Makati Palace Hotel

The pool has a nice view, but that area feels dated, much like the rooms. I’d expected much better for the price. The elevators were painfully slow, each ride felt endless, and I kept worrying they might stop midway. The room was cramped, the carpet smelled strongly, and everything felt worn and neglected compared with the modern lobby. The worst part was the service from receptionist Ashley. On several occasions, Ashley spoke rudely and dismissively, seemed uninterested in helping, and acted as if simple questions were a bother. When we urgently needed documents, Ashley made us wait an unreasonable amount of time and walked past us repeatedly without acknowledging us, even after we explained we were short on time. Ashley only handed them over after we asked again, and didn’t even offer a basic apology. This wasn’t a one-off. I saw Ashley treat other guests that way too, including older customers, which felt very unprofessional and disrespectful. The slow elevators, dated rooms, and especially the poor treatment from Ashley made the stay incredibly frustrating. I strongly recommend choosing somewhere else where guests are treated with respect.

There’s plenty to do nearby, and the location is great. The hotel has beautiful rooms, a lovely pool and gym, plus a restaurant and lounge. The food was superb, and guest services were so good we didn’t want to leave. Fantastic hotel.

They woke me twice for no good reason, calling at 9:20 AM and again at 11 AM to confirm checkout was at 12, even though I’d turned on the “do not disturb” button. I’d already been woken several times during the night by someone smoking in their room. At 6 o’clock in the morning I had to change rooms because staff couldn’t get that person to stop. After all that, instead of letting me sleep, they kept calling to remind me checkout was at noon, which I already understood. The calls woke me up, and it took two hours to fall asleep again each time. Then they wanted to charge me extra for a late checkout, even though their calls had delayed me. I’ve never had a hotel do this to me in my life. Finally, while I was checking out, the manager decided to do some actual work and follow through.

The room situation was a mess from the start. After booking through Agoda, the hotel said they were upgrading us to a 3-BR Sky Room Suite, and our kids were excited. But when we arrived on Dec 31, the parking guard waved us away and said it was full, ignoring our booking. The front desk explained that parking was first come, first served, though nobody had told us that when we booked. Some guests had multiple cars, so we paid ₱500 at a lot a block away. The listing did mention wifi and parking. Check-in itself was smooth, but that “upgraded” suite was awful. It was dark, the aircons were off, and it smelled like smoke. There was tape on the aircon, the ceiling fan was dirty, footprints marked the room, the sofa foam looked old enough to have bed bugs, and the kitchen was dirty. It felt like a downgrade. We asked for the room we had originally booked, only to learn it was already full and no other room was available. The only option was a Casita Room with one king-sized bed for our family of five, so we had to accept it. They added an extra bed for our daughter. Service was terrible apart from the intern bell boys. We had to follow up three times about the extra bed. They acknowledged our request for ice after 30 minutes, but when we checked again, they said they had none because there was no restaurant. The next day, when I asked for sugar, they said they had to check whether any was left. The hallway was dirty too, and we had to ask for it to be cleaned. There was no coordination or communication, and the place seemed badly managed. Nothing was good here.