Sobel Hotel

We waited nearly an hour with my family before getting a room, and the service was really bad. The floor wasn’t properly cleaned or maintained. The first bed felt greasy, and when I pulled back the sheets, I found a blackish thing with liquid on it. Just yuck. I complained, and staff said they’d give us another room. The bed and other things in the replacement Standard room were clean, but then I went into the bathroom and saw about five cockroaches. Yucky, super bad service. DO NOT, I mean DO NOT go here.

We chose this Airbnb because it was near Manila Central University and seemed somewhat acceptable, and I had board exams for MT coming up. There were no other rooms available at the hotel, so the poor soundproofing and dirty basics made the whole experience unacceptable. We couldn’t sleep with the road noise from the room beside the road. I won’t stay here again. We’d specifically booked a room with two beds for a two-day stay, but got one bed. It felt misleading, especially for what we paid. The reception people were nice, though a bit impatient. The room itself was a letdown: the walls had suspicious dirt or stains, the sheets were stained and damaged, and the towels and pillows were dirty. The slippers were paper-thin and broke quickly. The toothbrushes and toothpaste were super cheap and looked unsafe to use. The room smelled weird. The A/C worked fine, and the TV worked, but the TV Box didn’t. The shower had so little water pressure that I had to use a cup to bathe. There was no Wi-Fi, and there was no canteen or kitchen for room service. The stay was expensive for such low quality. Pros: close to malls, MCU, buses, and various hawkers. Cons: cheap toiletries and slippers, dirty towels, sheets, pillows, and facilities, weird odor, poor water pressure, and the worst soundproofing, if any.

It’s a budget hotel with a good location and friendly service, and you get what you pay for. The room was spacious for what we’d reserved, it was easy to find, and it’s within walking distance of SM, Hypermart, and public transport. It was relatively cheap, parking was free, and breakfast opened super early. The staff were great. A few small annoyances: the room and towels weren’t very clean when we arrived, breakfast was lackluster but still good, the intercom didn’t work, and there was only one elevator. The bathroom was kind of small, there was no toilet paper, and there wasn’t a view. That last one could be a plus or a minus depending on what you like.

The family room was tiny and dirty. Pillowcases hadn’t been changed, there was lots of hair on the bed, the sink basin was almost coming off the wall, and the washroom was dirty all over. The room attendant was cleaning without supplies. When I asked for the washroom to be cleaned again, the attendant came back with only toilet paper. The hotel also held my refund for about 20 days, even though they said it would take three business days. They didn’t process it until I returned in person to follow up. Before that, I’d tried calling, but I’m sure they blocked my number because I couldn’t get through. I asked my niece to call, and she was able to. The worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in.