Imagine touching down in Bali after more than 18 hours of flight time. You’re zig-zagging your way through the dark streets of Canggu, only to arrive at your hostel in the middle of the night. Your passport is withheld overnight due to a broken card system. And, you don’t know when you’ll get it back.

If this scenario sounds like a scene straight out of the movie Taken, you’re not wrong.

That’s exactly what happened during my first night at Tribal Bali Coworking Hostel. It was nearly 1 a.m., and despite my American Express being securely filed with Booking.com, the hostel’s point-of-sale system was down. Instead of finding an alternative solution, the front-desk employee insisted on holding my passport until the next morning. End of story.

Except I had to prod and ask—well what would happen the following morning? Who could I reach about this passport issue? Who’s the manager on duty? What time? The front-desk employee didn’t actually know and had to dig up the information. “Diki,” they said—he would be the manager there tomorrow. But they still couldn’t give me a specific time. They said possibly around 10:30 or 11 a.m., but the front desk staff wasn’t sure.

Just think: it’s your first time in Bali. You don’t know the language. You don’t really know where you are. Daylight is just a few hours away and you need a place to crash–badly. 

Would this experience ruin this leg of the trip? Or would TRIBAL become one of my best stays during my two weeks in Bali? Scroll to read more and see the 20-image gallery.

Check-In Chaos: Don’t Forget Your Passport; It’s Going to Be a Long Night

An Avoidable Passport Security Nightmare

You should never have to hand over a passport overnight. Period.

Holding a passport briefly for check-in purposes is one thing. Withholding it overnight due to your own technical failures is entirely different. 

The hostel staff didn’t understand the severity of the issue. I offered many sorts of other options from handing over my Amex Platinum to providing a photocopy of my passport, but that wasn’t sufficient. 

I was traveling with a friend, exhausted from the flight from Seoul and it was now nearing 1:00AM. Forfeiting the hostel and searching for another place was tempting, but just not practical. In addition, I needed to set up my work system soon and get prepared for work.

I didn’t want to entrust my passport—my primary form of identification—to someone at the front desk of a hostel in a completely unfamiliar country. The responsibility of properly securing and storing such an important document overnight, even in a lockbox, felt too risky. Maybe I’m just paranoid?

Travel tip: Always carry enough cash to cover at least one night’s stay in case of technical difficulties. See Frommer’s take on passports here.

Passport Security Nightmare Solved?

Was the passport held in its entirety in a secure location? No. 

The next morning, I went downstairs to retrieve my passport from the check-in counter. Much to my surprise, my passport wasn’t secured in a lockbox. Instead, it was casually sitting among others underneath the check-in counter of this open-air hostel. They were simply placed right under the ledge of the desk—the same area where you’d rest your elbows and lean over.

Note: If you’re arriving in the morning and lean over, when no one is looking, there’s bound to be a few passports there. 

If you encounter this issue in Indonesia, contact:

U.S. Consular Agency Bali
Jl. Hayam Wuruk 310, Denpasar
Bali, Indonesia 80235
Phone: (62) (361) 233-605

U.S. Embassy Jakarta
Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan No. 3 – 5
Jakarta, Indonesia 10110
Telephone: (62) (21) 3435-9000

Keep Your Documents Close

Make sure to keep your government documents secure. Some people hand over their passports without blinking. If that works for them, fine. 

But you need to be the surveyor and defender of your documents–aka the only way in and out of the country. Know the requirements of your job and your identification, especially when your trip involves flying back home in a short time frame for a work event you’re responsible for organizing. Any delay in having to reacquire those documents when you have events back home puts your professional commitments at risk.

If you’re working for a company with contracts with certain U.S. entities–then there’s clear operational security failure exhibited by this hotel.

Gear Used

What’s the Vibe of the Hostel? It’s all in the Pool!

Passport issues aside, TRIBAL proved to be an amazing stay. Contradictory, right?

The hostel features an open-air concept, a design philosophy that seems to be quite popular in Bali. There’s no walls like you’d see with hotels in the United States. The check-in and main atrium are indeed, all outside.

