Northwood Hotel

For visitors to the 100 islands, the Northwood Hotel offers quality service. We traveled halfway around the world for a holiday, and the team’s dedication, hard work, and attention to detail made a real difference. Pangasinan, Philippines has the “Jewel in the Crown” of the Philippines in the 100 islands. This Luxury Hotel delivers what I’d call “The Best Accommodation” available there.

We were impressed by how close everything was: the bus terminals were a 1-2 minute walk, the market and heart of Alaminos about five minutes on foot, and Lucap Wharf, the gateway to 100 islands, around 10-15 minutes away by tricycle. We only booked one night because of the bus terminals, and regretted not staying longer after having such a good time at Northwood Hotel. The staff were polite, upbeat, friendly, approachable, and informative. Our rooms were clean and much bigger than expected, with a balcony view of the pool in the morning. The pool was immaculate. We’d read negative reviews before booking, including one that seemed unfair because the hotel was blamed for something terrible another guest had done, but that didn’t match what we saw.

The rooms cost quite a bit, but our stay left us satisfied, and the staff were great at looking after us. Booking through booky or another booking app may get you a good discount. At the back of the main hotel are villas around the swimming pool. The view is of a peaceful rice field.

Cara at reception was lovely to my wife and me, and made me feel included by speaking to me in English. The breakfast was basic, but at least it was something to start the day with. The rooms, though, are why I’m giving three stars. Our first night was in the 1500php room: the bathroom was small, the AC noisy, and the mattress hard. We paid for the 1800php room for the next two nights, but it was even noisier. We could hear loud voices in the corridor just around the corner from reception for over 40 minutes, followed by another group’s excessively loud TV after their long, loud goodnights. The upgraded room also had a hard bed, and the light directly over the bed kept glowing and lighting up the room when we switched the lights off. They told us it was a “night light,” but a brightly lit room makes it hard to sleep. The AC noise didn’t help either. There seemed to be a serious ant problem, too. I saw ants in a frenzy dragging a dead bug away to eat after I got out of the shower. There was also a buildup of cobwebs in the bathroom door corner.