Hyatt Regency vs Andaz Bali: My Take After Staying At Both

Two most recommended resorts on the same stretch of Sanur beach, separated by a fence and run by the same backend team. They share a spa, a gym, a boardwalk and, I assume, a staff Christmas party. After staying at both, I scored Andaz Bali at 9/10, and Hyatt Regency Bali at 8/10.

Here's the takeaway:

Hyatt Regency Bali is the better choice for value, families, gardens, longer stays and travelers who want a classic full-service resort.

Andaz Bali is the better choice for design, rooms, food, couples, atmosphere and travelers willing to pay more for a more distinctive luxury experience.

Location and the beach

The easiest section I will ever write: they are next door to each other. Same quiet, low-rise Sanur, same 6km boardwalk, same sunrise coast. Sanur's waters are generally much calmer, making the area particularly attractive to families and travelers who prefer swimming and paddleboarding to surfing.

One wrinkle: the shared spa and gym sit on the Hyatt Regency's side of the fence - so it's a short commute for the wellness if you're staying at Andaz.

The rooms

They look sort of the sames from pictures, but Andaz's rooms are bigger, moodier and better dressed. Entry level rooms here here are nearly twice as big as Hyatt (45-50sqm vs 25sqm). The amenities are also more premium: very comfortable robes, a Dyson hair dryer and a free minibar. The letdowns are a cramped shower and a toilet cupboard that opens onto the bedroom

The Hyatt Regency's rooms are well made, mostly monochrome, with a big shower, double vanity, and a full soaking tub. The size gap has a workaround: a ground-floor Premium room at Regency with its own terrace puts you level with the Andaz's standard. Btw, if you book a Deluxe room with us, you will automatically get upgraded to the Premium room!

Both hotels regrettably don't have much ocean-view rooms like most beach resorts do, but Andaz has super cool lagoon access rooms (& suites) where you can swim out to the pool from your own bed. These are always sold out first.

Dining

Andaz wins on dining. Breakfast there is an à la carte buffet, everything cooked fresh, and it is the best in Bali; Dinner holds the standard at the Fisherman's Club by the beach and around the village square. Full look at Andaz here!

The Hyatt Regency feeds you well and forgettably at Omang Omang; its sleeper hit is the beachfront Pizzeria, where the burrata and parma pizza ran a 9 out of 10.

If you stay at the Hyatt Regency, walk next door, pay for the Andaz breakfast on one of the days!

Gardens and pools

Here the older sibling wins. The Hyatt Regency's gardens are Made Wijaya's work: pools woven through the greenery, a stone grotto with a waterfall, elephants at one pool's edge, and an hour's walk that doesn't repeat itself. Overall the resort has a very appealing Bali aesthetics.

The Andaz answers with three pools, temperature controlled seasonally, including the best single pool of either property, tucked near reception and walked straight past by most guests.

Best pool: the Andaz.

Best grounds: the Hyatt Regency, by a distance.

Kids

Both have kids' clubs, and the fence works both ways. The Hyatt Regency's Camp Hyatt takes ages 4 to 12, runs 9am to 6pm with proper supervision, and the theme is dinosaurs; one morning I passed a line of them feeding the lily pond fish with coconut shells. The first hour each day is free, then about 7 USD an hour. The Andaz runs its own club, Kemu Mai, for the same ages and hours, and its guests can walk over to Camp Hyatt too. So the children will be happy either way.

Service

Both scored 9/10, in different accents: the Hyatt Regency team knew my name by the third morning, the Andaz staff are mellow, natural and genuinely good company. Same backend team, remember. It shows. A draw, and a high one.

Pricing

Andaz runs ~30-50% more expensive than Hyatt Regency - which I don't think justify the quality difference. Yes, go for Andaz if you can afford it and wants the absolute best experience - but Hyatt Regency is what I tend to recommend to most clients.

Choose Hyatt Regency Bali if

- You're travelling as a family and want a rate that is still comfortable when multiplied by 2 rooms.

- Gardens are the point of Bali for you.

- You go back to the same place every year. By the look of the regulars, so does everyone else here.

Full write-up in the Hyatt Regency Bali review.

Choose Andaz Bali if

- It's a honeymoon, an anniversary, or any trip where "lovely" needs upgrading to "special".

- You love a great a-la-carte breakfast

- You want the moodier, more designed version of Sanur: the village, that pool, those robes.

- The price gap reads as a rounding error rather than a dinner budget.

Full write-up in the Andaz Bali review.

My recommendation, by trip

Family with children: the Hyatt Regency, and it isn't close. It gives you an enormous amount of resort for your money. The grounds are beautiful, the rooms are good, the pools work, the beach is right there and Sanur is outside the door.

Honeymoon: I think the Andaz has the more convincing proposition. The difference isn't simply that the rooms are nicer, although I do prefer them. There is a certain intimacy to the property that the Hyatt Regency doesn't quite have. The smaller clusters of rooms and restaurant spaces make the resort feel more like somewhere you are discovering as you wander around. The Hyatt, by comparison, has the reassuring grandeur of a large traditional resort. That's wonderful when you're traveling with children or settling in for a week, but for a couple celebrating an anniversary, I'd happily pay a little more for the Andaz.

Booking Hyatt Regency Bali

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