The Jayakarta Lombok Hotel & Spa

My wife and I had a wonderful time at this hotel. As soon as we arrived, we were warmly welcomed. Check in was a breeze. Cottage room was clean and cozy with free wifi access. Surrounding was well maintained and the beach was just a few steps away. We had a romantic sunset dinner by the beach. We were well attended to when needed, but at the same time we also had the privacy. I truly like the character of this hotel.

Six of us stayed 9 nights at the Jayakarta for a family holiday. We started in the standard rooms which were fairly basic, but with everything you need. The beds were really comfy with great pillows, and the rooms were kept spotless with clean linen every day - which is far more important than the decor. We were upgraded to the junior suites due to a problem with the hot water (which we hadn't noticed), and those rooms were lovely. The best part of the hotel is the area around the swimming pool which is just gorgeous. The only downside is the cost of drinks at the pool bar, $7 for a 600ml Bintang or $10 for a cocktail (which is on par with other hotels e.g. The Sheraton). We bought our own drinks to take to the pool, and virtually nobody drinks at the bar because of the cost which is a shame. The restaurants in Sengiggi charge about $3.50 to $4 for a large Bintang, and if the hotel charged the same we would have bought drinks there, instead they have staff standing around all day doing nothing! The staff are great, very friendly and helpful. It is a $2 taxi ride into the centre of Sengiggi where there are lots of good restaurants, and $5 to the Mataram mall for shopping, although the shopping in Lombok is not nearly as good as Bali. Also the beaches in Sengiggi are not great, but we were more than happy to just stay by the pool. I would definitely stay at the Jayakarta again, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

This hotel is very dated we had to switch rooms the first night as the bathroom flooded. The next room had no hot water for 3 days - luckily the weather was warn so no big deal. The rooms are old and dated and smell very musty. One of the days we were walking back to the room and pest controllers were spraying the gardens with a smoke like pesticide which was quite potent and we were not advised this was happening! This hotel is run by Indonesians and some of the staff cannot understand English. Breakfast was ok with a mix of Asian and western food.