Big Paul Hostel - Cebu City

This was easily the worst hotel of our two-week trip around the Philippines. I’d read the reviews and paid more for a deluxe room on a high floor, hoping for a better stay, but it was still awful. There was no WiFi in the room, only in the lobby. The place was filthy, and our bed had old period blood on it. There was just one thin sheet over the mattress, so we had to sleep right beside the stain. At 2,100 pesos a night, it felt like a scam. Avoid it.

We booked because Typhoon Tino affected us. The room was decent, though nothing special, and it had only one chair. There was no table or kettle for heating water. We weren’t given slippers, and there were no rugs in either the room or bathroom, so the floor got wet and messy, especially in the bathroom. We had to buy our own slippers to keep things hygienic. The toilet was clogged, there was mold in the bathroom, and the bedsheets made my whole body itch. I’m not blaming the staff, since they clean the place but don’t decide what goes in the rooms.

Yes, it’s cheap, but even a one-star hotel shouldn’t be like this. The bed had stains and there was saliva on the pillow. Our balcony door wasn’t locked. We were too tired to complain because we didn’t think anything would be done and didn’t want more stress. We asked for pillowcases twice and for toilet rolls, but neither arrived. We also requested a bathmat, and the photos speak for themselves. When we asked for bath towels and hangers, they asked if they weren’t already in our room. The door lock made us uncomfortable because we didn’t feel secure without double locking it. We were told it couldn’t be opened from outside without a card. We’d upgraded from a Deluxe suite to a Family Suite, but they checked us in under the same booking and only opened up the extra bed.

The location was handy, close to the airport and not far from places to eat, but the stay was a mess. My dad booked four rooms for one night before our flight. In my first room there was no hot water, so I had a cold shower. After we told the front desk, they moved us. The new room had a dirty pillowcase, which we had to ask them to replace, and a cockroach on the ceiling. Someone came with a broom and small ladder, swatted at it, and it flew into a corner. He couldn’t find it, spotted a hole, and covered it with a plastic bag so it wouldn’t come back out. The door in that room was hard to open with the key, and twice we had to go downstairs for someone to let us in. My sons’ room had dirty linens, which we asked them to change, no hot water, and another cockroach that my oldest son killed. The hotel is old and needs updating, with rusty bathroom fixtures and stained chairs and sofa. What bothered us most was that the staff offered no compensation for all the trouble. After dropping us at the airport, my parents returned to speak with the manager because they didn’t want the experience to get even worse. They were told, “we just fumigated,” “no one foreigners have had this experience,” and “maybe this was sabotage by some disgruntled employees,” along with a promise this wouldn’t happen to other guests. Those were terrible responses. They could at least have refunded two of the four rooms. Things go wrong, but how staff handle them matters. We’ll never return to Mabolo, and I hope others skip it too.