The hostel has a two-level design: a ground floor with the cafe, workspace and pool, and an upper level housing private and dorm rooms accessible by two staircases.

I selected the private rooms, since based on my experience in Iceland–they’d offer the most privacy, while still enabling the chance to interact with other travelers and nomads.

All rooms and the remote work area form a U-shape around the pool. This pool acts as a central focal point for nomads sitting in the main section of the atrium — one of the main perks making this one of the hottest hostels in Canggu.

The Room: Bali Design Without Fluff

The room was small and quaint, with just enough space to feel like you could make it yours. The bathroom was decently sized–similar to what you’d find in a Parisian hotel near the Arc de Triomphe.

The shower was decent; it got warm enough at times and offered good water pressure (apparently, it’s hard to get good water pressure, even in my place in the States).

The bed? Not bad. The desk? Seemed sturdy enough for work.

Results: The room wasn’t bad and served its purpose. However, I would soon learn that when it came time for work, the room suffered from poor WiFi coverage and signal strength, and required a backup solution. 

 

The Hostel’s Amenities

The hostel comes with shared dorm rooms and private rooms–all on the upper level. The public area is below on the lower level. 

• Cafe: The cafe, on the lower level, provides a range of food from local Balinese cuisine to Western. 
• Indonesian Cuisine: I never tried their Western cuisine. Instead I indulged in the numerous Indonesian food dishes and pairings, until I kept repeating the same food items because they were so savory, and I knew we’d be switching locations soon.
• Fresh, Cold Coconut Water: Don’t forget fresh cold coconut water straight from the source. This hostel alone is probably responsible for the spike in coconut consumption in this side of Canggu. Look left of the check-in desk, in that field pit boarded up with wood. You’ll see a mountain of used coconuts rising past the gate.
• Gym: There actually isn’t an on-site gym. Instead, Wrong Gym is right around the corner and has most of the equipment you’d need. Otherwise, take a Gojek to Nirvana.

Working at a Hostel in U.S. Time Zones

Working remotely from a tropical, open-air hostel in Bali might sound like a dream—until reality sets in. But just for you–and only you. Why? Because, you’re different from the rest. You’re not even in the same time zones as the others. You’re special.

 

Who Would Ever Get Jealous of Other Time Zones?

The other nomads? They’re from Oceania (Australia, New Zealand), India, and Europe (UK, France, and Norway).

Let me break it down: Perth is in the same time zone as Bali. Sydney and Brisbane are 2 hours ahead. Oslo, London, and Paris? They are 8 hours behind. Seattle? 15 hours behind! 9am in Seattle is 12am in Bali!.

That means Bali–like Taiwan–ends up being one of the more challenging destinations for U.S. digital nomads.

 

WiFi Slowdown & Signal Strength

There’s Wi-Fi available, but its speed becomes seriously throttled in the middle of the day from extensive usage. If you’re working U.S. time zones, this won’t affect you as much. I even did a Speedtest to see what the results looked like and they weren’t great.

What affected Wi-Fi the most at this open-air hostel was Wi-Fi strength and the art of working at night, when you’re inside, but outside at the same time. The Wi-Fi reach is atrocious, barely able to reach my private room, despite being a mere meter above the lower level.

The internet speed is so deathly slow due to the poor Wi-Fi strength, you could expect a White Walker from Game of Thrones to get to you before your web page finishes loading.

 

Hide the Geckos, Hide The Mosquitos, They’re Coming for Everyone

Working US hours from Bali means working nights, which brings its own set of challenges. I had to learn a few lessons really quickly. The three important ones:

1. There are bugs. And they like to come out at night.
2. Open-air hostels mean open doors for bugs.
3. There’s never enough Mozzie/Mosquito spray.

The others? How do you look on your webcam? Not only will you deal with the fuzziness that comes with a webcam running at night, you’ll also have to simultaneously swat away the rampant Balinese mosquitos.

