Hotels flourish during Balinese New year

Hotels flourish during Balinese New year

By Intan Petersen

NUSA DUA, Bali (JP): Tonight is Tilem Kesanga, the eve of the
Balinese New Year according to the Balinese Saka calendar. This
is the night when monstrous ogoh-ogoh effigies are taken on a
wild parade through the Bali's streets before the silence of the
next day.

For the Hindu Balinese, New Year's Day, or Nyepi, is a day of
silence, prayer and meditation. Everyone is obliged to stay
indoors and meditate. No one is allowed to turn on lights, eat,
drink, drive, smoke or go outside the house compound. Nyepi means
silence, and for an entire day the streets of Bali will be
deserted. The silence is to fool evil spirits into thinking Bali
is deserted so they will pass over the island.

Villages station guards called pecalang to enforce the rule.
Working in groups of two to four the pecalang patrol residential
areas to ensure everyone is obeying the regulations. The pecalang
also stop vehicles passing through the village and are authorized
to take action if they discover a driver doesn't have a permit to
be on the road.

It has recently become trendy for non-Hindu Balinese to check
into hotels for the holiday. Many non-Hindu Indonesians said they
respect Nyepi, but find it hard to stay at home without light and
doing nothing, not even watch television.

Bali hotels are permitted to turn on lights, except their
external lighting. They are also allowed to run their normal
activities, except discotheques and musical performances.

Hotel managements advise guests not to leave hotel grounds
from midnight today until sunrise on Friday, March 22.

For the last few years, five-star and non-rated hotels have
offered special Nyepi packages to non-Hindu Balinese and
expatriates in Bali. Joyce Luthe, the public relations manager at
the Bali Hilton, said this year they are offering a special three
day package. The rate is US$130 a double room for two nights or
$220 for three people in a deluxe room. The rate is only valid
for people residing in Bali.

Syeni Setiono, the public relations manager of the Bintang
Bali Hotel in Tuban, expects the hotel's occupancy rate to reach
73 percent, a big boost during the March off season. Bintang Bali
expects 30 percent of the hotel's guests to be taking advantage
of the special $50 a night package. Sanur Beach Hotel in Sanur
area also expects a 70 percent occupancy rate during Nyepi Day.

"We offer our Nyepi package for $130," said I Gede Aditha, the
Sanur Beach Hotel sales manager. "A 70 percent occupancy rate is
good in the off season, even for only two days."

Nearby Lombok, 30 minutes by air away, will also see an influx
of guests during Nyepi. Lombok hotels offer special Nyepi
packages which include discounted airline tickets. This year a
return Denpasar to Mataram ticket, two-nights accommodation for
two people including breakfast is selling for $187.

According to Didik Kuswardi, a sales executive at Hotel Lombok
Intan Laguna, their package is cryptically called "Look for
Hideaway".

Jais Hadiana, who owns a gallery in Bali, has spent the past
three Nyepi at a hotel. She said she doesn't like staying at home
because she can't turn on the lights and feels strange being
confined to her house the entire day. She stays with family and
friends at a hotel.

"A few weeks before Nyepi all my friends and I are busy
deciding which hotel we are going to stay at, because this is a
kind of gathering held once a year," she said.

Paulo, an Italian businessman who has been living in Bali for
five years, said he always checks into a hotel for Nyepi.

"I have no particular reason why I stay at a hotel," he said.
"I have my own nice house in Legian, and I am not really bothered
about no light for one day, but I think Nyepi is a good time to
spoil myself at the hotel. I always try different hotels in Nusa
Dua."

He said that Nyepi was no trouble for a a single man, "but for
many of my foreigner friends who are here with their small
children, it is difficult to stay at home without any light. They
feel much more comfortable staying at a hotel."

Hotels are granted special permission to shuttle their guests
to and from the Ngurah Rai airport. Normally, however, hotel
managements advise their guests to book their flights for another
day.

According to Raka Subawa, the front office manager of the Nusa
Dua Beach Hotel, the hotel has obtained permission for five
airport runs on Nyepi.

Raka Subawa said tourists arriving on Nyepi will be picked up
by hotel airport representatives. Tourists without hotel
reservations could be stuck inside the airport compound because
no taxis or other transport is allowed to operate. Most tourists
usually check into a hotel instead of waiting it out in the
airport. Backpackers, the exception to every rule, usually bunk
down in the airport.