Seahorse and Mangrove Resort is in a prime location which offers a balance of privacy and adventure. The secluded area is a retreat from the busy life, while the availability of kayaks, tricycle, and boats allows for frequent access to the surrounding islands. The resort is a wooden wonderland which has a variety of rooms to choose from – whether you are looking for accommodation for big groups, couples or singles. There is a range of options and activities for everyone to enjoy.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Mid-range
Great View
Location
Lagen Island Rd Bacuit Bay, El Nido, Palawan Island 5313 Philippines
This a great secluded resort with truly beautiful views.
PROS: + unbelievable views. + quick access to island hopping boat tours - literally at the hotels front door. + The rooms are simple, clean and spacious. + outstanding food portions and incredibly tasty. + family atmosphere in the resort + hilarious chef (Romeo) and really friendly and helpful staff (especially Macoy).
CONS: - travel to the resort. - management of the hotel. - could not pay final bill upon checkout and the payment link sent after departure was for a different amount to the agreed and signed amount; A FRAUDULENTLY signed invoice was provided as evidence for this different amount.
Travel to hotel experience (Long/difficult experience): I) Airport to ferry port: We requested a tricycle for 600 pesos however was picked up by a van (2000 pesos) which we queried at the time but were told it was fine. After complaining at length this was eventually reduced to 600 pesos in our final bill.
II) Ferry port to resort: After some waiting around the manager, Rosette, turned up. She seemed rather dis-organised but explained we had to wait some more time for the boat to arrive. After yet more waiting, she explained there was no docking point for the boat and she preceded to take us on a very unpleasant walk through the town/beach (we were lugging 2x 25kg suitcases and 2 hand luggage and had to literally carry them 300m due to broken roads) and lost us! She did not once look behind her to check we were there. We eventually found our way to the boat to see we had to walk through the dirty sea water in our trousers to board the boat. We then had to sit on a boat for 40 mins, very wet and uncomfortable. However, the sunset view during the boat ride was the best we have ever seen!
Island hopping experience: After this initial issue our 2 night stay was great, the chef was fabulous and Macoy really makes the resort, he took us on a spectacular island hopping tour and spoke perfect English!
Management experience: Our major issue with this resort is the manager, Rosette. When we checked out, she had charged us an incorrect sum for the airport transfer. She accordingly amended the invoice and we signed it. As the card machine did not work she said that an electronic payment link would be sent to us after we leave the resort, which we were fine with.
When we received the payment link by invoice it was for a higher amount than the invoice we signed at checkout and it seems someone had FRAUDULENTLY replicated our signature on this new invoice. The signature was a poor replica and we had never seen an invoice for transport costs of 1500 pesos, never mind sign it.
We were appalled and shocked.
After complaining to the owner our original invoice was reinstated together with a 10% discount but the incident has tainted our opinion of the resort and is unforgivable. We seriously suggest the manager is given some training.
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Date of stay: October 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We just stayed at this resort and was widely pleased. I left with the intent of a great experience and thinking they really should be ranked higher than they are.
I started to read reviews and before writing mine because I don’t like to see generic same info. If someone is going to read this I want them to benefit.
Honestly after our stay I think that most of the past concerns are legitimate. This is our first experience in El Nido, comparing to other places in the Philippines the place beat my expectation as far as cleanliness. Great clean room is a huge thing because it can’t be expected in some areas I think.
Make sure you know that it is about a 35 min boat ride from El Nido. Resort is off by itself so city access is hard. If your looking to get away from the city and busy Filipino style it’s a nice feel to be away from it. The staff met us and carried all our bags to help us board which we had a ton. Yea you have to wade through water but unless you just landed and this is your first experience, what’s new?
We did have a bunch in our party get sick, we didn’t tie it to the food because it all tasted super good. Order ahead of time because prep and serve took a while.
I seen a lot of complaints and i didn’t read the reviews beforehand but we must have lucked out on our trip or they are adjusting and reading the reviews. Rosette was constantly asking if we needed anything and was providing it for us. I mean some people may have very high expectations. The power does go off in the heat of the day but generally you would be island hoping or so. If not I’m sure they would make arrangements specially for sick guests. I don’t want to nullify all the concerns, I will be honest and point out a billing situation so I will be on the watch for that.
For the priced we paid and treatment we got, I think it was worth while. We were the only guests because it was mid week and we paid for private services regardless. For 1000 peso they took us to one of the close islands for the day because we weren’t wanting a full tour.
Visit with an open mind, allow them to correct mistakes but just be attentive and I think it can be enjoyable.
