We were not leaving Bali until after midnight so we needed somewhere to be between midafternoon and 10pm. I found several hotels near the airport and initially booked the Hilton Garden Inn for 15k Hilton points. Looking again, I noticed there were two adjacent Holiday Inn properties right by the beach a little further from the airport. There was a Holiday Inn Resort which was about 30k IHG points per night and a Holiday Inn Express that was only 10k IHG points per night. Both had easy access to the beach. I booked the HI Express and then ended up rebooking for 15% fewer points when IHG ran a sale a few weeks before our trip. With the 500 points welcome gift, my net cost was around 7100 points, which is about $35. I thought that was a good deal for a clean, air-conditioned room to shower and rest plus an airport shuttle.

We ended up going there a bit earlier as I messaged the hotel and our room was ready around noon. We checked in and were given a room on the 10th floor. It was small, but clean and functional. There were also plenty of plugs to charge our devices. Most importantly, the air-conditioning worked great.

The bathroom door doubled as the shower door which was interesting. After we checked in, we took a Grab to Kuta art market which turned out to be a good place to buy some last minute souvenirs and gifts.

We returned to the hotel and then walked over to the beach which was a very short walk away. It wasn’t the cleanest or nicest beach, but according to my wife, the shells were good. I rented a lounger for 100k IDR and mostly relaxed under an umbrella to keep out of the sun.

We stopped at the Holiday Inn Resort outdoor restaurant on the way back to our room and had something to eat. The food and drinks were pretty good although I don’t honestly remember what we ordered.

We relaxed in the room the rest of the evening, re-packed all of our bags and showered ahead of our long journey home. There was a rooftop pool at the Holiday Inn Express, but I ended up not checking it out as I tried to nap instead.

For what we paid in IHG points, the Holiday Inn Express was a great place to wait out our last afternoon and get one last beach visit. We took the hotel shuttle to the airport around 9:30pm and arrived just before 10pm in time to check in with Qatar Airways.

Up Next: What are Bali Beaches Like?

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