Novotel Coralia Lombok opens a well-kept secret

Novotel Coralia Lombok opens a well-kept secret

ALTHOUGH blessed with the natural beauty of its coastline, crystal-clear waters and a picturesque landscape, south Lombok's Kuta Beach has been a well-kept secret until now.

But, Novotel Coralia Lombok, one of the latest additions to the Accor Asia Pacific network, is letting the secret out with its grand opening in mid-December 1997.

Novotel's general manager, Frederic Simon, said: "A unique concept of Novotel Lombok reflects the diverse cultural heritage of the island."

"Characteristically shaped buildings and a selection of top- quality materials, together with unusual landscaping, will give guests the instantaneous feeling of being transported to a timeless village, equipped with all the expected comforts and amenities of a four-star property."

Novotel Coralia's unique design borrows from Sade, one of the villages of the Sasak people. Sade, which is a 20-minute drive from the hotel, has been a regular stop on Lombok day-trip itineraries for years. The Sasak are indigenous to Lombok.

The hotel design is by Thai architect Lek Bunnag, a Harvard graduate whose award-winning designs include Novotel Bukit Tinggi in West Sumatra, The Regent Chiang Mai in Thailand, and the Pangkor Laut Resort in Malaysia.

"Our concept for the hotel is natural and cultural," said Simon.

Novotel Coralia features 85 deluxe rooms and 23 Sasak-style bungalows set around a beautiful white-sand beach, natural lagoons and coconut trees.

The buildings use alang-alang (a thatched roof made from Indonesian grass) inspired purely from the neighboring traditional Sasak villages.

All interiors have been meticulously furnished and decorated, with a predominant use of coconut wood and local crafts such as pottery -- cottage industries for which Lombok is famous -- in order to reflect the atmosphere of Lombok and to highlight its cultural traditions and natural surroundings.

Other points of interest in the area are the centers of traditional Sasak culture located in Rembitan as well as in Sade, and also the famous annual Nyale Fishing Celebration, which attracts huge crowds to Lombok's Kuta Beach.

Amenities include a main swimming pool, a large, elegantly simple raised bastion which is uniquely designed to overflow on all four sides, giving the sensation of swimming in the sky.

There is also a lower-level pool and a children's pool. The Gecko Club, Accor's international children's club, provides supervised care and activities for children aged 5 to 12 years.

A shopping arcade includes a store specializing in local arts and crafts and a boutique.

The banquet and meeting rooms pavilion is set off by a deep verandah lined with carved pillars. The main hall, 140-meters square, can be divided into three smaller meeting rooms all with natural lighting and separate entrances. There is a supplementary meeting room, 29-meters square, and a library well-stocked with books on art and culture.

All tastes should be tempted by the hotel's eateries.

The Empat Ikan specializes in seafood. The Kafe Chilli coffee shop serves a breakfast buffet and will have a wood-fired pizza oven. The Papaya Bar is an airy thatch-roofed pavilion on raised pilings at the edge of the beach and offers two happy hours, one before and one after dinner.

Novotel Lombok, built on two hectares of land, is the first hotel to open in the 1,250-hectare Mandalika Resort, which is being developed by the Lombok Tourism Development Corporation and the Rajawali Group of Companies.

This megaresort strategy of tourism draws from a plan similar to the 350-hectare Nusa Dua Development, which has been under construction in Bali since 1982, where the names in and around the development reads like a who's who of top international management companies -- Sheraton, Hilton, Hyatt and Aman Group.

The development of the 1,250 hectares of land located between Lombok's Kuta Beach and Tanjung Aan Bay, south of Lombok, will be the first of its kind on the island.

The planned construction comprise hotels, residences, sport and recreational facilities, golf courses and the necessary infrastructure.

With its opening, Novotel Coralia Lombok is pioneering Lombok's resort development, creating a new concept for the area and establishing a standard of luxury accommodation not previously available in Lombok's paradisaic south.

There is no doubt that this hotel will be a catalyst for the resort's ambitious target to have more than 5,000 hotel rooms located here in the future.

While several international hotels have been built along Lombok's busier western coastline -- Senggigi Beach -- which was pioneered by the Aerowisata 149-room Senggigi Beach Hotel in 1987, it is interesting to see the competition coming from these two tourist destinations in Lombok.

Today, international management companies, including Sheraton and Holiday Inn, have also taken advantage of the beauty of Senggigi Beach.

But for south Lombok's Kuta Beach, Novotel Coralia is leading the way for exotic and luxury alternatives.