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Date of stay: December 2018Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Seahorse & Mangrove resort is located on privately owned island approximately 40 minutes by boat from Coron-Coron/El Nido. Free transportations there and back is only for check-in and check-out and is pretty uncomfortable. You feel more like backpacker traveler. It is very small resort with just six rooms. It’s still in the process of reconstruction but it doesn’t bother us too much. Food is good and portions are big but you have to wait really long time for your meal. The manager Miss Rosette is nice lady but she has not enough experience with managing this kind of property. Lack of information and very different understanding of time schedule give a bitter taste to our holiday.
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Date of stay: December 2017Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I’m not a big one for writing reviews but I felt I had to here. Firstly, having confused our pick up, making us wait an hour in a random place with no sign of anyone, this guy said he knew where he could take us. Fast forward a £10 tuk tuk ride later through people’s back gardens, we arrive at a swamp where the boat is waiting.
We get there and there is literally NOTHING to do. No bar, no beach (a few pebbles going into brown water, which when you’re in somewhere like El Nido is most certainly not a beach), no staff (apart from one poor woman trying to do everything) and no way of escaping the island! Considering that when you get there you are effectively stranded, the ‘resort’ is in no way set up to deal with the level of isolation of staying there. It felt horrible.
3 To 4 hours after eating a benign cheese sandwich, both myself and my friend proceed to get severe food poisoning and spend the who evening vomiting.
Safe to say, we left the following day having paid for 4 days.
The only thing I can say is the rooms are clean.... which is kind of important given you have to spend all of your time in them through lack of other options and needing to be near the toilet!
Do not go there!
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Date of stay: April 2018Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
DO NOT COME HERE From the start this was extremely unorganised and the communication was not clear or consistent. It was claimed that the hotel was 20 minutes from El Nido town, this was not the case. Upon reservation we reserved an automated email stating the resort was a 20 minute ride from El Nido town, and that this was a service provided by the hotel free of charge. We replied and tried to call several times throughout the course of the day, with much difficulty as the phones and emailed went unanswered until very late in the day. We were then instructed by the manager to organise our own transport to Manlalec via trycicle at our own cost (approx 35min ride through a heavily wooded and seemingly remote and untouched area) We were then left to wait on a small river side with no civilisation in sight for 30 minutes. Eventually a small boat arrived to take us to the hotel which was only 5 minutes away. The hotel is ONLY accessible via boat and there is NO other facilities accessible. For this reason, it is unacceptable that we were made to pay for all food and drink at the hotel as there are no other food or drink options available. Furthermore, their drink supply was extremely limited. No soft drink, no alcohol, only juice. Given this hotels extremely remote and isolated location, all meals and drinks should be included. We had arranged the night before with the manager for us to be dropped at El Nido town by 8:15am so that we could catch our Bus to Puerto Princesa at 9am. We communicated this very clearly and the manager seemed to understand and ensured we would be able to leave the hotel at 7:30am on the boat. This would have given us ample time to arrive early to the bus terminal. This did not happen. At 7:15 they begun to prepare the boat, this took 1 hour as the tide was low and they had to use a small boat to do multiple small trips to the larger boat with our bags and some workers. This delay is foreseeable, tides are forecast and known by all locals and people living in the area, so to use that as an excuse for being late is inexcusable. We were consistently asking to please hurry up and reminding them that we needed to catch a bus at 9am, and at no point did anyone provide us with a reason for being late other than the tides. If the tides were an issue, this could have been communicated to us much earlier so we could arrange another form of transport. They had offered to take us on a 5 minute boat ride then let us walk 15 mins to a nearby road where we could pay for a tricycle to take us to the bus station. However, the manager advised against this and insisted we take the boat directly to El Nido town. If we had declined this and endured the tyicycle ride again we may have been able to make our bus. We eventually left at 8:30am by convincing the boat driver to leave without the other passengers at the hotel (sorry) and arrived 30 minutes late for our bus which had already left. It appears the management is inexperienced and lacks skills required to have this hotel run smoothly. The hotel has the potential to be better but is overshadowed by the lack of resources, disorganisation, and lack of incompetence. This place claimed to have wifi, a hot tub, restaurant, bar, and a beach. This resort had NONE of these, the advertisements and claims are blatant lies.
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Date of stay: February 2018
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I have never written a negative review on TripAdvisor before. However fellow travellers need to be aware that this resort is very secluded indeed and thus you are completely at the mercy of their dreadful service. Food takes hours. It made one of our party ill. The manageress is constantly lying saying one thing then changing her mind whether it be about price or what is possible or what is not. In the end after agreeing an invoice with the manageress a totally different amount was charged to the card and we had to report this hotel to the police.
