[ JKT to KOR / Pandemic]4.Quarantine in JKT(1)

*** Your memories make your destiny ***

 

[03.Dec.21~21.Dec.21] #4. Quarantine in JKT(1) Choose Hotel

This time, we want to share our 10 days and 9 nights quarantine experience in Jakarta – Indonesia!

We travelled to South Korea in the early December 2021.

We got back to Jakarta on the 21st December 2021.

At that time, due to the outbreak of Omicron Virus in some countries, Indonesia local government imposed mandatory quarantine for 10 days and 9 nights, for Indonesian citizens and foreigners alike.

As briefly mentioned in our previous article, there are two options of quarantine package for anyone coming to Indonesia.

Option1)

The first option is staying at the Government Facility (Wisma Atlet), which is free of charge.

OPtion2)

The second option is staying in a hotel, which is self-funded.

 

[Our Decision]

Since we had heard many unpleasant stories from people who chose to stay at the Government Facility, we decided to stay in a hotel despite the exorbitant price.

 

 

* Why we choose "The Sultan Hotel & Residences Jakarta"

The government issued a list of 72 hotel partners that offer quarantine package.

Most of these hotels are 5 stars and 4 stars hotels / exclusive apartment located in the heart of Jakarta.

 

1. Shortlist based on location and familiarity

-. We had shortlisted these hotels into only 10 names (based on location and familiarity).

However, upon contacting the PIC, most of the rooms in the 10 hotels were already sold out.

We were rather perplexed and disappointed. Even though we made our booking in advance, our quarantine period coincided with the Christmas and year end events.

 

-. Indonesian government often announce new regulations in an abrupt manner

(within a week the mandatory quarantine changed from 3 days, 5 days, and finally 10 days).

 

2. Narrow down our choices as two hotel

-. Our final choices narrowed down to just two names –

Mayflower Mariott Jakarta Executive Apartments and The Sultan Hotel & Residences Jakarta.

[Reason]

1) Those two names are the best in terms of room size and price. Both offered large rooms

(> 80 sqm) at a reasonable price compare to their peers.

2) We were eyeing hotels like Ayana, Mulia, and Fairmont, but the rooms offered are much smaller with astronomical price.

3) Mayflower requested us to make initial payment (50% of total cost) before our arrival, while Sultan Hotel didn’t ask for any payment and quickly secured our booking.

--> This sealed the deal with The Sultan Hotel.

 

3. Move from the airport to "The sultan Hotel"

-. We arrived late at night at The Sultan Hotel. Transfer from airport to the hotel was smoothly assisted by hotel staff & driver (read the previous article).

-. We were held for a while in the Receptionist Area to settle our stay for the next ten days. We wanted to make a payment then and there, but somehow our card was declined several times. Looking at us who were exhausted from a long trip, the staff nicely let us go to our room to take a rest. She said, we could make a payment when we check out. Anyhow they hold the passports of guests of the quarantine / repatriation package.