So, you’ve decided to visit one of the beach clubs in Bali and now, it’s time to book yourself a daybed.
But how do you go about getting the best deal on your bed and what do you need to know to get the best bed?
Our guide to booking beach beds will help you ensure that your next trip to a beach club is memorable for all the right reasons.
Why Do You Need To Book A Daybed At A Beach Club?
Beach clubs in Bali are a big business. FINNS, the world’s best beach club, can see 5,000 or more guests cross the threshold every single day of the year.
That means at the most popular clubs, securing a bed in advance means that you can a.) guarantee that you will have a bed on the day you arrive, b.) take advantage of any promos on minimum spend for booking in advance and c.) often choose where, exactly, in the venue you will sit.
This is important. Almost all beach clubs accept walk-in guests but if you arrive when a club is busy, that may mean spending most or even all of your day in a seat at the bar, while everyone else enjoys the sun.
If someone has booked a bed with a minimum spend that runs into the millions, it’s going to take them time to eat and drink their way through all that credit and they’re going to be in no hurry to leave their nice comfy daybed just because other people might want it.
At slower times of the year, beach clubs often do a deal for those who book in advance where they commit to a lower minimum spend to secure a daybed.
Choosing where you sit can be really important too as we’ll cover in a few minutes.
How Do You Book A Daybed At A Bali Beach Club?
A lot depends on which beach club that you want to visit. The best beach clubs have a fully featured booking system on their websites.
A few have no booking system at all, some require a WhatsApp conversation (Bali’s preferred messaging client) and many of them have a sort of mid-tier approach where you can book a seat but you can’t tell where that seat will be.
Assuming you’re aiming for one of the big names, you should be presented with a map of the venue where you can see which seats are available, where they are in the venue and (usually when you click on the seat) what the associated minimum spend will be to secure the seat.
You then pick as many daybeds as you need and proceed to a shopping cart where you will be expected to pay a deposit for your seats equivalent to the minimum spend that you are agreeing to.
If you book via Whatsapp or on a mid-tier site, the odds are pretty good that you will be told what kind of seat you have but not where it is and you may or may not be required to leave a deposit.
Important: Read The T’s And C’s
It’s important that you know, if you agree to a minimum spend, you are committing to any terms and conditions that the individual beach club levies on that deposit.
For example, if a daybed requires that you arrive before 1 p.m. It means, you have to arrive before 1 p.m. turn up at 1.00 p.m. or later and you will have lost your seat, and in some clubs, you will also have lost your deposit.
These terms are non-negotiable. If a daybed is secured with an early arrival time, it will usually have a large discount on the minimum spend. If you turn up after the time, it’s reasonable to assume that you forfeit the deposit.
And yes, the traffic in Bali is often very bad, that means you may need to set off a lot longer than the map distances lead you to believe.
If the beach club does not require you to forfeit your deposit, you may still not be able to get a daybed and have to drink and eat at the bar or in the restaurant.
Not everyone is a good timekeeper and that’s fine, just book an “any time” arrival slot if that’s you, it’s worth paying a little extra to ensure you get the seat you want and don’t lose your deposit if you’re 5 minutes late.
Why Does Booking Your Exact Seat At A Beach Club Matter?
Not all seats are equal and not all locations inside a beach club are equal. Do you want a seat right next to the toilet or the exit where people are constantly wandering past you?
Would you like to spend the whole day in the sun with no shade available (something that is very common for some seats at all the beach clubs – you can’t install umbrellas everywhere as it would kill the atmosphere)?
And so on…
We love being able to choose exactly where we want to be, at our leisure, long before we come to a beach club.
Then, when we arrive we know there will be no stress or surprise associated with our seats and we can enjoy the space we want.
It’s also worth noting that if you’re coming as a large group (more than 4) most venues have limited seating for big groups and booking these seats early is always a good idea.
A party platform for 20 people, for example, is not something you get a lot of even in the biggest beach clubs on the island.
How Far In Advance Is It Best To Book A Seat At A Beach Club?
If you have your dates in Bali already booked (hotel, flights, etc.) we’d recommend that you book at the big beach clubs as soon as you have those dates.
That’s going to be the least stressful way to approach booking your beach club daybeds and it’s one less hassle when you reach the island.
However, if you’re more of a leave it to the last minute kind of person, then we’d say that you ought to book seats for Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, at least, a week in advance.
Many of the clubs will sell out entirely a week in advance for these days, particularly during the peak season.
Of course, you can still go the beach club of your choice without a seat, but there’s no guarantee you will be able to get a daybed and might have to spend the day at the bar or in the restaurant, instead.
If you’re aiming for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, you can probably get away with leaving it until 2 or 3 days in advance, though you will have fewer available seats to choose from.
The exception to this being the Christmas to New Year period. This is the busiest time of year in Bali and everything sells out in advance. Book, at least, a week ahead of time for any seats in the week, and 2 or 3 weeks in advance is probably safest.
Is There Always A Minimum Spend Required For A Daybed Booking?
999 times out of 1000, yes, there will be a minimum spend requirement on any day bed booking at a beach club.
In one of our recent rounds of reviews, we did arrive at one club and were offered daybeds without this requirement, but the club in question was empty at the time and they may well have been looking to get bums on seats at any cost that day.
We’ve never been able to book a seat in advance without agreeing to a minimum spend.
However, in most cases, we feel that Bali’s beach clubs are fairly reasonable about their minimum spend requirements, 500,000 IDR per person might sound like a lot of money but really it’s about $35 USD or $50 AUD.
That’s going to translate into a couple of cocktails and a small meal (less in some beach clubs) and if you intend to spend a whole day in a beach club, you’ll easily get through that.
So, book your seats and don’t worry too much about that minimum spend unless it’s an outrageously big number, if it is, maybe consider going to a different beach club.
We would say it’s pretty typical for a couple to spend 2-3 million IDR in a day at most beach clubs in Bali.
FAQs
Is It Mandatory To Book A Beach Bed At A Beach Club In Bali?
In most beach clubs, it’s fine not to book a daybed, but you may find that you are unable to get a seat or in some cases, even enter the club if it’s a very busy day, without a booking.
We recommend that you book a seat in advance whenever you can because it’s a real downer to make a long trip to a beach club and then not be able to go inside.
Can You Change A Daybed Booking For A Beach Club In Bali?
The terms and conditions usually specify that you cannot alter a booking after you make it, so make sure to check your dates, etc. before you agree to their terms.
However, some beach clubs have a little bit of flexibility in this at the discretion of their customer care team and a polite enquiry to change sent a long time ahead of a booking may be accepted (though the beach club is under no obligation to do so).
What we can tell you, is that if you try to change a booking on the day, most clubs will not be willing to help and you will almost certainly lose your deposit if you don’t show up when your booking specifies that you should.
Calling in advance to tell the beach club you will “only be twenty minutes late for your before 1 p.m. booking” won’t work either.
Is It Recommended To Book A Daybed In Advance At A Bali Beach Club?
We think it is, yes. Booking in advance guarantees you get a seat, it gets you the best price on that seat and in many cases it allows you to choose your exact seat in the venue too.
Final Thoughts On Booking A Beach Bed At A Beach Club In Bali
Given that booking a bed in Bali’s beach clubs is usually relatively easy to do online, there’s no reason not to book in advance.
You can secure your seats, get the best deals and maybe even choose the precise space you will sit in. You have nothing to lose.
We think holidays should be about letting go of stress and booking in advance helps you to keep your holiday stress-free.
