When the sun goes up. .

Sad.. summer is over. The recent typhoon Butchoy ( heard still around in the country today and tomorrow a new one is said to come :( ) says a lot about the onset of the season I hated most_ the wet ( reads as typhoon ) season.



The whole summer, we never missed our mornin' jog everyday, until the second week of June which cut my denial that sunny days were truly over. Can't do anymore roofless fitness. Means to settle down with  indoor activities such as cook + eat + eat = weight gain :( yaeeks.. hate it x100!!

You say, I can always go to the gym. Been there.done that. Failed cos when the rain fell, my feet were too cold to go to the gym to sweat.



One fateful day of the concluded summer2012, during our stay at Acasia Hotel Manila , husband and I woke-up the following morning early to workout in the hotel's gym.( this was at the height of our self-inflicted/personal fitness program that we didn't let any disruption got into our daily fitness routine), only to find out that the hotel's gym wasn't ready yet for the guest. Good thing the interested guests were sent free to Golds Gym (in Alabang) instead. So we hopped in the hotel car and were brought to the Golds Gym. The car left us and reminded us to just call the hotel to fetch us back. The gym's guard met us at the gate to announce that the gym was close that day ( I forgot what day it was..) cos it was some cleaning/maintenance day. wtf!
We didn't call the hotel for the car back, we decided to just jog around the area. But ofcourse I did confront the concierge when I got back, haha.

Anyway, what I'm trying to arrive at is how we discovered our latest jogging hub that summer. It was at the vicinity of Filinvest, Alabang. We saw that many people were already frequenting the area. But we don't always love crowds, so we walked furthermore. .



passing by some high-end residences and The Palms Country Club, at this point we're now free of the jogging crowds that seemed to mushroom at the previous part of the area.

Since then, we frequented the area the whole sunny mornings of this year's summer. It was a haven. We love that it was secluded, the air seemed fresh. .









with a beautiful landscape ever. .

beautiful not only to the eyes but for the legs too. There were hill-y parts that were quite challenging and therefore more benefiting to our fitness goal.

. . greens everywhere. How could you not start the day right with that freshness? In a city? It's a rarity.



We really miss our mornings there. Well, it's out of our control now. The weather has the say for the mean time. We'll be back when the sun goes up again, I guess.
This reminds me years back when the MOA (SM) was yet on the construction phase. It was still crowdless and we used to jog there then too. One day when we went back, the buildings were all up already and the crowds were hopelessly massive, that's the end of our mornings there.
I know the same thing is coming to this latest fave of ours, hope not that too soon thu'.
We want more morning runs there :D

The Bellevue Hotel Manila

I wasn't so happy about my check-in experience with Acasia Hotel Manila so I was so keen not to go through the same with Bellevue Hotel Manila (both hotels located in Alabang). I called an hour (2pm) ahead of the regular check-in time which is at 3pm (most hotels are at 2pm even) to confirm the reservation I made months ago. I was replied positively and was informed that a room was already waiting for me. Reiterating that my early check-in request was granted.

Past 10 minutes of 3pm (I intentionally came a tad late to avoid another waiting scene), I was at the front desk of the hotel to check-in, only to spend almost an hour waiting in the lobby for a room. wtf! The staff told me that the room wasn't ready and had to be prepared yet.

Check-outs are at 12nn, check-ins at 3pm. 

Need I elaborate more?

Frowns. more frowns at the lobby :(

After 48 years, at around 4pm, the staff approached me apologetically and handed me the key card to my room. wtf! See how I aged waiting? Like another ten years were added on my face.
I hate inconsistencies. I hate waiting. I hate unhappy beginnings.

dear front office/reception.
the check-in experience sets the meter of your accommodation  it also initiates the mood of the guest for the duration of his stay. it's very important to do it fairly and prompt as it builds the first impression which usually lasts and would surely travel the net, especially when your guest blogs.
yours truly,
unknown diva

 

Anyway, up in 12th floor, this was my deluxe room. Biased to my initial experience of the hotel, I didn't like the room. It looked tired. Furniture and appliances were outdated. Particularly the television. And the smell. . so old and unpleasant. I suddenly missed the state of the art room of Acasia Hotel.

Those were the beds. To be fair, I have to mention thu', that this was at the main (old) wing of the hotel. Apparently, the hotel has a new tower wing which I really thought was what Bellevue  all about.

Had I known it, I would have had stayed at the new wing. Although accessible to each other, the two wings have separate everything. Like, restaurants, check-in lobbies, gyms, pools,etc. Given that the new tower wing has newer facilities, expect that it has a higher room rates. Before this, the only glimpse I had of this hotel was when we had drinks at the Vue Bar (see here) which was located at the tower wing. I didn't know that there were old and new towers.

I had to ask for extra key card cos they only gave me one. hello, you meant my companion had to endure powerless room every time I (vice versa) went out of the room? Cos I needed to bring the key card with me to use the key card secured elevators of the hotel. wt#?

The short foyer of the room. Adjacent to each other were the bathroom to the right and a kitchenette bar to the left. After the entrance door was the closet.

In fairness, it had everything_ safety deposit box, iron & board, hair dryer, flashlight, robes, slippers. .

The bathroom was nice with generous supplies but the towels were tired (they look otherwise in these photos) and didn't smell fresh at all. I think the hotel has to update their laundry service. I mean the linens (towels, bed's) didn't exactly smell 5 star.

I appreciated that there was a kitchen bar. It had a fully stocked ref which as usual we refrain to consume anything from there, haha. The littering was on us. When we stay in a hotel, more often than not, we would buy foods outside. Especially, when it's 5 star with expensive dining outlets which we could hardly afford. 

The usual complimentary coffee and tea facility.

It helped that Shopwise was just across the road. I love to munch fruits and bought some..

. . plus the hotel sent a complimentary small fruit plate, thank you.

Well, in the end_ it was actually a nice stay. We had fun at the gym and the pool was okey. The free room wifi was generous too as it could serve up to two devices. The check-out was smooth and easy.

The breakfast buffet was great. See now at My 3rd & 7th Sense.

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:)