We stayed for 5 nights to use the time before Christmas to get away from our daily routines
As we are and were prepared to pay the mark up for a real 5 star resort, $258 per night incl. breakfast our expectations might have been a little bit on the high end side naturally as this rate in the Philippines in Negros not Manila/Luzon is certainly on the top
The property in general is nicely maintained, the villas (we had the highest category) are large with 70sqm, the pictures on the net were actually a bit different (most are versus reality), the room has 16 light switches and there is no centralized switch next to your bed to turn on or off all those lights, that’s quite a task and not very pleasant, I guess the one who designed this has definitely never slept in one of his creations...
The bathroom is missing scales
The main restaurant is a complete open terrace style design, yes it has a roof but no wind or rain protection from both sides, we had rain and heavy wind on a daily basis, certainly if it’s beautiful no trouble at all, however once the rain comes down and as it is right next to the sea there is no way you can sit in the first 3 to 4 rows, someone should think about this when designing this kind of restaurants, would be easy to have folding screen doors than all is good
Also there is a messy administration table in the place where the cash register (old style PC no touch screen) and printer is build up, lots of other stuff hanging around, a messy meeting point for the waitstaff and as I am a perfectionist and hotelier it turns my tummy upside down, a nice service terminal which on the wall contains the IT etc - no chairs around! Would do the trick and the messy place is gone, during all those days we never saw any of the big guys (GM Food & Beverage Manager etc), the staff is nice and friendly however they lack supervision and professional guidance....
The food is nice and tasty, the presentation however is not favorable as they serve the super mini portions in super mini plates where one has trouble to eat with fork and knife, very unfortunate and not necessary, not complaining about the prices, they are of course accordingly their room rates which is to expect, but please make me comfortable eating it!
Enjoyed the bread at breakfast, looks like it’s baked on site, the selection of cheeses and cold cuts are on the poor side, no Camembert or soft French cheeses available, the kind of Gouda is acceptable but not really what I would like to see, there should be a big wooden board with big pieces of real Gouda and Emmentaler Gruyer etc, same on the cold cut side, dry salami ham etc is just part of the selection I would expect, there is no yoghurt selection, the “muesli” corner is what u find in a typical bed and breakfast in the Philippines,
There is no bread toaster available, aside from very small mini chocolate croissant, regular croissants and an assortment of Danish are lacking
The selection of warm dishes at the breakfast buffet are more on the poor side,
Would highly recommend that the F&B manager starts to do his work....
Atmosphere is a kind of search for the top range level, the practicality in performance and realization is however lacking behind, if you come to a high end place and you are willing to pay for it than the complete package must go along with it, this can only be achieved by strong presence of the once who have to live this along with the guests on a daily basis, only than the wheel becomes round and quality satisfaction feeling in the smallest details comes to light,
Will we come back? Maybe to check out if any of the proposals have fallen on a fruitful ground
