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Iconic Grand Inna Bali Beach hotel gets Rp 2.8t facelift
The iconic Grand Inna Bali Beach will be getting a massive facelift thanks to a Rp 2.8 trillion expansion project.
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One of the rooms in Grand Inna Bali Beach. (Grand Inna Bali Beach/File)
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rand Inna Bali Beach, Bali's first five-star hotel and one of the island's most iconic man-made constructions, is getting a massive facelift as its parent company embarks on a Rp 2.8 trillion multi-stage expansion project.
The four-year-long project will transform the hotel and its premises into a sprawling and luxurious resort offering several hotels with more than 1,000 rooms and 73 premium villas, including a presidential villa. It will also boast a convention facility that can accommodate up to 10,000 people, a lifestyle art market, an eco-park on 16 hectares of green and forested area, as well as a pier and a helipad.
Upon the completion of the project, the area will be rebranded as Kawasan Hotel Indonesia Bali, the largest tourist resort in Sanur.
“This is a very historic hotel, the construction of which was initiated by our founding father, President Soekarno, who envisioned Bali as the center of Indonesian tourism. Hopefully, this major revitalization project will bring Sanur, Bali and us closer to his vision,” State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno said Friday morning in Sanur.
A few minutes earlier, Rini officiated the groundbreaking ceremony of phase 1 of the expansion. The ceremony was also attended by Bali Governor Wayan Koster and PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (HIN) president director Iswandi Said. A state-owned enterprise, HIN owns and operates 14 hotels across Sumatra, Java and Bali.
Phase 1 will see the construction of two three-star hotels on a 2.4-hectare plot of land on the southern edge of the premises. Bali's prominent architect Popo Danes is tasked with designing the properties and he will incorporate Sanur's signature visual elements to the design.
“The lobby will be graced with a canopy in the shape of a janggan,” he said, referring to the traditional long-tailed dragon-head kites that rule Sanur's sky during the windy months of July and August.
Read also: Bali hotels make Luxury Travel Intelligence list of world’s best new luxury hotels of 2018
The hotels are expected to open in November 2020, with one designed to be a city hotel and another a resort
“Once these hotels are ready, staff and workers of the Grand Inna Bali Beach will be transferred to these hotels and we will commence the renovation of the Grand Inna Bali Beach building,” stated Iswandi Said.
Built in 1963, the 523-room Grand Inna Bali Beach was one of the first hotels that graced the white-sandy beach of Sanur, once a quiet village populated by fishermen and Hindu high priest families. Its tall, 10-story building rose to become a visual icon frequently featured in numerous publications and postcards in the 1980s and 1990s.
In the late 1970s, the Bali administration issued a building code setting the maximum height of a building at 15 meters, making Grand Inna Bali Beach the tallest and the only 10-story hotel on the island.
“We have carried out a technical review of the structure of Grand Inna Bali Beach and it is still safe. Therefore, much of the planned renovation project will deal with the interior of the hotel,” Iswandi Said added.
The revitalization project will be carried out by PT Hotel Karya Indonesia, a consortium of four giant state-owned developers: PT Waskita Realty, PT Hutama Karya Realtindo, PT PP Properti Tbk. and PT Wika Realty Tbk. (wng)
