Apolonia Hotel (Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte)

Hello everyone!

From my last post, I was talking about our trip to Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte, which is Yoy’s hometown. As it turned out, there were only two hotels that popped up when I google searched hotels in J. Panganiban, they were Victor Hotel and Apolonia Hotel, the rest were room/house rentals via Airbnb.

Apolonia Hotel was were we ended up staying in for the night. My early verdict: not the best budget hotel I have ever been in but not the worst (yet) either.

Like every budget hotel, it is pretty basic. As it is located in an old building and the fact that I was already given the heads up prior to the trip that there were no nice accommodations to be had in J. Panganiban, I have kind of also adjusted my expectations to match reality. And avoid much disappointment in the process.

So this was the room. It had lots of cabinet space than we actually needed. I have never been in a hotel room and seen a lot of color pink than when I entered this room. Even with all that pink glory, it still had that unmistakable old place vibe. It was like the feeling of entering the studio apartment I used to rent in Legazpi City, and not like being in a hotel.

Then the bathroom was so dated that the fixtures have obviously seen better days. It was not the cleanest I have seen, but since my expectations have been adjusted, I did not find things very disappointing. Well, except for the fact that the water in the faucet was almost (really!) non-existent the next day. Apparently, the water situation was hard in the area and the hotel was no exception.

More pics of the old building…

Then, this was what it looked like outside of the room. It really reminded me of an apartment than a hotel.

It was an OK stay for the night for Php1,000.00 but the experience made me rethink the wisdom of trying out Airbnb next time around when I find myself again in this part of the Bicol Region.

Thank you all for reading! =)

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Second (and Definitely Last!) Stay at Selvina’s Hotel, Sorsogon City

I was debating with myself whether or not to still post this because I really regretted our second stay at Selvina’s Hotel in Sorsogon City. Just thinking about it now is still upsetting even though it’s been a month. It’s such a shame because I raved about this hotel during our first stay, that experience was a far cry from the second time we were there. So what happened, Selvina’s?

First, let’s start with the good points. Same as before – they have good firm beds, the room has a terrace (dirty by the way), complementary coffee and toiletries. List ends there.

 

 

Now, the upsetting part.  First of all, there was no personnel manning the reception and we rang the bell many times. We took the liberty to fetch someone from their resto or we would have spent hours waiting in vain at their reception area. This employee who checked us in acted like she did not expect us. She stared at the confirmation booking for too long without actually having an idea which room to put us in, like looking at a complicated puzzle and no idea how to solve it. So, maybe she’s not the receptionist. After all, she was fetched from the resto. Still, any decent establishment that dares call itself a hotel needs a receptionist. And still, it’s more than a bit awkward for the guest because they made us feel like an inconvenience for them. Something I mind a bit when I’m paying more when I could have spent a lot less elsewhere if I’m just getting lousy service.

One more thing, their cleaning lady (who arrived, I assume, to assist Ms. Clueless) was rude. She made a rude remark after I asked if the room was on the second floor. Something about “Duh, of course all our rooms are on the second floor” but in Sorsoganon dialect. Ok, I was tired and the important thing was we finally checked in, so I let that pass.

You can see the highway from the terrace

It got worse, the A/C in the room was very noisy and unable to cool the entire room. Summer here in the PH has a reputation for getting really nasty hot so I was already contemplating of complaining at the front desk. But thinking there was probably nobody manning the front desk again anyway, I decided against it. Instead, we went out to visit my parents, put the A/C on timer to run for two more hours and hoped that it will eventually cool down by night time when we got back.

The heat wasn’t as bad at night and we were able to sleep. The room they put us in had a queen bed and a single bed. I expected just one queen bed, just like the one we booked on our first stay, but since they really did not know what they were doing, gave us the wrong room. I should be grateful for the extra space, but I really would much rather have the room we first stayed in because it had a functioning air conditioning unit.

