Stayed 7 Nights and the Rani was Excellent, would have given it a 5 rating but need room to move if we ever find something better.
Price was excellent, I have read a lot of reviews and a few seem to complain about poor quality breakfast, well we both found the breakfast excellent with something different each day, I would suggest the people complaining haven't stayed in many hotels elsewhere, we live in Country West Australia and stay regularly in Perth Hotels, the Rani would be 5 star compared to some of these.
Others complained about the drink prices, a Bintang Stubbie was around $AU3-50 compared with $AU8-00 in Perth bars, the best value for beer is the beach bars at Kuta where a beer, chair and use of a stubby holder was $AU2-00 and the best view of any bar in the world, you can buy a carton of 24 bintangs next door to the Rani for less than $AU30 and drink them on your balcony if you wish anyhow.
We had a couple of meals at the Rani Brassiere, excellent prices, I had a surf and turf one night, was big melt in your mouth steak and 4 big prawns with garlic sauce, chips and veggies (or salad) cost $AU14-00, wife had the best pork ribs ever tasted for around $11.
The hotel is right next door to the Kodak Shop which is the best and most trusted money exchanger around, they also sell Alcohol and Cigarettes and other Deli Items, Waterbom park is around 5 mins away and the Centro Discovery Mall directly across the road and plenty of restaurants nearby and at Centro, walk through Centro and down to beach and there is a great path walk to Kuta Beach and the Bars.
The Rani isn't perfect but for the price it's fantastic, friendly staff, nice size pool, the only small faults we could find, they need more pool chairs or at least police it better, people would put towels on chairs to reserve them at 8am and not use them until lunch time, rules are if not used within 30 mins towels can be removed, the only other complaint I have is no free WIFI, you can pay $5 for an hour though, I mainly wanted the net for 5 mins in the morning for emails, most cafe's at Centro have free access.
Our fridge didn't work properly for the first day but this was eventually swapped.
Did notice a few complained about roosters and chickens, this seems the norm around Kuta and the eggs taste alright at breakfast, I didn't notice the noise much, but we are from the country and early risers, was our first Bali trip and didn't want to stay in bed all morning anyhow.
Will stay again in August 2012, we are going to Bali again March 2012 and staying at the Vira, couldn't get into the Rani, will review the vira on return

My wife and I spent one night in the Kuta area at Bali Rani in mid-January. It was a nice, spacious room close to plenty of places to eat. We stayed in a deluxe room that had apparently been recently remodeled which had a safety deposit box (I only mention, because I have read from others that their room did not). The breakfast was decent, but nothing special. The only hassle we had was that our key card quit working and the staff didn't seem to understand, so we couldn't get it replaced. They let us in the room and we just decided to not worry about it, because we were leaving in the morning.

Initial did heard about some bad remarks on hotel Rani, but I'm a person who preferred to experience itself .
Environment good, breakfast satisfactory, staff quite friendly & room service is good , but the most amazing is , my birthday falls on the 22nd Jan 2012 and when I came back from outdoor shopping, I was so touch that , they actually send me a birthday cake, which took me & my families by surprised.
When my next Bali holiday , without hesitation Rani hotel my first choice, I even put up on my Facebook to recommend my friends.

Happy staying

We've been there for 5 nights. It was clean and located in main street of Kuta, so if you are looking for pub and restaurant you'll like the place. It's so close to water park (waterbom, which is so amazing) There wasn't any safety box in the room, but you can use the boxes at reception. The staff are so friendly but have some problem in speaking English. There is no A/C in the lobby and restaurant, they are located in open area, so there are many flies while you are having breakfast. I got the room at the reception so the price was a bit high in comparison to a 4-star hotel which doesn't have free wi-fi even in lobby.