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Date of stay: December 2017
Rooms
Service
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The worst thing of el nido I don't know where to start. They are not ready to receive guests at all. There are no facilities you feel trapped in that island, you have no option rather than do the tours with them(which they only do the ones who are convinient for them. We wanted to do tour A and they say that it was not possible because other tourists in the "resort" had already done it so we were going to be able to do tour C so we were all in the same tour. After that night they told us that we wouldn't be able to do tour c neither. Only b because of the weather.) This place is nothing like a resort. They dont have beach, they dont have pool, they don't have decent food or drinks. There is nothing to do. Not even get a dive in the water because the water around the hotel is brown like a river! In their page they say that they have free transportation to the town by boat and there they told us that was only in the check in and check out otherwise we had to pay 1000 phillipine pesos. Food was terrible and expensive. And they took ages in preparing it. They didn't have a printed menu the first time we choose our food a lady gave us their phone to see the menu. The day after we decided to leave. And they wanted to charge us the night that we were not staying "because of their policy". They don't even have a reception, and you talk me about policy. I wouldn't recomend this place not even to my worst enemy.
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Date of stay: March 2018Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Went with my family on our last few days in El Nido.
Pros: 1. Clean (?) - physically clean; rooms and surroundings.
Cons: 1. Professionalism - Negative. We're scheduled to be picked up in town by 1630. We called and confirm to them 3X that day. They showed up around 1710 not in the place that we agreed upon but in the dive shop where we've been going. It was fortunate enough that I went back to the shop since I forgot something. Then we have to wait in the boat ~ 40 more minutes for the other guests. We're not aware of this @ first. I was tired that day diving and all I wanted was to take a shower and hit my bed. While we were already in the resort and one of us really got sick so bad the next day and we have to stay in the resort instead, all of the sudden there's no power. We have to look for the staff and asked what happened, and they just casually told us that they're giving their generator a break. They can't tell when the power will come back. I have to ask the staff to ask the manager and after ~15 minutes, the power went back. It would have been good if they gave us that info that every so and so, they power will be turned off.
2. Food - too expensive. Two in our party got sick, vomiting and diarrhea. I end up just eating toast and having coffee. It scared us to eat their food. I'm not sure if getting sick was because of lack of refrigeration.
3. Activity - there's nothing in this resort. The front is brackish water. The staff claimed that there's sea horses in front of the resort, I snorkeled for ~2 hours, I didn't find any sea horse. They said they have a small beach @ the back but I didn't explore it.
4. Accessibility - this place is so isolated which is a positive but if something happens, you're @ the mercy of their incapable staff.
5. Price - quite pricey. Some of us were scheduled to stay 3 nights, some 2 nights. But because of being sick and really wanted to leave, we all opted to leave after 2 nights. @ first, the management don't want to reimburse our money claiming that that is their policy. Seemed that they don't even care that their guests are sick. In the end after my sister really got mad @ them, they opted to reimburse our 3rd night of accommodation.
Lastly, to the owners of this resort. We know that you put a lot of money into this investment, but you put this into the hands of inexperienced staff who has no clue what their guests needs are. Your staff needs so much training about customer service.
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Date of stay: February 2018
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Completely fell in love with that hotel. Everything is made out of a beautiful wood. The owners habe put a lot of love into this hotel. It was so peaceful to be there walking around barefoot with a beautiful view from the open lounge to the ocean. The private tours we have booked were great. There’s a free pick up with the boat from Corong Corong beach (near el Nido) and the boatride is already like a little sightseeing tour of the bay. The owner Lito and his lovely wife Merly made us feel really welcome there. We were the only guests since a large group had to cancel their stay out of personal reasons, that made us feel like staying at a private resort. Our son had fun playing with the son of an employee. The only thing missing is a beach, but since you have plenty of those near by (by boat) we personally didn‘t miss anything at all. Will be back one day. Salamat :)
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Date of stay: April 2019Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We really had a great time in THIS resort... if you need a quiet place and your rest please visit them! The resort has their one menu, a laundry service (for a good prive) clean rooms and very friendly staff. The internet is unfortunately bad but if you fill your day with the amazing tours that the resort offers also you dont need that much internet. For better internet you need to go to the bridge of the resort 😊. Rosetta told us that Smart has a better connection and fixed that for us. She bought us internet everyday so we could get in touch with our family and friends at night and tell them that we are save and habijt a good time. THIS resort is maybe 35 minutes with tryclye from town and then 10/15 min with the boat. The staff picks you up from the village. MY advice, arrange a van when you arrive in El Nido through the resort.. its better than a trycycle and faster.
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Date of stay: August 2018Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nuestro traslado en barco (gratuito para todos nuestros huéspedes) es de aproximadamente 20 minutos de la ciudad principal de El Nido. Esto se puede arreglar con la frecuencia que desee
Nuestro Resort está situado en una isla aislada del centro de la ciudad de El Nido. Proporcionamos transporte gratuito en barco para nuestros huéspedes en cualquier momento que deseen.
Saludos cordiales,
Seahorse y manglar
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