Hotele z: breakfast w Ilocos, Philippines

Hotel is decent and I love the vibe. It has a unique design that reminds me of Boracay. The view is wonderful, the pool is one of the best in La Union, and the rooms are beautiful—honestly close to a 5-star experience. The rooms also have a work desk and complete amenities. I especially loved the lotion. I also want to say that I don’t like leaving reviews just to talk badly about people. These are really just rooms for improvement for the staff and also a caution for people booking, because I value both. I actually love this hotel and we are definitely coming back. I also really appreciated the customer service in this hotel. The guards, bell boys, and front desk staff were all good, responsive, and helpful. If I remember names, I always include them in reviews because good service deserves to be recognized. However, the restaurant service could still improve. You often have to tell them what to do before they do it. Food was fine though—decent compared to some overpriced hotels in La Union. One thing I really didn’t appreciate was being charged ₱200 for a missing teaspoon. We checked our bags thoroughly and are 100% sure we didn’t take it. It felt extremely overpriced for a teaspoon, but we just wanted to leave already, so I agreed to the charge. I’d suggest taking a video of everything in the room upon check-in and another before check-out, just to make sure you won’t get charged for any “missing” items. A few other things I noticed: I really disliked the shampoo because it dried my hair out badly. The pool water tasted like saltwater mixed with chlorine and also dried out my skin. The towels smelled strongly of bleach, which I personally didn’t appreciate, since that feels like another toxic exposure. We also occasionally noticed a septic tank smell in the bathroom—not too bad, but still noticeable. Overall, the hotel itself is beautiful and has a great atmosphere, and we would still come back. I just hope these concerns can be improved.

The room is spacious with a sitting area, large closet, and refrigerator with freezer. They also provide some amenities like soap, shampoo, and toilet paper. Bath towels are also provided. The balcony and the bathroom are clean, however, there are some dust on the windowsills of the room's interior and on the corners. For a large room, they only provide a single non-absorbent floor mat. They might want to provide more, considering that it's a resort providing water activities. There's also a sign in the bathroom detailing instructions on how to use the water heater, but there is no water heater. The other room that we booked located on a different building has a heater, though. The room is located on the 2nd floor, the water pressure is good and the toilet has a bidet. Be careful on the bath, though, as it's slippery. They should also consider adding a non-slip mat on the bathtub as a safety precaution. There's TV inside the room but it doesn't have any channels. I think they forgot to add another remote needed for you to be able to access the channels. The TV on the other room that we booked is working fine, though. The river is nice and clean and the free time alotted for kayaking is more than enough to explore it. The beach has mixed fine and coarse sand with some corals and shells. The water is calm and it's only knee deep even during hightide in the afternoon, so it's safe for kids. Since the beach is shared with an abandoned resort, and numerous other resorts in the area, it would be good if the staff in charge of maintenance clean the resort's beachfront to minimize the amount of trash, as there are also some trash on the resort's huts located on the beachfront. The 2 pools are clear and clean, one is located in front of the river, while the infinity pool is facing the beach. The riverside pool closes at 7pm, while the infinity pool closes at 12mn. The garden is also nice, although there are some dried bushes here and there. Wifi is only available in public areas. The free breakfast is ok, with 2 pieces of dried fish, 1 hotdog, and 1 cup of rice, and unlimited serving of instant black coffee. The owner is friendly, and the front desk staff, bellboy, and security are also helpful and accommodating. The resort seems adequately staffed; although it is recommended to retrain the maintenance staff on the cleanliness of the rooms and grounds. There are also nearby restaurants, and the Mangunguna Restaurant across the street serves really good and affordable meals. The River Restaurant and Giant Taklobo Restaurant are also within walking distance.

My friend and I were super happy because the hotel room perfectly matched our expectations based on the pictures. At first, we were a bit doubtful, thinking it might not look the same or even be a scam, but it turns out it was legit! We had a sea view. Highly recommended!! 💗💗

Good -Park like setting, pet friendly, many nice pools to use. Couple villa has own little pool surrounded by plants for privacy. Air-conditioned room. Warm shower water, local drinking water provided. Eating area inside room, ref and sink. Gated entry with gate guard. Provided breakfast, portions are local but quite filling. Plenty of onsite parking (watch out for coconuts above car). Golf cart with driver available but the walk is really short and mostly flat. Toothbrush and amenities provided. Ants and bugs are typical so not an issue (bug spray recommended for foreigners). Employees welcoming and very responsive and well groomed. Room service (took for all meals). Bad -lack of food menu in room with room service offered, housekeeping called Butler but not. Provided cell phone with load, load expired initially. Updates every 6 hours to phone via text message. 80% of time housekeeping could not be reached. Menu once either found on web site or brought to door many things not available and size of portion not clear. Food cold sometimes upon delivery and or not taste very good, food service is slow. Bar soap provided is nice but small (cut down from a larger bar). A bit of a drive to anything else nearby and not much else found to do here. Ugly -Breakfast order lost on last day to check out, was placed 6PM in person at door night before. If had not called would not have been provided (since we had pet with us, opted for room service) Housekeeping light not working at front door to make up room. Ref compressor noise. Sometimes arcing / hum noise coming from electrical panel. Expectation of vacationer not in alignment with profit margin site manager is attempting to generate from each stay. You are left with a feeling of overpaying for a level of service that was lacking and this felt in relation to how the business just seems to be run. Arrival was overwhelming (good) but departure needs improvement.

