Pontefino Hotel & Residences

Miss Trixy helped us from the planning through the event, and the staff seemed to know what we needed before we asked. That made our parents' 50th wedding anniversary at Pastorelli feel easy and special. The chef and kitchen team deserve credit too: the food was really good, especially the tiramisu, which we kept ordering. A lovely place for a milestone celebration, and we'd happily return.

The only part of our stay we liked was being allowed a late checkout. Everything else was a letdown, and we felt our money was wasted. We arrived at 3 PM, an hour after the stated 2 PM check-in, but weren't checked in until 3:40. Nobody showed us to the room, and we got lost. In the Executive Queen Suite, the AC was broken and we were sweating, there were mosquitoes, mold in the bathroom, and the kitchen area was dirty. We asked the front manager, Nina, to move us. She didn't apologize or take responsibility, and instead asked, "Is that what you want ma'am?" The replacement room wasn't much better. Its weak AC felt like a fan. The breakfast buffet was nearly empty when we ate around 8 AM, and no one refilled it, so we settled for the plated main course. I also found a hair in my beef tapa. Such a disappointing experience. We felt scammed, and learned our lesson.

The two vans and drivers who brought us from Manila to Batangas were the highlight of our Pontefino stay. Jesse & Andrew were neat, polite, and great to deal with, and their vans were comfortable and very clean. The hotel is the only decent one in Batangas, in my view, and the location is good. All our rooms had pool access and a separate living room. Cleanliness could be better, and getting to our room meant going under stairs, which wasn't ideal with heavy bags, but the staff were helpful. The pool by our rooms was clean and felt private, while the main pool across from the dining area gave us a nice view as we ate. Breakfast was meant to be a buffet, but there wasn't much food during our weekday visit when fewer people were around. It shouldn't have been that way, though the staff were polite and honest about it.

Room 307 was a letdown. It felt creepy and wasn't clean, with visible dirt in the corners and pillows that smelled like they hadn't been washed properly. I wouldn't travel a long way just to stay here. Parking for guests is inadequate because function room renters get priority, and a security guard told us to park outside, which was really inconvenient.