My name is Thibault Masson – Thank you for taking the time to visit RealBali.com, my little travel guide to the island of Bali.
Do you sometimes dream of leaving it all behind and of starting anew? How about creating a new life far away?
I had the exact same dream, not at first with Bali, Indonesia in mind, but with St. Barths, French West Indies. Life works in mysterious ways. I now find myself splitting my time between St. Barths and Bali, places that are almost on the opposite side of the world one from the other.
When I am not in one of my homes, I rent them to people like you, as I love hosting guests. A nice house should never be empty. To accommodate my nomadic life, I had to create a made-to-measure job for me: I am now a full-time villa rental specialist focusing on my two home markets.
“Make my holiday home yours” – Thibault Masson
Let your loved ones enjoy my holiday homes
Just like you, I was once a first time visitor to Bali. Maybe you know Indonesia well, maybe not. As I fell in love with Bali, I decided to go one step beyond what visitors usually do: I bought 1 existing villa near Seminayk (Villa Adagian) and then got a 2nd one built from scratch, right on a secluded beach (Bulung Daya). In each of them, I have bought local furniture or had local designer create furniture for us, bought nice linens, found antique pots from Borneo, dreamed up and got guilt a 33-metre long pool, etc. It took me 3 years.
Thus, Villa Adagian and Bulung Daya are my real holiday homes: I come and visit Bali several times a year, for periods of several weeks. I like living in a very nice setting, yet functional and modern. Let your loved ones enjoy my holiday homes. The villas reflect my personal taste, yes, but they are not about us (no frame with a photo of me by the bed, no worries). I have the habit of sharing my houses with our friends and families, so we’ve tried to think of the needs of guests like you.
Benefit from the help of my local Bali team to plan your holiday
The villas have some staff to service you daily during your stay, but the team can also help you plan your trip to and around the island of Bali.
In Villa Adagian, my 3-bedroom house near Seminyak, the maid Putu is here every day to make your stay the best possible. Imagine waking up in the morning with breakfast freshly cooked for you by Putu. She will make up the house, while the gardener Ketut makes sure that the pool is in perfect condition for your morning dip.
In Bulung Daya, the private chef will cook for you while the staff will bring you cocktails by the pool.
The staff will pick up from the airport for free. If needed, I can arrange car rentals (with or without a chauffeur) and scooter rentals. I can also arrange excursions around the island, like a day trip to Ubud.
Get my personal tips about things to do in Bali
As I am a visitor just like you, I like discovering new places on the island, hearing about new restaurants in Seminyak or taking photos of stunning rice paddies in the mountains. So, in order to improve the experience of my guests, I have created this online Bali travel guide called RealBali.com. If you are a guest at one of my villas, you can read from the villa book where I give all sorts of advice.
But I realised that my guests wanted to prepare their trip ahead, so I needed to share my tips before their arrival. And voilà, I came up with the idea for this site. I also realised that most guests, once on the island, wanted to access to this online guide from their smartphones and tablets, so I made the site as mobile-friendly as possible.
Obviously, this is a free site and you can read my Bali travel advice and tips even if you do not end up staying in one of my houses. This way, you can enjoy a slice of our hospitality and hopefully you will visit us next time. This blog allows me to connect better with Bali visitors who want a great Bali experience, as I can talk with them on the blog and on places like Real Bali on Facebook , Real Bali on Twitter and Real Bali Holiday Rentals on Google+.
Walking by the beach, with my Bali holiday rental “Bulung Daya” in the background
A 15-year experience of sharing my own holiday homes with guests
Since 1995, I have had a holiday home in Saint Barthelemy, a.k.a. St. Barths, in the French West Indies. To afford my Villa Domingue , it soon became clear that I had to open it to guests. This is how I got started with my side business as a villa rental owner, more than 15 years ago. As I was leading a busy professional life in Paris, it was great to enjoy this beautiful house with friends and family, 2 or 3 times a year.
Then came Bali. In 2011, a friend of mine built a beautiful private resort, called Villa Ketapang, in west Bali. Quite frankly, I was not especially attracted to Bali. Maybe you are like me. I very much disliked Bali when I left the busy Denpasar airport, spending too much time in traffic jams in the Kuta area.
However, near my friend’s villa, the empty black sand beach was just like a mirror where the clouds were playing. Wow! I fell in love with the area. I came back one more time to Bali and discovered a beautiful spot, over there in west Bali, between Tanah Lot and Balian beach. This is where I started building Bulung Daya, a stunning villa, right above a secluded black sand beach. This project took 3 years to complete, as I wanted to design it as beautifully as possible.
A career in marketing that leads me to listen to guests and staff
As you are going to spend some of your hard-earned money on a holiday home rental to enjoy some relaxing time, you want to be able to trust the information that you are getting. So you are maybe going to google the name of the villa, the name of the area or even my own name. I understand that you need to reduce any kind of risks when it comes to planning a trip in a foreign country. So, here’s the skinny on me:
- I was born and raised in France. I started my career in the internet industry in 1999. I was first a sales engineer at a software company and then the head of marketing at online travel agency Ebookers France (an Orbitz company). In 2007, I launched my company Fashion Fox, publishing online fashion magazines.
- In 2013, I sold these magazines and left Paris to leave in St. Barths. There, I launched 2 online travel blogs: SaintBarth.com about St. Barths and RealBali.com about Bali.
- My career in marketing has taught me that it is key to listen to customers and staff in order to improve my offer. Similarly, I try to apply this to my holiday homes, in order to anticipate the wants and needs of my guests as best as possible.
- House guests from Australia, France, Singapore, America or China have at the same time similar and different needs. I can understand and appreciate this, as I have lived in several places such as France, the U.S.A. (2 years in Chicago for an MBA at Northwestern’s Kellogg business school), Japan (an eye-opening 3-month internship in Osaka), the Caribbean (holiday home there since 1995) and now Indonesia (about 3 months a year). So, my staff and I try to accommodate your preferences as best as possible.
If you want to know more about me, feel free to visit my business blog where I write about luxury villa rentals: ThibaultMasson.com.
Contact me to get personal tips
Use the form below to send me a message. I will get back you as soon as possible and keep our conversation private.