Berjaya.2

Last week a short note was left on my email by a girlfriend (based overseas), saying she was in the country for  a short visit and would I please call her in the hotel. Which hotel?, she missed to specify. Four months ago, she was also here for a short visit. I called-up Berjaya Hotel where she stayed last time and bingo she was there!

Needless to say_ she had a satisfying stay the last time that she didn't think twice to book here again for another 5 day stay. In fairness, this Berjaya in Makati Ave. might come so quirky (cos of it's ridiculously slim structure) from the outside, but inside_ the rooms are actually a lot better than some old 5 star hotels'  rooms in the metro. In size and  in neatness.

I just thought the room was actually in many ways useless to my friend. Except for me_ chilling there, the room had only been used as 3 hours sleep bed per day and for freshening-up.




If not out for shopping and dining, my girlfriend was busy in the internet. The complimentary LAN connection inside the room was unused cos she forgot her laptop and iPad at home. Neither she missed to mention to me to bring along a laptop for her when I came out of my suburban cave to accompany her stay.




This business nook in the lobby of the hotel became her temp. office. haha.




For a price ofcourse.




When the weekend came, the lobby was always full of luggage with a lot of guests checking-in. Couldn't believe how popular this hotel to the whites.

New World, Makati

I had a glimpse of New World, Makati when husband had to meet his friend ( overseas based ) who was on a holiday here at Ph. and chose this hotel as his accommodation for the duration of his visit.



This was his twin bed room. And no, that's not him sleeping, haha. That was my husband who was napping and my daughter on the couch. It happened, when we arrived we saw the friend at the grand lobby with his relatives about to go out. He then threw his room card key to my hubby and told us to get comfy in his room while waiting for him.

Up on the 9th floor, the de luxe room  is flat and simple with no frills like other leisure hotels I've stayed in. Befitting perfectly  a guest who is on the run for business itinerary .

...or a transient who want to do some branded shopping before he rushes to his next desti. Greenbelt 3 is just few steps across the hotel.

Although the room seems  lacking in free space, it got complete facilities and amenities of a 5 star hotel which ofcourse  it is.

The bathroom is marbled and very masculine. .




It has an enclosed shower room. Can you spot its reflection on the mirror?









The toiletries  presentation is likewise business-like.




Snooping further, I found a hairdryer. Hmm, now this hotel's talking to me. That's a primer for me when I stay in a hotel, haha.




At this point, younger daughter got bored and asked the dad if she could use the pool. She was allowed as suggested by the friend/hotel guest.




The pool is at the 4th floor. It's gated and guests have to punch-in the room key card to enter the pool area.

The weather opposing my daughter, it rained even before she was able to take a dip, haha.




Oh well, that's New World for now. I'll update this if I would have stayed as a legit guest already.

Berjaya Manila Hotel

Needless to say_ summer 2011 in Ph. has ended. Last week, rains started to occur daily and seemingly here to stay for the next 9 months. Yet, my family is a little still in denial, cos this week as the last leg of vacation, we still have scheduled out of town trips and one of these is a beach trip. So brave to beach in a rainy first week of June!!

How about a staycation ( just so I could use the word myself , which is flooding over blogs now a days:))), here's one of my in-towns this summer.




Berjaya Manila Hotel is in the middle of the bustling Makati Avenue. Oh don't look out to search which building it is among those. I swear you can't find it, cos I was inside the hotel, on the 21st floor when I took this photo, haha.
You know how Makati Avenue is lined- up by quirky tall and slim hotels. Berjaya, Manila is one them, but I think it's one of the newer ones if not the newest by the time of my visit this summer.
I've seen better versions of this hotel in Singapore and Malaysia branches. I think this one here in Manila is the smallest one and modest indeed compared to its sisters.

A friend who is based abroad came home to visit Manila this summer and her first choice to stay at was Berjaya Manila Hotel. It was simply because once in her lifetime, she was an employee of this company which has series of hotels and resorts around the globe. Ofcourse, she did score a great deal of discounts and yes I was invited to stay with her.

Nothing to rave about the room of the hotel. Everything there_ was generic. I've seen the same bed, floor and the rest of it in other hotels around. But the freshness and neatness of a brand new hotel was very imminent and made me forgot it's not a mainstream hotel.

Internet connection was greatest. It's not the usual low signal wi-fied , but has LAN!

The indoor pool at the 5th floor was a simple dipping pool but because there was no single soul other than the three of us ( me and my 2 girls) using the facility. .




. . we got to enjoy the sunny-less pool freely. It was by the way in the midst of the hottest summer and the roof preventing us from burning our skin was totally great.




My daughters had a good time chilling at the small jacuzzi beside the pool.

There was no dining outlet at the poolside, but you could call their in-house restaurant located at the ground floor to bring you food at the pool area.




Going back to the room, we did take a glimpse of the lobby and realized why the bareness of crowd that day.




It was a Maunday Thursday. A biblical film clip was showing at the lobby but no audience was around. My country is prominently Catholic religious, during Holy Week, people here are either in the church or in this modern time, in the beaches which we got a lot to be proud of. Exactly, why I choose to staycation instead of taking a tedious out of town trip and squeezing in the uberly crowded beach scenes at that time of the year. The following day, it was Good Friday, we checked out and spent the whole day in the church observing the holy day.




Rainy season is up. Staycation in a hotel nearby is I guess a practical choice to unwind this season of rain and typhoon.

Princess of Coron Resort

Had the room at the first level of this casita vacant for even an over night stay, we might grabbed it just to experience the accommodation in Princess of Coron Resort. That particular room was spacious and nice and rate was reasonable.

But the resort was fully booked. They offered us a room in this building that would not be available for the next three days from the day we dropped by to the place and by then our Coron getaway had ended.

These were the two rooms they were offering us and not even available the day we went there. They were already waiting for the booked guests. However even thu' they were vacant, I didn't really like them. The rooms were consumed by the big beds and left no movement space.



Each room's pride is a modern bathroom. Nicer than the room itself.

Another claim to fame of the resort ( if you dig local showbiz personalities:), is they accommodated the stars of Dyesebel t.v. series when they were shooting in Coron. Local big stars like Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes. I asked which rooms they particularly stayed _separately, in those small rooms with big beds shown to us.

The resort has a mini zoo with these frightening eyed monkeys.



They also have a wading pool.



The Austrian owner (married to a Filipina) of the resort was not around but his beautiful dog was.





I recommend this resort for budgeted tourists cos they allow their big kitchen to be used by the guest without charges.

Busuanga Island Paradise & Coron Hilltop View Resort

BUSUANGA ISLAND PARADISE

If it wasn't our first bite of Coron, we would be glad to stay at Busuanga Island Paradise.

Beautiful casitas with quiet attitude

Nothing so grand about the room, but definitely the beds were sleep-irresistible.

With the rainforest, river (Dimanyan River), pool, jacuzzi_ all just few steps away from the casita, this resort is potentially perfect nature retreat. But hey it was our first time in Coron and we wanted to be where the actions were happening. You know the tour of the stunning islands and the quaint town of Coron which was the gateway to these internationally acclaimed destinations. Nevertheless, Busuanga Island Paradise was just about 15 mins away to the town of Coron. It was 30 minutes from Busuanga airport. The thing is if we stayed here, it was very tempting not to leave the resort itself . Maybe next time. Never on our first time.

CORON HILLTOP VIEW RESORT



Coron Hilltop View Resort is another place to stay on our maybe- next- time list.

White rounded villas on hilltop nests.

Pool to fool the kids when adults are busy to be parents

Cozy room




This hotel resort  looked isolated to us having that location of few minutes away from the town. Maybe next time.