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.