So maybe you’re thinking it wasn’t that bad. You’d be wrong. They cut the water supply of the hotel at 10:00 in the morning! Without so much as a warning. Can you believe a hotel cutting the water supply on their guests? Were they even aware that they still had guests to begin with? Fortunately, we woke up and showered early but what if we didn’t? We’d be stinking and all thanks to them. The pseudo receptionist mumbled some poor excuse of a water leak or something but not even an apology. What kind of operation are they running blah blah blah? (BLAH because I. Have. No. Words. and Blah because that’s how I feel about this hotel now. How was my stay? BLAH.)

The outdated bathroom where we could have missed a shower if we happened to wake up late the next morning

So, against my better judgement, I am posting this to mark my second and DEFINITELY LAST STAY at this hotel.

F2M Tower (Legazpi City, Albay)

Hello there! I’m glad to be back after almost three months of no activity here in my blog. It made me a bit sad and guilty at the same time that I have neglected my blog for that long but I’ve been busy and had some things that required my attention. One thing is for sure, I have made it a point to visit other people’s blogs and read a bit before I go to bed every night so that I still feel in the loop although my own blog has been a bit forlorn lately due to my lack of post haha.

Anyway, I just would like to share with you guys that we have taken yet another trip to Albay and Sorsogon City last week, which happened to be a holiday here in the PH (Holy Week). We’ve been doing this since I’ve moved to Naga City about five years ago to see my parents in Sorsogon. I wish we had a car so we could have taken a lot of detour and see places off the beaten path. That would have made a lot of stories for some worthwhile blog posts. But since we had to take a commuter van (UV Express), we couldn’t do this.  What I can do however, is to share with you our hotel experience during our stay at F2M Tower in Legazpi, Albay.

The lobby at F2M Tower

When we arrived at Legazpi City Terminal, we just walked for a few minutes and after asking around where F2M Tower was, we finally found it beside Pacific Mall (Gaisano). Check in was a breeze since their staff knew right away who we were and did not even ask for a copy of the confirmation booking. I like it when hotels are efficient and their staff are polite and competent.

When we opened the door to our room, the air felt so fresh and it smelled really nice, like you know right away the room is clean. Yoy and Julienne liked it a lot.  F2M has only 6 rooms that they rent out and I was told by Jho (the staff who checked us in) that their concept is that of a condotel. So there are no staff to cater to your needs after their office closes, but it doesn’t matter when it is located in the heart of Legazpi. Whatever you need, you can just buy from the mall that is just a few steps away.

The bed was really nice and white. The sheets smelled and felt fresh (Ok, I’ve been saying that a lot lol). 

The faces she makes these days!

Now, let’s  check out the bathroom. It’s real clean too (almost immaculate in my opinion). It was a pleasant surprise how everything was thought of and furnished. There were towels available, hot/cold shower worked, there was a soap dispenser and a hair dryer. 

There was also a water heater, utensils and a mini refrigerator inside the room.

I liked the mirror of the closet’s sliding door so I took a selfie (Gaaaaahh!). Not posting this on Facebook, just here.

In the evening, Yoy and I had one  bottle of beer each over a plate of sisig that we bought near 101 Mall while the little girl enjoyed her Vitamilk (don’t worry she’s not drunk in this picture, just tired lol)

Over all, I liked it. It was the cleanest budget hotel we’ve stayed in in Legazpi City. And to better get your money’s worth, try online booking for promos and to get discounts.

Summer is here and a lot of people are going on out of town trips. I hope you will find this post useful! =)

 

 

Asia Novo Boutique Hotel (Sorsogon City)

Happy New Year Blogsville! I hope you all are happy and well this 2018.

I’m posting one of my hotel reviews now lest I forget the things I want to say about my stay at Asia Novo Boutique Hotel in Sorsogon City where we stayed last December 22.

Actually, we liked this hotel. The hotel is new so the room we stayed in, which was the Queen Deluxe or Queen Suite, was fresh and smelled fresh too (so important!). I like new hotels for a reason after having experienced staying at pitiful old establishments with old rooms that smelled of mold and mildew (yikes).

