Renting a luxury villa in Bali: the guest's due diligence checklist

A week in a large staffed villa can cost more than a car, and the people booking it — guests, their assistants, family offices — often ask the same questions: is it licensed, what does the contract really say, why is the bill higher than the quote, who are the staff, and where does the passport data go. Most of those questions have an answer in public Indonesian law. This page sets them out in the order a booking happens. It does not rate villas or name operators; it tells you what to ask for and what the rule behind each answer is.

The checklist, item by item

Nine checks, each with what to ask for and the regulation that makes it a fair question. The sections below take them in turn.

None of these needs a lawyer to ask. A legitimate operator can answer all nine in writing, usually by return; the documents behind the first three are ones it needs to trade at all. An operator that will not say which company you are contracting with, or will not put the cancellation terms in writing before taking money, has answered the question in a different way.

Is the villa licensed? The NIB, the standard and the building

The NIB and the KBLI code

A villa business in Indonesia is licensed through the OSS system. The license starts with a business identification number (NIB) issued against a business classification code: 55193 for villas under KBLI 2020 (BPS — KBLI 2020, class 55193 (repealed) (2020)), and 55203 under KBLI 2025. A homestay run in the owner's own dwelling uses a different code, 55201 (Peraturan BPS No. 7 Tahun 2025 (KBLI 2025), class 55201 (2025)). OSS license documents carry a QR code, and a regency investment office describes a public app that reads it to show the license data and confirm the NIB is genuine (DPMPTSP Kabupaten Bantul, 26 August 2020 (2020)). The request to make is simple: the NIB, the name of the company it belongs to, and the KBLI code. The company on the NIB should be the one on your contract or invoice. What licenses a legitimate Bali villa rental needs.

Platforms and unlicensed listings

A listing on a large booking platform has not, so far, meant a license. The tourism ministry said in 2026 that it had identified about 1,600 unlicensed accommodation businesses on online travel agents nationally, that they would be delisted from 1 August 2026, and that platforms should not onboard new merchants without an NIB and KBLI code (Minister of Tourism press conference, 26 May 2026, via ANTARA (2026)). That is a reported announcement, not a regulation, and how far it has been carried out we have not measured. The check is the same whatever the channel: ask for the NIB.

The villa standard and the building

The tourism ministry's 2025 business standard covers villas as accommodation that is the whole building let for a set period (Permenpar No. 6 Tahun 2025, Lampiran I, villa standard, 2(b) (2025)). It is a medium-low-risk business, and what the operator must hold is a self-assessment and a health certificate — a sanitation certificate from the health office (Permenpar No. 6 Tahun 2025, Lampiran I, villa standard, 6 (2025)). Certification by a tourism certification body is voluntary; where a villa has it, the standard's service criteria cover six services, from reservations and check-in to handling guest complaints, and its people criteria include training, a security officer, emergency knowledge (Permenpar No. 6 Tahun 2025, Lampiran I, villa standard, 6.3.2 (2025)). The villa standard, item by item. The building itself needs a building approval (PBG) and a certificate of fitness for use (SLF); when the SLF lapses, the building's ownership certificate is void and utility services withdrawn until a new one is issued (PP No. 16 Tahun 2021, Pasal 302 ayat (1) (2021)). For a guest, the SLF is the closest public document to “this building was checked as safe to use”.

A transparent luxury villa rental contract

Indonesia's consumer protection law protects any person using goods or services available in the community, not for resale (UU No. 8 Tahun 1999, Pasal 1 angka 2 (1999)). It sets no nationality condition; that a foreign guest renting a villa is covered is our reading. Three of its rules shape a villa booking.

What the law voids, and what it requires

A standard clause that refuses to return money paid for a service, shifts the business's liability, or binds the guest to rules changed during the stay is void by law (UU No. 8 Tahun 1999, Pasal 18 (1999)); so is one that is hard to see or understand. When the service is not as agreed, the guest has a right to compensation, damages or replacement when the service is not as agreed (UU No. 8 Tahun 1999, Pasal 4(h), 7(g), 19 (1999)), and compensation is due within seven days of the transaction. Breaching the standard-clause rule is punishable by up to 5 years or IDR 2 billion for the business (UU No. 8 Tahun 1999, Pasal 62(1) (1999)). Where the offer and the contract are made electronically — a booking site, an email exchange with a payment link — the e-commerce regulation adds that the offer must state its conditions, payment and risks, and the contract must include the procedure for cancellation by the parties (PP No. 80 Tahun 2019, Pasal 39, 53, 71 (2019)).

What a transparent contract shows

1. Who you contract with. The owner's company, a management company or an agent — and whether that name matches the NIB. Rental company, management company or DMC.
2. The total price, with tax. The nightly rate, the hotel tax, any service charge, and what is not included.
3. What the price includes. Staff, chef, driver, transfers, utilities, events — in writing, not in a message thread.
4. The deposit. How much, what it covers and when it comes back. We found no regulation that sets a deposit for villa stays; it is a contract term, and the consumer law's rule on standard clauses applies to it.
5. The cancellation procedure. The steps, the deadlines and what is refunded at each.

Villa booking terms and Indonesian consumer law reads the same rules from the operator's side.

What the bill should show: tax, service charge, levy and currency

The hotel tax

A villa stay is a hotel service for tax purposes: the law lists vila by name (UU No. 1 Tahun 2022, Pasal 53 ayat (1) (2022)). The tax, PBJT, is charged on the amount the guest pays (UU No. 1 Tahun 2022 (HKPD), Pasal 57 ayat (1) (2022)) at up to 10%, and Badung, Gianyar and Denpasar each set it at the full 10% (UU No. 1 Tahun 2022 (HKPD), Pasal 58 ayat (1) (2022)). The guest bears it; the business supplying the stay collects and pays it (Perda Kab. Badung No. 7 Tahun 2023, Pasal 25 (2024)). A stay of over one month in a private residence is outside the hotel tax (UU No. 1 Tahun 2022 (HKPD), Penjelasan Pasal 54 ayat (1) (2022)), so a monthly villa rental is taxed differently from the same villa by the night. Long-term or nightly.