Sorry, that’s not all. Local Geckos will soon start to crawl the wall. Guess what? There’s even translucent ones. Still not shrieking? They make noise.

What’s worse? The noise-making geckos crawling the wall that you can see on your Zoom webcam, as you test your setup? Or the crickets and sounds of the night that are just simmering around your workstation—reminding you that in many ways, you are indeed in a jungle.

But actually, the worst part is knowing that ALL of these noises might be picked up on your audio during a meeting, and now you have to figure out how to hide the noise. 

I grab my Logitech headset with the boom mic in hopes of trying to dim the noise. But, the boom mic, which usually does a good job in noisy settings can’t de-noise, the noise! I check the audio again in OBS Studio, record a demo audio, and play it back. No progress.

I stare at the wall in frustration. Another gecko starts to crawl my way.

I look at it and look back at my laptop and think I can’t go back upstairs or the internet will fail on me again. Add a VPN? Forget it—that slowness will be the death of me.

I slap mosquitos left and right on my arms. No amount of mozzie spray (mosquito spray) will deter them. I think for a second. Actually, forget the Dengue, I need a backup solution.

Implementing a Backup SolutionI head upstairs to the private room. But, instead of running my typical Beryl AX travel router with StarVPN setup, I switched to my phone’s AT&T hotspot + OpenVPN’s desktop client (still using StarVPN).

Eventually the apps and webpages start to load like normal. The private room has more light. And for now, the geckos are nowhere to be found.

Final Reflections and Recommendations 

Am I okay with paying for a place where I can’t sufficiently use their internet connection—even during off hours? No. Would I still return, despite this issue? Yes. 

The hostel should invest in multiple Wi-Fi extenders, throttle IP usage, and implement a tiered system—where higher-speed connections go to those paying to stay, not just nomads passing through for the day.

My suggestion: Make sure you have stable cellular 5G. Don’t rely on hostel Wi-Fi alone.

Food: If You’re Not Eating Nasi Goreng, Then Why Bother? 

The food here is simply amazing.

• Main Meals: You can get Nasi Goreng with extra, extra sambal as I’d like to order, plus your fix of additional Indonesian dishes. Of course you can try other items on the list, but I still think they have some of the tastiest Indonesian food outside a few Warungs on this side of Canggu.
• Coffee & Coconuts: The coffee is strong. And the fresh, cold coconuts waft away the Bali heat–which can be treacherous even if you’re under the shade of the hostel’s roof.
• Prices: And the prices are decent when compared to the local market. The truth is there are few options around. But even when there are options around–why not just eat at TRIBAL? 

And that’s what we did. Doubled-up on coffee. Slapped on extra Sambal.

 

Great Service, Just Don’t Forget to Pay the Day Rate

Service is great–if you are staying at the property. If you’re just visiting the property–the experience will be a little different.

There’s a daily usage fee of around 120,000Rs (approximately $8 USD). It’s basically a minimum spend guarantee charge, like at a private event–that allows you access to the pool and hostel infrastructure for a set period of time. And trust me, they take this seriously.

You can bet that before you slide two degrees into your chair, barely taking your backpack off, the wait staff already spotted you like the all-seeing Eye of Sauron before you even walked to your chair. 

Actually, before you even hit the third degree in chair sitting, that same wait staff will have placed a menu right in front of you with notepad in hand, ready to take your order.

Maybe give guests two minutes to settle in before approaching? Just maybe?

Don’t get me wrong, a business needs to make money. People were already complaining about the required amount, expressing outrage when in reality, it comes out to only $8 USD. 

I mean, you have to be kidding if you’re traveling from the UK, Australia, and other areas and think this is expensive. It’s less than the cost of one beer in downtown Brisbane or a beer at BrewDog at the Edinburgh airport.

However, the area of service that can be improved is how day guests are treated. The staff aren’t exactly like Star Wars stormtroopers about to pounce on unruly nomads, but their vigilant approach can feel a bit intense. I would recommend a more relaxed attitude toward day visitors that could create a better atmosphere while still ensuring the business runs smoothly.