I especially liked that the sheets were white so you can see if it’s really clean or not.

This room we stayed in at Novo was also spacious and bright since there was ample lighting inside the room.

Also, the cable TV was working well and the A/C was split type so it tends to get very cold.

However, the room was not without its issues like wall paint coming off, less than immaculate bathroom, and that housekeeping forgot to provide us with bathroom tissue, bathroom door mat and trash bin (there was only one and it was inside the bathroom). Also, I noticed that the bathroom wall was wet and had map-like patches from within which I suspected was the result of heavy rains in Sorsogon and something like a glitch in building construction.

On the upside, I like that their staff on the front desk were gracious and welcoming. I’m happy they let us check in early (around 1:00 PM) even though when I booked, it was indicated that check in time was 2:00 PM, but I like that they accommodated us so we were able to leave our bags inside the room before we went to my Mama’s house. However, I noticed they were not very keen about online booking since they did not confirm to travelbook.ph that I stayed at the hotel on the date of my booking so I was almost penalized because I was declared as a no-show (Wait, what?! Does this look like a no-show?). So, after a few exchange of emails with the said booking site with me sending them pictures as Exhibit A, B & C (so hard when the burden of truth is on me), I finally got myself acquitted from the charges and was declared innocent beyond reasonable doubt (I hope).

So, what’s more to like? The hotel has an elevator for the convenience of the guests. That’s my baby Julienne between the elevator door and the Christmas tree.

Below is the view from the third floor where One Burgos Resto is just across the street. Their meals tasted great and were reasonably priced. We had our lunch there after we checked in at the hotel.

The next morning, we just ordered coffee and Nissin Seafood instant cup noodles from the front desk and Yoy went out to buy delicious breads from Kambal Bakery nearby before we checked out.

Over all, I am happy with my stay at said hotel, especially that I got it for only Php681.00 (24 hours) through online booking at travelbook.ph using the Php300.00 discount promo they sent me as a member. Thank you for the discount!

 

 

 

SELVINA’S HOTEL AND RESTAURANT, SORSOGON CITY

Last Good Friday, we went home to Sorsogon City for what turned out to be a pleasant family reunion, wherein my oldest brother and his family also came home from Manila. Anyway, I noticed that no matter what time of the year, it always always rains whenever we go home. Since it is summer, there had to be a typhoon then – Typhoon Crising.

On the first night, we stayed at Dona Mercedes Country Lodge. Now this lodge has a lot of good reviews from Trip Advisor raving about how clean and comfortable it was and all that. But after our brief stay, all I can say is that you only really get what you paid for, which is not much.

However, on our second night, and after a whole day of frolicking in the waters of Bacon Beach, we checked in at Selvina’s Hotel and Restaurant which is located in Pangpang, Sorsogon, just along Maharlika Highway.

It was night time when we arrived and the hotel had all these attractive incandescent lights going on making its façade glow, and the kids went “Wowww.” Now I wish we had booked a bigger room so we could all stay together, but I had the room booked a month ago when I thought we were the only ones coming home.

Anyway, I got the Double Standard room for a steal as the original price was Php1,500.00 including VAT and surcharges, but less travelbook.ph discount of Php240 and less Php600 (for my 600 points redeemed), I only paid Php660. I earned the points from booking hotel accommodations and writing reviews.

The Double Standard room was very nice and clean. I liked the simple design and the classic neutral colors they used for the room (just white, black, brown and nude). I also liked that it has a couch, a center table, a coffee table and complimentary coffee. They also put a hot/cold water dispenser on the lobby so the guests don’t need to buy. The AC was functional and the bathroom has hot/cold shower and a bidet, and very clean as well. The usual towels and toiletries are likewise provided.

On the other hand, wifi was slow inside the room and the TV was kinda small. But the addition of the veranda was a real pleasant surprise.  It was nice to enjoy the view over a cup of coffee in the morning. I’m gonna bookmark this hotel for when I need a room again soon. (P.S. sorry naman po sa pag-mowdeling. Last na yan pramis hehe)