The Hotel Grand Inna Bali Beach, located in the recently designated Special Economic Zone (KEK) in Sanur, will undergo another transformation in its long history of identity and physical changes in February 2024, when it reopens as The Meru Sanur.
Opened in 1966 as The Bali Beach InterContinental, the hotel’s construction was funded using Japanese War Reparations. The hotel opened as Bali’s first international standard, internationally managed ten-story, 566-room hotel set on Sanur’s beachfront.
Such was the outrage in some quarters at the towering structure viewed by many as an eyesore; Bali’s governor issued a decree in 1971 limiting any new hotel to a maximum of 15 meters, roughly the height of a coconut tree.
The hotel’s acreage measures a massive 42 hectares, paving the way for a golf course that would later be converted in the hotel’s latest incarnation into a convention center and The Bali International Hospital Complex.
When the InterContinental Hotel management contract ended, the property was rechristened as the Hotel Grand Bali Beach.
On 20 January 1993, the hotel became a towering inferno that was only brought under control by firefighters after three days.
The government quickly resolved to rebuild the Grand Bali Beach, which reopened on 04 October 1993. Another major fire on 01 March 2020 damaged the roof and upper floors of the iconic hotel. Simultaneously, down below, a second fire broke out in the hotel’s laundry.
Yet another fire consumed the staff cafeteria on 11 August 2021, triggered by a portable air conditioner.
The hotel was by its owners as the Grand Inna Bali Beach – part of the State-owned national hotel chain, positioned to become a 5-star hotel and conference center capable of holding its own competitively on an Island renowned for luxury accommodation.
The Indonesian Minister for State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), Erick Thohir, is touting the development of the Sanur Special Economic Zone (KEK) encompassing a 5-star hotel, conference center, and international medical center, viewing the projects as a revitalization of the vision of Indonesia’s first president Soekarno.
The development of the Sanur Specia Economic Zone is happening in lockstep with the development of Benoa Harbor as The Bali Marine Tourism Hub (BMTH), forming part of a larger plan to increase foreign tourism expenditures in Bali targeted at middle and upper-class travelers.
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