Lombok's Villa Boom: Wonderful for a Holiday, Worth a Rethink for Incentive Groups

Photo: Tampah Hills

Lombok is having a moment. Bali's quieter neighbour is fast becoming Southeast Asia's most talked about "next island," prized for the space, silence, and untouched coastline that Bali has less of these days. Its accommodation scene has kept pace, especially the rise of private pool villas scattered across the south coast's hillsides and bays. But as more clients ask us about Lombok for their next incentive trip, one question keeps coming up: is a shared villa really the right call for a group of colleagues, or is that better left for a holiday with friends and family?

Direct Flights Make Lombok Easier to Reach

Before the villa question comes an easier one to answer: getting there. Reaching Lombok used to mean routing through Bali or Jakarta first. That has changed. Scoot, the Singapore Airlines Group's low-cost carrier, now flies direct between Singapore Changi and Lombok in around two hours and forty-five minutes, and expanded the route from four to ten flights a week starting June 2026. For a Singapore-based MICE organiser, or a European group connecting through Changi's global network, Lombok is now a genuine short-haul option rather than a multi-leg detour, and that alone is opening it up as a serious contender for meetings and incentive trips.

The Villa Boom

Lombok's south coast, from Selong Belanak down to Kuta, has become the epicentre of a wave of design-led villa resorts. Properties like Tampah Hills spill down a hillside above their own private beach, with architect-designed villas built for two, four, sometimes ten guests to share, each with a pool, a private chef, and butler service. It is a beautiful way to travel: intimate, indulgent, and made for people who already know each other well. For a family reunion or a close-knit group of friends, sharing a kitchen table, a pool, and a hallway between bedrooms is exactly the appeal.

Why Corporate Groups Are Different

A leadership team is not a friend group, even a close one. Put a CFO, a regional director, and two or three junior colleagues under one roof sharing two or three bedrooms and a single living space, and you are asking them to navigate a level of physical closeness that has nothing to do with their actual working relationship. Who gets the room with the view. Who is a light sleeper in the room next to a 6am conference call. Whether a junior colleague feels comfortable walking past a director's door at midnight. It is rarely really about the bedrooms. It is about the hierarchy and personal space that most corporate cultures, particularly the more formal, protocol-conscious cultures of our German, Swiss, and Benelux clients, still expect to be respected, even on a trip designed to be a reward.

The Middle Ground: Somewhere Lombok

This is where a handful of newer properties get the balance right. Somewhere Lombok, perched above Are Guling Bay near Kuta, is built from twenty standalone villas rather than a few shared houses. Every guest gets their own villa with a private plunge pool, while everyone still gathers at one central hub for breakfast, sundowners at the bar, and laps in the shared infinity pool, with a gym, yoga pavilion, and sauna on the way. It carries the intimacy and design language of a private villa stay, without asking anyone to share a bedroom or a bathroom with a colleague. For a mixed-seniority group, that is often the more comfortable, and more professional, in-between.

When a Shared Villa Still Works

None of this rules villas out. A tight five-person leadership team that already travels well together, or a small incentive group where bonding is the explicit goal, can genuinely thrive at a Tampah Hills-style property. The difference is intention. A shared villa should be a choice the group makes knowingly, not a default because it photographed beautifully.

Our Take

When we scout accommodation for an incentive trip, room configuration is one of the first things we assess, right alongside the pool and the view, because it shapes how a group actually experiences four or five days together, long after the itinerary is forgotten. If Lombok is on your radar for your next incentive or leadership trip, we would love to help you find the right balance of privacy and togetherness for your group. Get in touch and let's talk it through.