The place is new and having 3rd party listing in trip. com can get better deal, as if you just walk in will charge you their regular price very pricey as they just next to the wharf marina going to hundred Island, the room is excellent clean and had a nice size bathroom with bedit, hot water and great water pressure, firm comfortable bid and big soft pillow and heavy blanket.  The staff is very helpful and polite accommodating, big size pool not heated but comfortable. I would stay this place again if ever we return to alaminos, its just sad that this war crisis is affecting the business and people livelilyhood.

Good -Met owners of BnB, Ice cream, bar and dining available on site (Italian / local food), good breakfast included. Air-conditioned room, phone and satellite tv (requires load by site). On site generator to support power blackouts. Nice garden like feel, gated and fenced. On site parking (minimal). Christmas lights set up for the season. New three-story expansion currently being built (but no impact to stay). Stocked in room mini bar. Shower water flow good. Nice on site pool (3-4 ft deep). Nice ocean views, Koi pond and sitting areas. Dogs and cats (3 ea) live on site. Bad -Food order ~3 hr in advance, prices are a bit higher than normal, breakfast night before. Some items on menu not available. Room is very small mostly bed and small area to walk around. Bathroom local size challenge for larger people (toilet to wall space). Plumbing not support flushing of TP, place in holding bin. Shower heater wall switch should be labeled. Switch is in same stack of switches as bath lights. Refrigerator and mini bar stocked. (bug spray recommended for foreigners as mosquitoes can get in the room). Located on main roadway. A short drive to other things in the area. No beach (small gravel area), surf can be strong at back of property. Kayaks appeared usable but life jackets were questionable (suggest replacing) unless experienced seemed more like yard art. Amenity kit provided (bar soap was crumbled and could not be used, shampoo was barely enough for one shower (suggest abandon and provide home made or none at all). Ugly -Local purified drinking water provided in plastic pitcher (not enough for two people per/day and no way to know where from), can ask for more but not convenient. Spouse incurred sickness from bad (other) water during stay.

On the positive side, Monliza Surf Resort is in a perfect location for those there to surf. My balcony directly overlooked Mona Liza break. The fresh water shower available as you leave the beach is a nice perk. The staff is also very approachable and helpful. On the negative side, the hotel is very outdated and in need of a facelift. There are broken tiles In the bedroom and bathroom, threadbare sheets/towels, and the Wi-Fi is very inconsistent. Having said that, the price is reasonable for the fantastic location!

Cleanliness: The cleanliness was really just so-so. There were a lot of mosquitoes around here, but thankfully not in the room. Outside, there were swarms of mosquitoes, which was super creepy. Facilities: The facilities are a bit old, but they have everything you need. Environment: It's a bit old, but the sunset by the hotel's beachfront is nice. Service: You can check in early if you arrive ahead of time. The service was alright.

The deluxe room was spacious for a family of 4, and take note of the washroom providing a “suite like” feel. Although the cabinets were obviously worn out, one of them had molds and can even smell once you open it. However, room had been kept clean throughout our stay in. There was a limitation on access to amenities. The beach was closed due to soil erosion, hence we only able to use the infinity pool. Prepare cash for the deposit of 2k per night. No lift (south wing, ocean wing) we had to ask assistance from the hotel concierges to bring the luggages all the way up to the3rd floor.

The hotel and room looks clean in a glance - until you spend hours in it. I found some cheese crumbs under our bed when we didn't eat inside our room. There are also flies and mosquitoes in the room. Other than that, the casa is clean in general. The location is excellent - walking distance to almost any points in the city center. Service is good. The staffs are friendly. Breakfast is superb. It would have been the best hotel if not for some of these lapses. TV reception isn't great. WiFi in the room is sometimes weak. The hinge of the cabinet in the room is loose already that it creates a creaking sound every time we open it. The bathroom floor in the PWD room is slippery. Although there were guest kits and towels provided, it would have been nice if there was a dedicated bathroom slippers. The ceiling has mildew and mark that paint is being removed. Other than that, the AC is nice, the bed and blanket are comfy. There are lots of electric sockets in the room. The room is on the first floor and pretty quiet at night. You can only hear the voices of people walking along the hallways which is pretty normal. Despite all these observations, I would still want to book here in the future. The experience is still good.