The service charge

The manpower ministry's service-charge regulation is written for hotels, defined as rooms in a building, and an employer may apply one (Permenaker No. 7 Tahun 2016, Pasal 2 ayat (2) (2016)); it does not name villas. Where service money is collected, it is non-wage income distributed to the workers (PP No. 36 Tahun 2021, Pasal 8 and 13 (2021)). On a villa bill, a service charge is therefore something to see stated in advance, not a fixed legal add-on. Who the service charge belongs to.

The tourist levy

Bali's levy is IDR 150,000 per foreign visitor, paid once per trip and not per booking or night (Love Bali — Bali provincial government levy portal (2026)). It applies to every foreign tourist entering Bali (Perda Provinsi Bali No. 2 Tahun 2025, Pasal 4A ayat (1) (2025)), with seven exempt groups, including KITAS and KITAP holders (Perda Provinsi Bali No. 2 Tahun 2025, Pasal 4A ayat (2) (2025)). It is not part of the villa's price: the province collects it, though villas can be an endpoint that helps guests pay it under an agreement with the province (Perda Provinsi Bali No. 2 Tahun 2025, Pasal 13A and its elucidation (2025)). A guest who has not paid faces being refused service at tourist attractions (Perda Provinsi Bali No. 2 Tahun 2025, Pasal 16A (2025)). The levy and villas.

Quoted in dollars, paid in rupiah

Many luxury villas quote in US dollars. The currency law requires rupiah for every transaction with a payment purpose carried out in Indonesia (UU No. 7 Tahun 2011, Pasal 21 ayat (1) (2023)); its exceptions are state-budget transactions, grants, international trade, foreign-currency bank deposits and international financing (UU No. 7 Tahun 2011, Pasal 21 ayat (2) (2023)), and a holiday stay is not among them. Not using rupiah where the article requires it is a criminal offense (UU No. 7 Tahun 2011, Pasal 33 (2023)), and no one in Indonesia may not refuse rupiah offered as payment (UU No. 7 Tahun 2011, Pasal 23 (2023)). Whether a booking paid by card to a company abroad is a transaction “carried out in Indonesia” the article does not say. A dollar invoice from an Indonesian company, payable to an Indonesian account, is the case the rule is plainly written for. Ask for the rupiah amount on the invoice.

Booking direct or through a platform

The same law applies either way: the consumer protection rules, the hotel tax and the currency rule do not depend on the channel. What changes is who you contract with and how the price is built. On Airbnb, a professionally managed villa is normally on the single-fee structure, where the host pays a fee of 15.5% and the guest sees one price; under the split structure most hosts pay 3% and the guest pays a separate service fee on top (Airbnb — Service fees (2026)). A platform that takes payment must have a refund mechanism for cancellations under the e-commerce regulation (PP 80/2019 Pasal 71, our reading of its application to accommodation platforms). Booking direct puts the whole contract with the operator; the five contract checks above then matter more, because there is no platform policy sitting beside them.

When a platform listing and the villa disagree

The name on the listing, the name on the invoice and the name on the NIB should match. Where they do not, the person you pay may be an agent who does not run the villa. That is lawful in itself, but the agent's terms then bind you, and the agent may not be the business that answers for the staff, the building or the tax.

Staff, privacy and your passport

The staff on a staffed villa

Villa staff are employed by the owner, the owner's company, a management company or an outsourcing firm, and the answer decides who is responsible for them. A background check is not a legal requirement for villa staff. The route employers use is the police record certificate (SKCK), applied for by the person themselves, for one purpose, valid 6 months (Perpol No. 1 Tahun 2026, Pasal 1-5 (2026)), and keeping one is processing specific personal data under the data protection law (UU No. 27 Tahun 2022, Pasal 4(2)(d) and Elucidation (2022)). So a villa can tell you whether staff were asked for a current SKCK; handing you the certificate is a fresh use of sensitive data. Confidentiality runs through the staff contract, and an NDA a guest asks for binds only the people who sign it. Villa staff contracts, vetting and NDAs.

Your passport data

The owner or manager of a place of lodging must give data on foreigners staying there if asked by an immigration or police officer (UU No. 6 Tahun 2011, Pasal 72 ayat (2), as amended by UU No. 63 Tahun 2024 (2024)). The data covers at least name, place and date of birth, sex, phone, nationality, passport number (PP No. 31 Tahun 2013, Pasal 188 (2013)), and immigration says it uses its APOA app for the request, with the manager photographing the passport page (Directorate General of Immigration, news release, 26 March 2025 (2025)). The penalty for not giving it falls on the villa, not the guest: up to 3 months' detention or IDR 25,000,000 (UU No. 6 Tahun 2011, Pasal 117, as amended by UU No. 63 Tahun 2024 (2024)). A passport scan requested at booking is therefore normal; what it is used for beyond that is a question for the villa's privacy terms, which the data protection law requires to rest on a lawful basis — explicit consent, a contract, a legal duty or another listed ground (UU No. 27 Tahun 2022, Pasal 20 (2022)). Guest data and passport reporting.

What this page does not cover

• Any particular villa or operator. We do not rate or recommend villas.
• Pool, fire and event safety rules beyond the SLF and the voluntary standard.
• Travel insurance and visas.
• Buying a villa. The buyer's due diligence checklist.

Common questions