The Alila is a comfortable, attractive modern hotel without much personality but more than adequate for a tired tourist who has just flown 20 hours from Europe. The views are superb from the rooms on the higher floors but the hotel is located in an uninteresting neighborhood. My main complaint is the restaurant. the choice is between a Chinese restaurant in the basement or a completely disorganized restaurant on the main floor which offers a very small choice of international food. The breakfast, however is copious and good.

The Hotel is all it promotes and shows on their website and is perfect value for the money you pay. To my taste they tend to take the minimalist design a step too far, but this is my personal opinion. The design does provide a modern relaxing atmosphere, which we highly appreciated every time we got back to the hotel from being in the hectic traffic of Jakarta. We had a deluxe room, on the 14th floor, made use of the “higher floor” tip given here and were glad we did so. The rooms are big enough and well equipped with all expected in a 4 star (Asian) hotel. The bathroom was big enough and well equipped. Too bad they included a bathtub that did not match the interior and only created the necessary water pool on the bathroom floor whenever you took a shower, no matter what you did with the shower curtain. Bath linen looked tired and shabby. The wardrobe was a bit small but manageable. The hotel targets the business traveller, so you might feel a bit out of place if you are on holiday but then again, all 4 & 5 stars hotels in Asia will give you the same feeling. Food was good and especially breakfast is VERY good and well presented. We had dinner once; on the day we arrived and were pleasantly surprised with the food quality. We had Asian cuisine and they tend to mix Asian/Europe by using the Asian taste presented in European style, not a real success but the taste was good. Be aware, food in the hotel will cost you 3 times more then any local restaurant. That is if you venture out and eat at local restaurants. Overall service was good, even though I had to make clear I was not amused having to wait two days for some train tickets we had ordered via the concierge. The tickets were miraculously delivered 3 hours later… The hotel is located in a typical Jakarta neighbourhood, so taking one step outside the hotel will immerse you into all the chaos of Jakarta, including all the “warungs” that take over the street after 6pm, with their fantastic Asian food smell. So if you are not adventurous and prefer to be surrounded by bigger, modern buildings, you better choose to stay in the area of Marriott, Novotel, Pan Pacific. There are plenty of non-Asian food options in their area. All in all, we were very happy we had this hotel and were able to retract back into the peace and quietness the hotel offers. Tip, if you take a taxi make sure you order a blue bird taxi, as they are the only ones that make use of their meters and charge you accordingly. They also have silver and gold bird cars, with private chauffeur. Food tip, try the OASE restaurant and order the rice table, the way to experience the thru atmosphere of the old colonial Batavia. EXCELLENT!!

After reading the reviews here & the fact that the Alila Group have well received resorts in Bali, we decided to give this place a shot.

We got a good deal through Asiarooms. For the price we paid, it was fine, but our room certainly wasn't luxurious. Room size was adequate & it was clean, but the room & bathroom looked rather tired. The bed sort of sagged in the middle, making it rather uncomfortable. Grouting between the bathroom tiles had mildew.

Breakfast spread was alright, though the prawns in the Chinese dimsum weren't fresh.

Service was good. Attentive & friendly. Both checking in & out were a breeze.

If you need to get supplies, there's a Carrefour (hypermarket) about 10-15 mins walk away or you could take a taxi. Given the one way streets & traffic, it's probably faster to walk.

There are plenty of small restaurants along the street & in the surrounding area.

The Alila is in the 'old town' of Jakarta, but the taxi driver had no problem finding it from the airport. The little details make Alila such a great stay: the fact that the staff, even the bell boy, remembers your name, the fact that when you take a taxi, they give you a card with their address and phone number - and a few sentences in Indonesian, and they go literally out of their way to give you tips and advice on what to see and visit.

In all, the hotel is small enough to make you feel welcome, but has all the facilities of a big hotel. The spa is great, and the room decoration is wonderful as well. I didn't have any problems with hearing mosques or other travelers, but perhaps I was lucky.

On the security: no matter where you stay in Jakarta, hardly any hotel will recommend strolling along, because a) the air is really dirty, b) often there are no sidewalks, c) you might be harassed by people or police. Just take a cab and practice your Indonesian with the handy taxi card the Alila gives you!