Hotel El Ranilo

We stayed for only a minute, and they hadn’t offered us a chance to inspect the rooms before paying. There were no outlets to charge anything, they’d told us there was Wi-Fi, and the CR smelled bad. We asked for a refund, but the counter staff said they didn’t accept refunds, even though there was no “No refund” sign. She offered another room, which we accepted, but the rooms her assistant showed us had no outlets either. Then she said they did accept refunds. She wanted to keep 1k, which we refused, and then offered to keep half and return 700+. Are you serious? What kind of hotel is this? Fix this immediately. Under the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394), misleading customers may count as misrepresentation or deceptive practice. That could apply if Wi-Fi was advertised but unavailable, the lack of outlets wasn’t disclosed, or a “No Refund” policy wasn’t clearly posted or explained before payment. A hotel can have a no-refund policy, but it should be disclosed in advance, not brought up later. Charging ₱1,000 or even half for a stay of just a few minutes may also be unfair or unconscionable under RA 7394, especially when the service wasn’t as advertised and we weren’t allowed to inspect the room first.

Tacloban had just been hit by a mild typhoon on December 24, 2019, so we were glad to find a room on Christmas Day. I’ve spent years in the US Marines sleeping on the ground, so the 3-inch mattress was okay. Still, I felt the staff were taking advantage of a white guest they thought was stupid, after what seemed like a room-switching scam. We’d been shown the prices and booked a family room for three on the 2nd floor. After dinner at Robinsons, my wife was given a room number on the 3rd floor. It was their worst, cheapest room, with a small bed and an extra mattress thrown on the floor. I went down the very steep stairs and said we weren’t staying there because it wasn’t a family room. They moved us to a room by the front desk, but that had only one bed and wasn’t a family room either. After I pointed that out, they gave us some change back. There was no power or lighting, and the generator ran on and off for three hours. Bring your own flashlight. The room had no windows, air, or lights. At least we had a fan while the generator was running. The staff weren’t kind once we realized what seemed like their little room-switching scam.

It was Christmas, and this was the only place available, but I don’t recommend it after how we were treated. They charged us for a family room but gave us a small single room, and the price went from 1000 pesos to 1,500. There were no opening windows or emergency lights, so you couldn’t see anything during the power outage. They had a generator, but only ran it occasionally.

El Ranilo's Microtel/Hotel El ranilo is in a clean, pleasant area, close to Robinsons mall and within walking distance of the New Bus Terminal in tacloban. Check Google Maps carefully when heading there. We followed a pin to the wrong place, far from the hotel and near an area where hardly anyone goes. If you’re staying here, it may be easier to ask the driver to drop you at robinsons north tacloban, then walk to the hotel.