one overweight child blow his nose in the pool, whilst his mother watched on smiling!!! Disgusting!!! I didn't go back in that pool, needless to say.

Small business centre with one computer which you generally had to queue for.

Overall, I would not go back here. I feel sorry for the staff to say this, but I don't think other people should get caught out.

Our stay was just wonderful and fantastic value for money. We had visited bali several times before and like to stay somewhere differenet each time. We were travelling with another couple and found this hotel really quaint and surprisingly catered for our every need. The rooms were overly spacious with bamboo flooring and a wonderful big marble bathroom with seperate toilet and shower. Every room overlooked the pool. Our husbands enjoyed the open air bar with pool table to relax with a few bintangs, my girlfriend and i preferred to make the most of the in house spa which was both boutique and enduring and very reasonably priced. Although the hotel is in Nusa Dua, its certainly not the big flash hotels you would normally expect of Nusa and is well away from all the big 5 Star on the beach type of resorts, but that didnt bother us as the hotel was quaint and cozy, it also has a free shuttle down to 'their' own beach club decked out with bar which you can order food from and sun lounges positioned under thatched huts for shaded relaxation on the beach. Shops werent directly out the front door from the resort but a 500m walk down the road takes you to some wonderful restaurants and shops to buy all your bargains. Although not central to shops, restaurants and the hype bali provides, we found this hotel a nice quiet place to return after busy shopping in kuta. The staff were more than helpful and friendly, the food was wonderful (no bali belly) which was a nice relief. If you want to tour the island the staff are more than willing to set you up with a driver (a family friend in most cases). Over a few bintangs in the open air sports bar one of the staff offered for one of his brothers to take our husbands to a surfing beach up on the coast and even arranged boards for them, which they enjoyed. I highly recommend this hotel if you dont mind being a bit out of the way from all the hype that bali offers, and just want to chill out by the pool or over a beverage in the bar area. A Golf Course is within walking distance, No pool bar in the complex but the staff are happy to serve you drinks and snacks poolside. Clean and well worth the price they are offering to stay.