Zen Garden Hotel

A quiet place with good service, and a good spot for a daytime seminar. The narrow streets make it a little hard to reach. Parking could be expanded, since there’s room for only around 10 cars. Still, a good place.

The staff were approachable and happy to help, and you can either use the fully equipped kitchen or get something from the mini-restobar. The rooms were clean, with a bidet and water heater. The gate is locked and there are CCTV cameras, with parking for about 10-15 cars, though there’s no security guard. Bring mosquito repellent, since there are mosquitoes. It’s far from residential houses, so you can stay up late and have fun. Nice experience overall.

For our group activity, this place worked well for a group of 20-50. You can get exclusive use once you reach a certain minimum. It’s in Silang, Cavite, near Tagaytay but not quite there, along a street with plenty of plant nurseries and affordable prices, which plantitos and plantitas should enjoy. The Japanese-inspired style includes pocket gardens, and the couples’ rooms have open, inviting spaces and a bathtub with a separate shower. Rooms range from ones for at least two people to large rooms that can fit groups or families of up to 20. I appreciated that the larger rooms had two toilets and two showers each. There’s a pool, videoke, and space for simple group activities. If you don’t want to cook, the restaurant is catered by Green Olive, with two staff members in the restaurant and main hall to help the group. The free-flowing brewed coffee was one of my favorite features. The shower drain in our room needs to be cleaned better.

The rooms and bathrooms are great. A bigger pool would be better, and stronger Wi-Fi would be appreciated. Also, the neighbor’s roosters started crowing at 4:30 a.m., so we couldn’t sleep well after that.