Accommodation in the Philippines
July 27, 2009 Posted by Tyler CruzThis may seem like an odd post to publish about my trip to the Philippines, but I’ve always found hotels interesting.
Whether I stay in a fancy 5-star hotel or a cheap budget place, I always like to see how each hotel room is different. I’ve just always enjoyed staying in a hotel… I don’t know why. Perhaps it’s the housecleaning, the room service, or the fact that you can step outside and immediately be on vacation again.
In any case, this post gives a tour of 3 of the 4 hotels I stayed at during my visit to the Philippines. I somehow had completely forgot to film and take photos of the 3rd hotel unfortunately.
So if you ever travel to the Philippines, this is what you can expect to find in terms of accommodation (I stayed in 3 medium-range hotels and one very fancy one):
Hotel #1: Rosewell Manor
The first hotel was somewhere around Laoag where I stayed for a couple days. It was actually a very nice hotel considering the price. Check out the video above to see how much it cost.
Hotel #2: Fort Ilocandia
I only stayed here one night, but wanted to try it out to see what a 5-star hotel resort in the Philippines was like. Fort Ilocandia is located in Laoag (northern tip of the Philippines) and is huge high-class resort. To give you an idea of just how big it is, the golf course is a 15-minute drive away, and my hotel room was a 5-minute walk from the front lobby.
There was a casino there, a zoo, and famous people including presidents have frequented it as well. I took the cheapest room available which came to around $110 USD or so, but they had rooms up to 50,000 pesos a night (about $1,200 USD)… that’s about a 6-months wage for the average Filipino!
Since it is a resort, they is also a ton of things to do such as: paint ball, shooting range, horse riding, hot air balloon, archery, and snorkelling.
The place was so big and I had arrived late that I had forgotten to take photos of the impressive front of the place, but here are some photos of my hotel room and the view of the courtyard my hotel room was in:
My lunch. Adobo with rice and a small salad, 3 fresh buns hot from the oven, and orange juice, which was delicious. You can check it out here. I also drank about 4 ice-cold glasses of water because it was really hot that day.
Since it was the off-season, the entire restaurant was empty save for myself and 2-3 other tables. As a result I literally had 2-4 staff waiting on me at all times, and the water boy would refill my glass if I even just took 2 sips.
I didn’t like all the attention though… it was a bit too much service for me!
While the amenities and outside beauty of Fort Ilocandia were amazing, the hotel rooms weren’t anything special.
The TV was actually really bad. It had very few working channels, and the channels it did have weren’t at all worth watching. Not that I was planning on watching TV, but I thought it was interesting to note.
While the room wasn’t anything special, the view sure was. I can only imagine how good the view were from the rooms that faced the ocean!
The courtyard that you walk through to get to your room.
One of many stone statues… it looks like a fountain but it’s not.
Hotel #3: Mabuhay Manor
The last place I stayed at was Mabuhay Manor in metro Manila (well, actually Pasay City). It was actually a “Balikbayan” (Filipinos who moved abroad) hotel, so it catered mostly to Filipinos visiting family back here and was very family-oriented which is a tactful way of saying it was pretty noisy.
However, it was the only hotel I stayed at that actually had Wi-Fi work in the room so that made me very happy.
Guess which bed I used.
Ah, I love room service. It’s a banana split in the dish if you were wondering.
This was a very good meal as well. Damnit, I miss Filipino food.
And the CR (comfort room)… oops! I mean bathroom 😉
I’ll have another update on my trip to the Philippines within a few days so stay tuned.
38 Responses to “Accommodation in the Philippines”
Lovely pics, blogging about tourism myself, I appreciate your sharing about the industry in the Philippines. But why did you sleep in hotels, while you were visiting family?
I stayed at my lolas in the beginning, this was later when we went traveling around.
I was just about to ask if you have some Filipino blood. HAHA. Then I read your blog domain again. TylerCruz.com.. lol. Cruz is somewhat a Filipino surname. So yeah… Nothing really. How cool. XD
Looks like you are having some great food and a great time.
