Just got back from our first experience at Timberland Highlands Resort. This is the perfect venue for a family reunion. Most resorts that are local to the Metro Manila area (1.5 hours for everyone coming from QC and BGC) are not as nice as this. This truly feels like a 4 star resort feel with large open spaces for big groups to hang out. Usually places like this don't have good food or feel like you are "glamping."
Timberland Highlands offers a great package with buffet dinner and breakfast making it easier for a big group. They allowed us to make reservations in the Ridge Cafe to insure we were seated together and let us decorate the wall for our Christmas party. The food offered at the buffet for dinner were like any other hotel dinner buffet you may find at a 4-5 star hotel in Makati. We were impressed by the quality and presentation of the food.
Overall, the free wifi was dependable except in the bathrooms and stairwells.
There is a lot to do (basketball, verandas with great views, rock climbing, chess, pool, swimming pools for all ages, water slide, badminton).
Personally I would recommend staying in the deluxe rooms over the premier deluxe because of the room location to the activities.
The service was top notch. Everyone was very friendly and actually worked fast to whatever you requested, which is extremely rare here in the Philippines.
The only 3 negatives.
1. There's no cell phone reception at all about 5 min from the resort and throughout the resort, but there are signs pointing you to the right away since Waze will stop working. I wouldn't advise driving here at night.
2. The premier deluxe rooms is the newer building and is a hassle to go to. Definitely take the stairs if you can because there's only one elevator and for us, we had to take 2 elevators every time we had too many bags to carry down the steps just to get to/from our room. The layout of the building was like a maze. You have to go up and down flights of stairs to get to where you want to go.
3. The swimming pool was really dirty. My kids still enjoyed it, but my 4 year old son got a lot of bites on his back after just 30 min in the water.
Overall we would recommend this place. It's hard to find a place this nice close to the city.