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46 - 51 of 169 reviews
Reviewed September 17, 2016

Well this was 'something else'. This reminds of an old Philippine Butlins, if there ever was such a place, without the amusements. Cordova Reef Resort is situated at the far side of the island from the airport. It cost us 400 pesos to get there, about $US10 and takes about 40 minutes.
The checkin was fine and the first thing you will notice is the friendliness of all of the staff. The next thing that becomes noticeable is the apologies for the wifi (although ours was not bad) and a 100 peso surcharge from taxi's because of the resorts remoteness.
The resort (a very loose term), is made up of a number (I believe 50) round detached rooms/chalets. These are quite big with good a/c, a comfortable bed, TV, kettle and a very strange bathroom/toilet setup! The wall separating the bedroom from the ensuite only goes to within a metre of the ceiling, we decided that when modesty might be required, the other might utilise the two chairs and table on the patio! The rooms were cleaned daily and the standard was good.
Breakfast was little repetitive and without any imagination. Our first doubts about the place crept in when we were told that we could have juice or tea/coffee else there would be an extra charge. These excessive charges seemed to raise theirselves now and again. A can of tonic water cost me $3 (but only once) and the beer was nearly $4 a can. This is way over the top, I at no stage paid these sort of prices even in surrounding restaurants.
The grounds are very nice and the pool was clean and very good. I have some photos that really do show off its attributes, as long as not too much else is in the shot. The beach is dirty and gave no enticement to enter the sea which is very shallow and full of seaweed.
The redeeming feature of the place is the staff, they are helpful and friendly. nothing was ever too much trouble, they were lovely.
As said earlier, the place is out on a limb. If you are adventurous, there is the town ship of Cordova only steps from the hotel. I warn you it is dirty, some of the dogs and cats need feeding and veterinary care and you will be stared at. We walked to town everyday, after a while we were accepted by the locals, we at no stage saw anyone else form the hotel. There are two 7/11's selling beer at just over a $1, a market for fresh fruit and other little businesses. I suggest you give it a try as it is safe and if you have been to places like India, you will have no trouble with the locals once you smile and beg them good day. It is a little daunting however when the guard on the gate asks for your room number every time you leave.
We also took a cyclo to the Lantau Floating Native Village Restaurant, another experience. It cost us 200 pesos each way and the guy waited for us to return.These people really earn their money. Its well worth a visit which I will review later.
If you are a person that likes to lay around the pool all day, you will like the place. If you want a little more and not willing to mix with the locals, find somewhere else as you will be bored. We could not have survived without our daily trip up the road, both to escape and get some reasonably priced goodies. We ate at the hotel twice, the price was just OK, but the selection was small.
To sum up. The place has seen better days, the staff are wonderful, the position is remote, the pool wonderful, the beach dirty and the bar and restaurant overpriced. If you are on honeymoon and only have eyes for each other, you probably won't notice its limitations. I gave it 3 because of the wonderful staff, but for the price and niggles it probably only deserved 2. I think for the price paid there has to be better though.

Room tip: All self-contained and peaceful.
Date of stay: September 2016
  • Trip type: Traveled as a couple
    • Sleep Quality
    • Rooms
    • Service
1  Thank Steve P
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.
Reviewed September 15, 2016