Those are really good pictures, and very nice hotels that you stayed in. Greg Ellison
I’m going on holiday myself in September. It is only for a weekend in Sussex but I intend on taking a huge amount of pictures. 😛
Glad you enjoyed Fort Ilocandia. It’s the best five-star hotel in the Ilocos Region, if there are others actually. You should have tried some local delicacies such as Empanada and Longganisa. And if you went further to the north, there are some nice spots there worth visiting as well. 🙂
What makes you think I didn’t? 🙂
I love empanadas..
Hi Tyler,
Great fun reading your posts about my country. And it’s a surprise to know that you have Filipino relatives (or maybe I haven’t been reading you long enough)!
I haven’t gone to Fort Ilocandia myself (in fact, I haven’t gone to the North yet), but your post is one more reason to go there.
Thanks Tyler!
Really cool pics dude. Rooms look nice, nothing I’ve used to saty with my trips, lol 😀
We also have monthly budgets from the diffreant areas posted in the files section. If you want to know the “real deal” go there and ask questions from people like me that have lived here for years.
I can assure you unless you live in a high cost area like Manilla, Cebu, Baggio or Boracay your retirement is more than enough to take care of a family of 4. I actually live here and have 2 kids in college, a maid and driver.
You may want to browse these pages for added insights. Take note though, that cost of living in Cebu City is significantly lower than in Manila, say by 20%? (Native cebuanos can give a better estimate):
These pictures look very nice! I can see that you realy enjoy on Philippines!
Keep enjoying and have some fun!
Nice hotel.. When you go to Malaysia Tyler??
Nice pics. I liked Fort Ilocandia the best. The outside and landscaping of that hotel looked great. I love to travel too and always document my hotel rooms with pictures. Thanks for the great post.
Nice pics. I liked Fort Ilocandia the best. The outside and landscaping of that hotel looked great. I love to travel too and always document my hotel rooms with pictures. Thanks for the great post.
Nice pics… why didn’t you bring your girlfriend along on the trip?
nice pics, we forgot set a EB night in manila 🙂
Nice to hear that you still love filipino foods 🙂
I think the rooms were good enogh …i feel the same excitement while travelling…food looks delicious!
5 star hotels are usually just for the view, but nothing too spectacular. However, I’ve only stayed in a 4 star 🙂
-Mike
I’m surprised- there doesn’t seem to be much of a difference in the rooms at the 5-star hotels compared to the more budget conscious ones. There’s always a huge difference in the hotels here, you’d think they would renovate, or at least replace the TV!
Was it hard getting a visa to go there?
Where you worried about crime and things like that over there?
the food is just like indonesian food. i never go to philipin before but i think that is a great country for spend a holiday
Didn’t know Fort Ilocandia is this nice, Got to go check it myself too.
Thanks for sharing!
Nice pics Tyler, if you want to get a real feel for a country, go off the tourist path and into the suburbs. Sometimes its also worth going to some of the poorest areas to see how this part of the world lives. Expensive hotels are cool (especially when its cheap in your currency) but they arent much of an eye opener.
Seems like you had fun over here 😀
I like the Hotel #2 which is Fort Ilocandia, I agree with you that the room view is simple but I prefer to have a great view outside the room. When you wake up in the morning, you do hope to see a better view outside the room, right?
Seems that philippines is a nice place for vocation. I’m thinking to go with my gf next time. 🙂
Regards,
Lee
Wow! The rosewell manor is a pretty nice hotel for such a cheap price. That’s pretty crazy. Interesting decorating piece in the corner I might add, I like it. As for the expensive resort, I find it odd that the outside was so spectacular, offering beauty and various forms of entertainment while the room was not so great. As for the extra service, ha I probably would not like it if a waiter came to my side every few minutes either..
Till then,
Jean
Wow these are great pics and all the hotels look so nice. They are pretty cheap too.
they come in pretty cheap. but nothing too fancy. its just right for the price.
is this how easy your life is with just blogging? man i like your life you know.
The hotels you stayed at look beautiful, really nice and clean. I stayed at the Bay View Park Hotel in Manila it was alright, kinda old, and no complementary breakfast 🙁 oh well heh.
Very comfortable rooms and the food looks edible….
Great photos man – looks like you were having a good time
Didn’t know Fort Ilocandia is this nice 😉
These pictures look very nice! I can see that you realy enjoy on Philippines 😉