 

Location, Location, Location: And Surf?

TRIBAL’s location offers the best of both worlds–it’s central to everything, yet private to everyone.

What makes TRIBAL’s location particularly special is its position in a secluded alleyway, providing a quiet retreat from Canggu’s constant noise. You won’t hear the persistent honking or Gojek drivers repeatedly offering rides with their “Bike! Bike!” calls. Instead, at night, you can expect to see thousands of stars in the midnight sky–just at the edge of the pool. 

The property is so tucked away that even Gojek drivers sometimes approach cautiously at night–turning their heads back towards you in the rear-seat to make sure they aren’t about to meet their maker, or that’s not the ending of a Mob or Quentin Tarantino movie. But after a slight nudge with the forehead—a signal to drive forward—the driver continues and the alleyway opens to a larger drive, and they then realize they’ve arrived at a popular hostel with numerous scooters parked outside. 

Despite this seclusion, TRIBAL remains conveniently located. Pererenan beach is within walking distance, where you’ll find outdoor bars like Jempinis Beach Bar that doubles as surf lesson headquarters and photographer hotspot for capturing surfers out on the water. If that doesn’t appeal to you, there’s always the unremarkable La Brisa restaurant, which has its own pool.

Near the hostel you will also find Wrong Gym, a decent, modest-sized facility with sauna and pool amenities.

If you’re tired of the food at TRIBAL or want a nice dinner, then just turn the corner and you have the recommended restaurant Shelter. I wanted to go, since coincidentally, Seattle has a restaurant with the same name, but couldn’t due to timing and dress code policy.

While you can get coffee on premise, St. Ali Cafe is just down the street. 

Essentially, all of Canggu is at your fingertips, and the rest of Bali is just a short ride away.

Tribal Bali Coworking Hostel

Tips, Tricks, and Logistics

• Don’t let a hostel keep your passport overnight: Your passport is your identity. If it’s an establishment’s fault their payment system failed, stand your ground or find a new place.
• Think about Wi-Fi strength and backup options: Prepare for limited bandwidth during peak hostel hours. If you’re working in U.S.-based time zones for a demanding tech job, some hostels won’t cut it. The connection might be too slow or time out—especially if you need to log into your company’s VPN.
• Weigh shared vs. private rooms carefully: It comes down to  your budget, but don’t neglect your mental health and work productivity. A private room—or even a villa—might make more sense, even if it costs more. And if you’re at a villa, you can always Gojek to a hostel like TRIBAL pay the day rate to use hostel amenities.
• Pick a hotel that’s close to the action you want: Do you want to be near noisy Canggu or slightly more quiet Pererenan beach? The beaches are not as close as you think. Choose based on where you actually want to be each day.
• Expect environmental distractions: Mosquitos, geckos, and jungle sounds. And consider robust personal hotspot backups for nighttime work.

Trip Soundtrack

Because every adventure needs a soundtrack, each of my trips comes with a theme song. And for this trip's anthem? Well, it's...

Conclusion: Is TRIBAL Worth the Trouble?

I think it’s worth it. While TRIBAL has a dismal check-in process and WiFi issues, the facilities, staff, and amenities help overcome the sour taste of that initial night. 

The professionalism and friendliness of the staff shine through, as well as the amazing food, not to mention the incredible connections that you can make while meeting people from all over the world. So, maybe it’s worth it.

Imagine a place where you meet fellow nomads from Michigan (USA), to the UK, France, and Italy. Where everyone is working and collaborating together in their swimming trunks, eating fresh, high-quality food at a low cost, as if this is the new work normal, not in a skyscraper in NYC or SF.

So in a sense, everyday is like a retreat at TRIBAL, where everybody else knows your lifestyle and you don’t have to explain yourself to anyone. That means no more explaining “how do you work from home,” or “that must be nice,” while you work in isolation or at one of the many coffee shops before you have to get kicked out. Here? This experience at this hostel is essentially a workcation.

Sign me up… again? Probably.