Although we are not staff at the Royal resort I felt compelled to write having just undergone practically the same experience as yourself. The scam began with my wife and I being approached outside of the Matahari shopping complex in Kuta, Bali on 16th February 2009 by a woman who asked us to fill in a questionaire about our visit to Bali. Having procured our details we were then palmed off on a man, Wardana, who claimed to be promoting tourism in Bali. We were handed what I can best describe as a scratchcard. The main differences from your experience were the following:

a) we were told from the start that we could win any of the three prizes but could not choose.

b) we were told that it was the last day of the promotion- but of course the next day the same hawker was pulling the same stunt outside of the same mall; and

c) we stayed in the Royal boiler-room for a total of two and a half hours, listening to them ring a gong and applaud to welcome new members who were a fictional creation as far as we could tell. We found it very difficult to escape the intensely aggressive salesman. In the end we claimed our 'prize' which was ofcourse (b) the weeks free accomodation- except it wasn't even free- there was a $100(US) booking fee to get the accomodation.

After enduring this criminal waste of our precious holiday time I researched Royal resorts on the internet and found many references to both the Bali scam and a practically identical scam in Goa, India. As both my wife and I work in the media, we can guarantee that we will take the time and make the effort to increase the bad press the company receives and also to get the scam covered in travel guide books and make sure that the Bali tourism authorities are aware of Royal's practices, which have significantly lessened the chances of us coming to Bali again. Should you wish to add this to your site as evidence that the scam is still alive and well please feel free to do so.

Best regards,

Steve Xxxxx