L.CONDOTEL(Imperial Plaza Residence)

It was easy to check in, and we were allowed to arrive early. The 1k pesos security deposit was returned after checkout since there was no damage. The booking.com pictures matched what we got, and we were very happy with the stay. The extra double bed fits two adults and a child. The room was clean and came with tea, free bottled water, a microwave, hair dryer, and fridge. It's only a five-minute walk to PITX, so we'd stay again if we needed a room nearby.

On our second visit, the room on the 16th floor was clean and much nicer. It had hot water, hotel slippers, water, Wi-Fi signs, a nightstand, outlets in the bedroom, clean AC units, shampoo, and body wash. My family liked it a thousand percent more than the room we had on the 17th floor. The two rooms were like night and day. I'm happy with the hotel overall, would come back, and the staff are nice and friendly. That first room was a bad experience for my family. We stayed on the 17th floor, though I don't remember the exact room number. The room had bare white walls with no decorations and smelled musty, like it hadn't been used for a long time. The window needed to be opened to air it out. There was no hot water, no nightstand, and only one outlet. The kettle couldn't be plugged in, the AC looked dirty and moldy, and there was no shampoo or body wash, just one tiny round hand soap. The location is great, about 15 minutes from Manilla airport, and the hotel felt safe. At 0100 there were plenty of staff, though check-in was a bit confusing. We had to pass through a metal detector to use the elevator.

The main problem for me was the poor communication and the attitude of some staff, not the wifi outage. I understand the internet was down and being repaired. Guests should feel safe, respected, and properly helped, and I hope this is taken seriously. We checked into the 16th floor. Although we arrived around 2:30 PM for a 2:00 PM check-in, there were three people at reception, one man and two women, and we waited nearly 30 minutes for our room. Nobody apologized or gave us an update. When we finally got in, the floor was still wet and hadn't been properly checked, which felt unsafe. On the 16th floor, the female staff member assigned there was explaining things to my foreign partner. She seemed irritated and raised her voice instead of handling it calmly, which made us uncomfortable. On our second day, the card key suddenly stopped working. We hadn't been told it needed updating, so we couldn't get into our room. That made us feel very unsafe, especially since the male staff member on the 16th floor also had a key to the room. We were worried about our belongings and our safety.

I only viewed the room and didn't stay because I needed late checkout. They charge 500 pesos an hour, which was shocking. A 5pm checkout would have cost as much as a whole extra night. Condos like this usually charge 200 an hour for late checkout. The room itself had a great spring mattress that felt expensive, a work and eating table, an opening balcony, and a mini kitchen. The belboy at 11pm was fantastic, enthusiastic when answering questions and respectful.