88th Avenue

The staff may be friendly, but the hotel was dirty and badly maintained, and the price felt ridiculous. My balcony was far too small for two people to sit and relax. The WiFi was awful, a real nightmare if you work from home or need a stable connection. The walls were paper-thin, so you could hear people gossiping, arguing, laughing and talking loudly. It wasn’t peaceful. Room cleaning was a joke. They mopped without sweeping first, and wouldn’t clean unless you called and begged. For long-term guests, they provide almost nothing: maybe cheap plastic garbage items, or nothing unless you ask. There wasn’t even tissue. The elevators were hot and uncomfortable. Getting Netflix to work on the TV was a struggle with the remote. Their so-called bar package was one noodle, two tiny water bottles, a twin-pack of coffee and one small local chocolate bar for 650. That felt like daylight robbery, completely overpriced and embarrassing. They also called in the middle of the night, talking nonsense and disturbing my sleep. The place felt poorly managed and not worth it. I absolutely don’t recommend it.

The only good part was the excellent nearby tenant serving breakfast. This was the worst hotel experience I’ve had in nearly 50 years of travel. Four stars? No, at best it deserves two and a half. We expected to enjoy the jacuzzi, but the rooftop was completely dark and unusable. The indoor pool had cold, untreated fresh water and was too cold to enter. In the gym, two of the three treadmills were broken. Our room door wouldn’t close properly after check-in and stayed half-open. Then an alarm started ringing, as if we’d done something wrong. The shower only ran cold. My child put up with it, and the front desk said the hot water system has to be switched on before every use. If that’s required, why wasn’t it explained at check-in? Who wants to find that out after getting undressed? They required a deposit and charged my card twice. Luckily I caught it. At checkout, they claimed a towel was missing and asked me to pay, first quoting 800 pesos, then 900 pesos. I asked for an itemized list and a follow-up email, but still haven’t received a reply.

We’re still checked in because we desperately need somewhere to stay, but this has been disappointing. I feel the hotel is taking advantage of the situation. After Typhoon Tino, I contacted 88th Ave on Messenger because I’d stayed there after Typhoon Odette too. Their Facebook page advertised 40% off all room rates. A friend got that promo on a Studio around September this year and paid 2,500 a night. I booked the same room and was charged the full 4,000 a night. When I asked, they said the discount depended on room availability, which makes no sense if they’re advertising it. Booking.com showed 3,200 a night, so booking there would have saved me another 3,200. Under a state of calamity, every peso counts. I’m not trying to be cheap, just want a fair price. I hope management sees this. Please don’t advertise discounts if you aren’t willing to give them.

We thought the hotel seemed okay at first, but on the first night we found hair and stains under the bed sheets. We hadn’t used the bed. Reception replaced them, but asked four times whether we’d slept in it. Then they tried to charge us extra for changing the sheets. When I objected, the staff blamed me and said I should have asked at 2pm when we first entered the room. The outside of the bed had looked clean, so we hadn’t thought to check under the sheets. Some staff were rude while discussing it in Bisaya. They didn’t realize I speak Bisaya too, and quickly walked away when I started speaking, leaving the receptionist to handle it alone. I won’t return and will tell my friends and family not to stay here.