focus
Check-in
The Residence Bintan
Name The Residence Bintan
No. of rooms 127
Address Desa Galang Batang Bintan
Kep. Riau Bintan 29153 Indonesia
Contact
Tel: 62 (778) 6000 888
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://cenizaro.com/
theresidence/bintan
By Raini Hamdi
LOCATION
I took a 55-minute ferry from
Singapore to Bintan. As the ferry
terminal in Bintan is located in the
north while the resort is in the east, it
took another 55-minute drive or so to
get there. I didn’t mind it; Singapore-
based Cenizaro Hotels & Resorts has
opened not only its latest Residence
in years, but an entirely new place in
Bintan for tourism and I was curious
to see it.
AMBIENCE
The location is remote and will
40 TTG Asia luxury | May 2018
appeal to high-end travellers who
have a sense of adventure.
The sight of a sprawling resort
development creating new jobs for
locals was uplifting. I could see
locals at work, tending to plants,
doing the last check for defects on
one or two villas (I was there just
after it opened in February), and
so on. Nearly 90 per cent of staff
are locals, most of them new to the
industry, general manager Bagus
Paramarta told me.
ROOMS
Land is in abundance in Bintan
and the resort has plenty of it.
There are various types of villas,
suites and residences, some of
them double-storey, some inter-
connected, which makes the prop-
erty ideal for groups of friends and
families to be ‘together apart’.
I stayed in a one-bedroom
Beachfront Villa (pictured above),
which was very spacious (the
smallest Beachfront Villa is 125m 2 ,
including a sundeck and a pool).
Designed by Hirsch Bedner
Associates, what I like about it was
not just the space but the neatness,
the quality of materials used and,
especially, the nod to traditional
Javanese aesthetics, done in a con-
temporary way.
FACILITIES
Given the location, it’s critical for
F&B to be good and it was. There’s
a Dining Room serving Asian food,
a Pool Bar and, my favourite, Rica
Rica, because the rendang (spicy
stewed beef or chicken) tasted the
way my late mom had cooked it for
me. It also tried to be creative with
Indonesian cuisine, fielding belacan
(pungent shrimp paste) bread!
Because of its luxury of space,
no facility was small, not the gym,
spa, Kids’ Club, nor the MICE
spaces which include three mul-
tifunction rooms, spots for sunset
or elegant receptions and areas for
teamwork.
Speaking of activities, simply cy-
cling through the whole resort was
fun. Or, swimming in its gorgeous
pool. A spa treatment is a must.
The hotel is also bent on creating
a lot of fun for adults with activities
such as paintball and rock-climbing
and, for kids, everything from
dance lessons to treasure hunts.
SERVICE
I met experienced staff such as
Mustika, who drove me to the
resort in a huge downpour and im-
pressed me with his warm nature
and professionalism. The newbies
might not be as adept but I could
see they had a lot of potential.
VERDICT
Indeed, the whole resort has a lot of
potential. Courageous of Cenizaro
to open a new location and to do
Bintan a real service in advanc-
ing its aim to get more upmarket
travellers.