King Solomon Dive Resort

There’s a pool and plenty of room, both in the bedrooms and the reception area, and the staff were accommodating. You can rent the whole resort for exclusive use. Just check on parking before you go: the slope is steep and there’s space for only a few cars, so you may end up parking outside or feel uncomfortable parking in the lot if it’s full.

This place is a good spot to relax and disconnect for a while, and I’d rate it 10/5. I stayed one night, and the room was clean, breakfast was included, and the staff were friendly and great. It’s affordable and has the basics, so the price reflects what you get. Don’t expect the kind of extra service a five-star hotel provides unless you’re ready to pay much more. Also, it isn’t a hotel with special diet options, so bring your own food if you have dietary needs.

We left after two nights for a much more expensive dive resort. I hope sharing what happened can save someone else time and money. King Solomon has a resort setting and attractive architecture, but I didn’t find much beyond that. Looking through older reviews, I saw similar complaints going back to 2012. The airport pickup cost us PHP 6,000 one way. We were told that was the round-trip transfer price and that we could find another service, but we accepted because it was short notice. A friendly couple drove us from Manila. They weren’t hotel staff and hadn’t been to Mabini before; they said they were planning a holiday there later, so it seemed the drive was also a trial run and a chance for them to see the hotel. Later, when we asked ASDC (Anilao Scuba Dive Center) to arrange a ride from Mabini to the airport, we learned the one-way fare was PHP 3,500. I don’t know how much the couple were paid, but we felt cheated by what looked like greed on the hotel’s part. Food was another problem. On our first night, we were told there was no seafood, and we don’t eat red meat. We could order buttered vegetables, five eggs, boiled eggplant, and rice. The vegetables came on a coaster-sized plate with frozen vegetables and corn, and dinner cost PHP 660. After complaining at reception, the next night we waited an hour and got tuna steak, a larger serving of buttered vegetables, and salad that looked like it had been bought elsewhere. That meal was about PHP 1,000. It was hard to understand the food prices because they didn’t seem to follow the menu. There was no juice, only Cola, water, and beer. The water pressure failed the first night. It was cold, barely more than a drip, and not warm at all. We called Lavinia, who said staff would fix it within 30 minutes. When we asked to move rooms, she said there were only six rooms and none available for us. We managed to get enough water to shower after someone cleaned the showerhead with a needle. There was a blackout the second night, which I understand isn’t unusual in the Philippines. A staff member knocked about 10 minutes later with a candle and said the power would be fixed in 20 to 30 minutes. It came back after around 15 minutes. Karaoke nearby continued late into the night. The staff were friendly, and Lavinia was the only one who seemed fully comfortable talking with us. She helped arrange a dive with ASDC, and the diving there was very good. But when we asked Agoda for a partial refund, the hotel’s response was disappointing. They said the outage lasted only two to three minutes, that we didn’t know how to operate the water, that we hadn’t reported the noise so they could move us, and that a hotel menu was available. We had asked to change rooms, and the blackout lasted longer than they claimed. It wasn’t our job as guests to check whether the facilities worked; that’s what hotel staff are there for. How could we order from a menu when so many items weren’t available? We also couldn’t know whether a dish would arrive in a proper portion or on a coaster-sized plate. At checkout, Lavinia didn’t come to discuss payment and asked another staff member to handle it.

We paid PHP 12,000 ($210) for two shore dives, each 30 minutes, with two dive leaders. They were inattentive and unprofessional. They stood on coral and repeatedly kicked staghorn coral with their fins. It was heartbreaking to come to famous Anilao expecting a great dive and see people damaging the nature they depend on. Please check whether your dive leader has a valid, active Divemaster certification.