Poolsides of Acasia & Bellevue

Almost at the last lap of summer holiday here at P.I., in spite of occurrence of  daily short drizzles, it's still majorly crazy hot around here. My girls ( about to go back to school in a week from now ) haven't noticed it yet, ( thankyou:) but this is one summer that we haven't gone to the beach. The no-beach-summer is actually intentional. Adding to the fact that everything's quite costly cos it's peak season, I also have to conquer the following : crowded beaches, fully booked hotels & resorts and massive traffics or worst_ local budget airlines issues. .all those just to spend a day to three in a beach. wtf!

So I went for the best next thing (for me) _ nearby hotels with pool that we could chill-in just the same, sans the tedious flight/drive, suffocating crowds and quite lighter in the wallet too.

If you're a condo resident, for sure you can't appreciate another pool in another building. Go, conquer the beach!.. but if you're like me who is landed in a village w/o swimming pool, this would be just right during the hottest season of the year.
Actually, I had it covered months ago, back to the travel expo I visited in Feb. this year. I was able to book early and paid like 50%++ off the published rate. That's one of the perks of planning ahead :D
I was glad that we didn't have to go far. Practically within the neighborhood, in Alabang there were two 5stars hotels that I had my eyes on :



1). Acasia Hotel Manila. The newest hotel in this side of Manila, was so nice that facilities still smelled brand new.

Nestling on the third floor of the hotel, the pool was far from grand, if anything_ actually was small. Nevertheless, I liked it that everything was spic & span. New = uncrowded. It was like we rented the place privately. loveth! Service was also efficient and warm. Complimentary drinks were served bottomless. So generous! I also loved the quality brand new bath towels. We really had fun.

* see the rest of the hotel  here and here and a bit of it also here *



2). The Bellevue Manila. Relatively old, I don't know how old. Maybe a hundred years old, if I have to base it to the smell of their bath towels, haha. Seriously, not that long. The hotel has actually a new tower wing but we stayed at the main wing only because I didn't get it that it has new building as option to stay. Thu' given that the new tower wing rooms are few peso more costly, had I known it, I would still opt to stay in a newer room.

Also on the 3rd floor of the hotel (why always on the 3rd?), the pool of the main wing of Bellevue was a bit bigger compared to Acasia's pool. It was also busy and more crowded than the latter. We wanted to swim the first day but the pool was crowded. There were also lots of guests dining/drinking in the area. The following morning was not that crowded. .



. . yet my girls thought the water was too cold, might be cos the prev night rain so they decided not to take a dip. They just camwhore the whole time in the lounging chairs around the pool.



That left just me and husband in the water. But not for long. In a short while guests flooded in the pool which we were not happy about and cut our swim.
* see the rest of Bellevue Hotel here*

Acasia Hotel : Room

After  those chairs, I was up in the 4rth floor of Acasia Hotel Manila for that overnight stay  in a deluxe room.

Although far from a suite room, I was happy that it has a small veranda facing down the Samanea (just one floor below) which I think is an alternative outdoor events place of the hotel. It's also just a floor jump to the pool area in the 3rd floor.

What's with the robe? ahh, immediately upon entering the room, I had to run a bath as I came from a distant trip.




Was happy to find the robe waiting in the closet,

along with other amenities like an ironing board and iron ofcourse, a flashlight and a safety deposit box. There was also a miniest sewing kit and laundry bag. This early, I have to mention here that prior to check-out the following day, I asked the housekeeping for an extra laundry bag for our wet (from the swim) clothes and was quite happy when they added a number of small plastic bags to hold our individual swimsuit. Very nice!

The bathroom was nice, new, spick and span and yes very 5 star-ry. Check the efficient  hair dryer and the tray of toiletries,

 Another touch of innovation is the inclusion of the bathroom scale. yeheey! Sorry to say but that 65.8 kg. wasn't mine. I'm proud to announce that I'm slowly getting to my ideal weight_ at that point (last weekend) I weighed 53kg. yeheey again!!!! Around 116 pounds I think. I'm hitting for less 4-5 pounds more then I'll be okey even perfect, haha! Please bear with my weight blahs. Me and husband are working-out quite real these days. Everyday, we're already up in the road of our village at 4am. Running for a good sweat of one hour.   




Both of us coming from a heavy scaled numbers, so far right now we're happy to see results of our hard work. I only wish we could sustain the energy. Wistful thinking ;))




anyway, another set inside the shower area.

enclosed shower facilities,

very nice shower head.

The bathtub which size to me is just ideal. Other hotel tubs are quite gigantic which I thought is over the top unless there would be 3 of you who would bathe together. Towels were quality and quantity.

Stepping out of the bath, you would find the rest of the room with a big LED tv. Back-up by almost all our country's cabled servers/ channels combined.

Along side is the study. .




with usb's, hdmi, etc's ports.

The wifi was free and allowed up to 3 devices max. At one point we couldn't connect our 2nd laptop and immediately was provided with a LAN cable. That's awesomeness!!

This was the welcome/complimentary fruit plate in the room. That night, before we retired, another plate of sliced fruits was served in the room.








fully stocked mini bar, each content priced x2 or higher (compare to grocery tags) as usual:)

Complimentary tea/coffee facility with 2 bottled water.

The beds and pillows were comfy as they looked.

I'll end this superlative-ly long post of a small room in Acasia Hotel with the photo above.

ps;

yes,exactly:)

Those Chairs @ Acasia Hotel

I frequent Filinvest (Alabang) cos I usually do weekly grocery in that area. For a certain period of passing in and out of the area, there was one establishment there that had never failed to catch my inquisitive eyes, the Acasia Hotel Manila. I would always roll down the car window and extend my neck outside  to have a good view of the attractive facade, stretching my glimpse right through the visible glass walled lobby.

The hotel is somewhat elevated from the road and really it's eye candy. Not so grand but very catchy. From the road, the low legged, full back, vibrant patterned upholstered chairs in the lobby_ looked so inviting.

So much so that I found my way to sit on one of them last weekend when finally I was able to use my almost over-due booking of a night stay in this 5 star hotel.

The chairs that got me there, are actually serving "The Lobby at Acacia", one of the restaurants in the hotel. But the initial smile on my face would turn to. . .

. . an impatient frown. Beforehand I actually requested for early check-in (just an hour earlier) cos we were caught on transit from a previous trip.

daughter fell asleep for the waits. When I approached the front desk to check-in, the staff told me that there was no room available yet. It was like past 1pm, ( I requested for 12nn to 1pm check-in at the reservations weeks ago) and I was told to just come back at 2pm which is ofcourse the regular check-in time.

other daughter diverted her disappointment to her book. The denied request had easily killed my enthusiasm about this beautifully chaired hotel.




A friend had stayed here last month and was in awe of the awesome grand lobby. I was consumed by initial disappointments and had no appetite to confirm her praises. I could easily be bought if the staff had initiate a little consolation like a complimentary/welcome drink or atleast offered me a place to wait. But no, nothing. Where's the 5star-ness there? I actually just sit on this chair (without being offered )  to wait which by this kind of situation appealed no more to me, the way they did when I used to pass by the road infont of this hotel.
I used to be a frontliner. 5 star hotels were my first job sites after college graduation. Aside from the pampering I had experienced with countless international hotels I had stayed during my trips. Those made me quite expecting as far as service is concern.  " First impression lasts". But I chose to move-on and so after an hour of waiting, I checked-in and left the disappointing reception in the lobby.
That says too why no awesome photos of the lobby.
Will share the room. Next.