A feng shui hotel in Bali

HOTEL DESIGN

Designing the hotel was the most fun part of the whole experience. Initially I thought I’d build something very simple and rustic but on my first expedition to order building materials I discovered the price of marble was a third what it costs in the West and that was that. With marble floors, marble bathrooms and decorative marble inlays suddenly a possibility, my design ideas quickly moved from basic to boutique. And oh, the colours of the marbles - rich creams and gorgeous terracotta reds were my favourites. I once joked that we shipped so much marble to our end of the island that it must have caused it to sink at least a few centimetres into the ocean. We used tons of the stuff.

My intention was to incorporate into the design every Western and Balinese feng shui principle I could, as well as every guest comfort feature I had ever wished for in hotels I had stayed in.

LAND ENERGIES

The first step was to determine the nature of the land itself. There is strong dragon energy on the site, which is what attracted me to it in the first place, and it is located on a hillside made of volcanic rock. The pathways were designed to follow the contours of the energy of the land so that taking the main path from the reception area to the beach feels like walking on the dragon’s spine.

The cottages were then placed so that all guests would have a degree of privacy as well as magnificent ocean views. They were also positioned so as to avoid any noxious earth lines crossing bed and sofa placements.

THE ROOMS

A sacred tenet of Balinese architecture is that all bed-heads are aligned towards the powerful mountains that run across the centre of the island so that people align to their spiritual source during sleep (their Gods reside in the mountains). All 3 million Balinese people adhere to this principle but it’s rare to find it in any tourist accommodation. I guess they figure we don’t know or don’t care. Knowing that most of my visitors would know and would care, I decided to incorporate it into the design of every room, as well as positioning the bed according to the most potent western feng shui principles, with a solid wall behind the head and a view of all the external doors and windows in the room. Guests are always telling me what a wonderful night’s sleep they have there and how refreshed they feel when they wake.

Other feng shui design features include bedroom furniture positioned so that guests wake up to a balanced view every morning and the lines are harmonious and flowing. The bathrooms are designed so that the entrance is well away from the bed and the toilet is not the first thing your eyes are drawn to when you walk in.

Many hotels in Bali have low ceilings and tiny windows, making the rooms gloomy and claustrophobic. They also have large gaps between the top of the walls and the roof that allow insects to come and go as they please. I decided to add extra ceiling height to create a feeling of creative expansion (the walls are 3 meters high), installed large windows to make the rooms bright and sunny, and sealed the ceilings so that guests need not worry about insect invasions.

The corners inside rooms are all rounded in order to create a feeling of peace and well-being, and to reduce the need for space clearing (stagnant energy hardly gathers at all in rounded corners). There are no sharp corners on external parts of buildings either, which adds to the harmonious ambience of the environment.

Electrical wiring and lighting in the room is designed to minimize the effect of electromagnetic fields so that guests can deeply rest and revitalize their energy while they sleep. The fridge and air-conditioning are deliberately located far away from the bed.

Unlike other hotels there is no clock radio on the bedside table. The reason for this omission (apart from the fact that there is very little need to know the time in Bali anyway!), is that clock radios emit very strong electromagnetic fields, which numerous studies have concluded can have a damaging effect on a person’s immune system. That’s why people who sleep with clock radios next to their bed generally wake up feeling tired.

Sleep is a time of spiritual reconnection. To obtain the most beneficial sleep it is ideal not to have a telephone in the bedroom at all, and if there is one then it is best to place it well away from the bed to minimize the effect of you being shocked awake if it rings. I therefore installed two phone sockets in each room – one next to the bed for those who prefer to be able to simply reach out and call for room service, and another socket over the other side of the room for those whose priority is the most restful sleep. It’s a simple matter to unplug the phone and move it from one place to the other. There are many other features, but these will give you a flavour.

THE RESTAURANT

The restaurant, of course is located in the Prosperity corner of the property (where else?), and has earned a reputation for providing the best catering in the East Bali area. Training the chef and kitchen staff was as much of a learning curve as working with the builders, but it’s all turned out beautifully in the end.

THE FUTURE

It’s now 8 years since I had the idea to build a hotel and it’s been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my career. I often marvel at how it can all have been created from a piece of barren scrubland such as the one you can still see right next door (the land I bought and haven’t developed yet).

And now, to give a surprise ending to this article, I’ve decided to sell it all and move on. The hotel and conference centre are up for sale and looking for a lovely new owner. I plan to use the money to build a new meeting place for my students, somewhere more accessible than Bali so that I can meet with them more often. An exciting new phase of my Space Clearing work has begun and moving back to the West is an important part of it. I shall miss Bali, the hotel and the gong performances, it’s true, but hey, I’ll still be able to visit whenever I want and hire the meeting room for my workshops and gong extravaganzas.

I've never sold a hotel before and am told it may take a while. With this in mind, I'm staying actively involved, continuing to keep the property in an excellent state of repair and making sure staff morale remains high. Next week, as it's low season, I've arranged for a staff outing to Bali's second biggest temple, which most of them have never been to as it's just a bit too far for them to afford by themselves. It's a sure sign that the spiritual culture is still intact here when you ask 37 Balinese people what they'd most like to do and they unanimously vote to make a pilgrimage to a temple!

Enquiries about hotel accommodation: info@dancingdragoncottages.com
Enquiries about purchasing the hotel: karenkingston@dancingdragoncottages.com