You can tell there were ambitions for this lovely, faded resort at one time, and it was quite nice. It still is, if you are not expecting the newest and the best. Yes, they have thread-worn bathrobes that are still serviceable.
The grounds are lovely, and there are individual villas for each guest. That is the most distinctive thing about this property. Some larger ones even have their own little enclosed patio for more privacy. The smaller ones are perfectly serviceable for a couple or a family of four. The villas are all circular, with a central wall dividing the buildings into two rooms. that means a very large bathroom area (both a shower stall and a tub with shower) and a large bedroom. The villas vary tremendously between each other in terms of appointments and updated quality. But they were spacious and comfortable. Ours was clean and everything was white -- white bed linens, white curtains, white bath linens. There was a TV and small refrigerator. We stayed in a garden villa, which did not have a view of the water. We were happy with that, because the grounds are pleasant. The open-sided main dining restaurant is a pleasant place to tarry; the food is OK, and tasty. We went out some nights and dined on property. Breakfast, if you get it included in your room rate, was eggs, toast, small fruit cup and coffee. The bar is also pleasant and you can get some food service there. They tend to play pop music really loud.
The beach is not great. None of the beaches are really that good in Mactan -- sand is really gravelly and not the kind of place you hang out, walk along the water's edge and swim. Add to this beach the fact that it's very shallow and the tide goes out about late-morning and you're left with looking at debris that has washed up or been left behind. It's not the kind of place where you have staff cleaning the beach all the time, and there are no waves for that cleansing action. On the other hand, the staff has kayaks for your free use and if you get a kayak out in the morning, just come back before late morning!
We stayed here in mid-July, which was the low season. My husband, who works in the hospitality industry and learned from staff about 60 percent occupied, though we didn't see a lot of people, and it was 60 percent of the available villas, since a number of villas were out of service, being fixed, getting new furniture, etc. There is wifi, though it is pretty slow, it's serviceable for some things. Don't try downloading anything if you don't want it taking all day.
A note about the location: It is all the way at the southeastern side of Mactan Island, and far from the action. If you are coming here to relax, do some snorkeling and island-hopping trips and see local life, it's the quiet side of town. If you want to have nightlife and easy access to shopping, this is not it. Head farther north for that.
A second note about the location: The surrounding area is very poor. If you are not comfortable with that, don't venture out except by cab. We walked to the local wet market (fish and meat stands and produce stands) from the hotel and people are friendly and will greet you if you walk by and your eyes meet. We took pedi-cabs to the larger mall on that side of the island and to the Lantaw Restaurant, which is well-known for good seafood and outdoor dining on the water. They are very cheap, but you feel every bump. When you ride on pedi-cabs, it is all open-air, so you need to keep your valuables close to you and inside.

Date of stay: July 2016
  • Trip type: Traveled with family
    • Location
    • Rooms
    • Service
3  Thank BetterthanBings
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.
Reviewed August 1, 2016

The weirdest place I've ever stayed, mostly due to the fact you hardly see anyone and you feel like you've been dropped off in the 1970s. Saying that, it's also very beautiful due to the tranquility. Basically, the owners want to sell it and so it hasn't been touched for years, which is a shame because it could be fantastic. Once you get over the initial shock, you actually warm to it, it's unusual and quirky, and I have to disagree with others who may have said it wasn't clean - our room (they're round rooms by the way!) was spotless, staff were lovely. For the money you pay its a cheap paradise, but it's certainly strange

Date of stay: April 2016
  • Trip type: Traveled with friends
    • Location
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
1  Thank Joanne-does-lunch
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.
Reviewed July 24, 2016

I’m not really sure what to say about this place but here goes;

First the location is amazing, the villas are set in a small wooded area and you have direct access to the ocean and a private beach. The pool is fantastic as are the bar and the restaurant. The Villas themselves you can see were once beautiful and the attitude of the staff is great. They arranged an island hopping trip for us and our boat came right into the beach to pick us up, they even sent someone from the hotel with us to look after us – all very helpful.

As I said the layout is amazing and if you are looking to just kick back and relax this is the place for you, if you are looking to do any form of partying this is not for you, it is tranquility personified.

Now then as the staff were great but we found during lunch times they were so slow, on one occasion we ordered two pizzas from the menu and from ordering to getting the bill was 1 hour 30 minutes, this is not acceptable seeing as we finished the pizzas in under 15 minutes. The one evening we ate at the restaurant they brought our starters and forgot the main courses!!! Keep in mind the occupancy was only around 20% when we were that and on both occasions we were the only ones in the restaurant.

Now the Villas, they were once obviously very nice but are now a little shabby, the bed didn’t have the correct supports so you fell into holes while sleeping, there were bath robes hanging up but they had gone from white to grey, no way was I going to put one of those on, I wouldn’t have washed my car with it. Also the towels were so used you could see through them and some even had holes in them. The place was however kept clean and the ground were spotless even after we got hit by a mini tornado they had the place clean again by the next morning.

So to summarize, the place is great but shabby, they need to take care of the details, the staff for the most were great if not, in some cases very slow. Would I go back, probably yes but for the gardens, maybe for the beach too if the bothered to clean it.

Date of stay: July 2016
  • Trip type: Traveled with friends
    • Location
    • Cleanliness
    • Service
Thank Lars H
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.
Reviewed July 23, 2016 via mobile

Hotel was not really clean.
Everything was very old. Seems like they didn't do much since they opened. Pool looked great- for the first, but water was really dirty. Food was okay, little expensive for that what you get.
Only one room key. And too many small insects inside the room.

Date of stay: July 2016
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
1  Thank Merlinzauberer
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.
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