自我介绍

Our names are Rene and Tom, and although originally from Indonesia and the UK respectively we have lived all around the world as far afield as Azerbaijan and Malaysia. In July 2008 Tom gave up the corporate life and we settled in Bali. Unfortunately it was spectacularly bad timing to try and set up a new life as the Financial Crisis hit, and so we went back on the expatriate road again, this time to Bangkok in Thailand. In 2012 we tried again, and this time we were successful in getting out of the corporate rat race and so we now manage our own 4 villas full time, as well as an ever increasing number of other great villas (as of March 2023 18 in total!) of friends, colleagues and neighbors - so this is now our life! Both of us love Bali and have made several trips together here over the years. Tom is a fanatical diver which drew us first to East Bali, where we decided to buy our first villa close to Candidasa and directly on a white sand beach with a great reef directly offshore that was perfect for snorkeling. We named it Villa Talia Vashti after our little daughter (Talia Vashti). In 2007 we were blessed with a second daughter, who we named Kalisha. We realised we were in trouble now though as she was bound to be jealous that her sister had a villa and she did not. Many years ago we stayed at a villa in Ubud called Villa Uma which we had absolutely loved. Rene had always wanted a place up in the mountains where the temperatures were pleasant and cool all day, but she also wanted to be close enough to Ubud to be able to enjoy the restaurants and attractions of the area. Villa Uma was perfect, so we called up the owner to see if he was willing to sell, and as is the case when you feel fate is on your side he actually had the villa on sale. The villa though was in a bad state of repair, and while the previous owner while had a great feel for aesthetics, he lacked a little something when it came to practicality with the result that the villa had no staff quarters, no storage and the roof and deck were falling apart. We decided to buy it anyway, and then committed to a major renovation. We replaced all the decking by the pool (which had rotted away) and extended the swimming pool to make it a genuine infinity pool. We took away the old wooden railings and replaced them with safety glass so that you could now lie down anywhere in the villa and still have uninterrupted views of the jungle (and it was also safer for kids). We also built an entirely new staff quarters and storage area to the back of the villa. Having started all this work, we realised that the villa itself looked a little old and tired, so we replaced all the bathrooms, installed a new and properly fitted and functioning guest kitchen, and renovated and repainted the entire villa from top to bottom. This would be a major task for any villa, but for Villa Kalisha every single thing we needed for the renovation had to be carried by hand along the path to the villa, and similarly rubble and waste had to be carried back again. Finally 6 months later, the villa was finally finished and we renamed it Villa Kalisha to avoid any sibling arguments later in life. In early 2008 we moved to Bali full time, and bought a great villa in Seminyak that was close to everything - this time to live in ourselves. When we left Bali in late 2009 to go to live in Bangkok, we renamed our home Villa Rene (after Rene!) and rented it out with our other villas. We always loved Villa Rene, and it is still Rene's favourite villa, but even we were surprised on how many enquiries we received. Finally the kids said that Daddy needed to have a villa as well. With the money from the corporate job in Thailand, and with income coming in from the other villas, we were able to another villa. We wanted a villa that was totally different again from our other villas, and so this time we chose a villa at the top of probably the highest hill on the Bukit, close to Jimbaran and with spectacular views out over the cliffs. We named the villa "Villa Leana" which is our daughter Kalisha's 2nd name, although the kids still call it "Daddy's Villa". By 2012 friends and neighbours had started asking us to also manage their villas in Bali, and so after much discussion we took the plunge, and I gave up the corporate world all together, and we turned to managing and marketing villas in Bali full time. We wanted to do it right however, so we invested in an online marketing and accounts system, and registered as a company. We now manage and market more close to 20 different villas all around Bali - and all of them with strong personal connections to Rene and I. And we will always aim to maintain that strong personal connection. We visit all the villas that we look after regularly, and know all the villas intimately, and so can answer almost any question pretty much immediately. However we do now have staff to help us, so chances are that you will be speaking with Putu or Lisa or some of our other staff, but Rene and I still work every day on the villas and still occasionally answer enquiries as well. Our intention though is still to remain small enough so that we can continue to maintain that personal connection with all our villas, and so will probably only every look after one or two more than we have right now. So that is our story. We have been lucky enough to meet some fantastic people, and some of the villas we not look after are just amazing. All of them have the personal touch that we established at our own villas and we know that you will love staying at these villas as much as we do. Enjoy and we hope to see you in Bali soon!