“Disappointed, overall poor maintenance, inconvenient location, and an unpleasant final experience make it hard to recomm”
The property has a few nice features, especially the pool, which was a pleasant place to unwind, but that’s about it. Anna, the hostess, was incredibly helpful—she arranged a shuttle van from the airport, a tuk‑tuk to the port, organized a scooter rental from the villa, and even helped with translations when needed. Her effort really stood out and made parts of our stay easier. However, our overall experience was disappointing because the shower only had cold water and the pressure was bad. There were a couple of salamanders in the bedroom, which made us uncomfortable. In the evenings, the housekeeping staff (Onyok & partner) would light a fire and burn materials nearby, and the smoke would drift into our room through the en‑suite bathroom windows, which were hard to close. There was also noticeable noise from them during those times, as the house was next to our toilet. Housekeeping standards were inconsistent: our towels were rearranged without replacement, the rubbish wasn’t emptied, and the room was dusty—especially on higher shelves where we found leftover rubbish that seemed to belong to previous guests. The location is another major drawback. The property is far from town, and getting in and out is inconvenient. The access road is a rough, uneven dirt track that felt unsafe—so much so that even our tour shuttle refused to drive down it, leaving us to walk in from the main road. Considering this, you could easily find cheaper accommodation in town with better overall quality. Lastly, we expected an adults‑only environment, but instead found ourselves sharing the property with families and children, which was significantly noisy and affected the atmosphere we were hoping for. On our last day, we had a concerning interaction about the scooter rental. Onyok approached me asking about damage to the scooter, which I was unaware of. Upon checking, there was a scratch on the plastic around the instrument cluster that hadn’t been there the night before. Later, Anna messaged me saying we needed to review the issue, as Onyok had reported it. When I returned, Onyok insisted I must have caused the damage and initially asked for 5,000 PHP for what appeared to be a minor scratch. I explained that I had not been in any accident and pointed out that the damage didn’t make sense given the rest of the scooter was intact and I didn’t have any scratches. The previous evening, I had only ridden to a restaurant and parked carefully with ample space around other scooters. When I questioned the situation and asked to review CCTV footage from the villa parking area, his tone changed and the requested amount dropped to 1,500 PHP. Meanwhile, Onyok’s partner was also present and added wood to the fire, which added to the pressure. He then claimed the camera view was obstructed and could not clearly show the parking area. This raised concerns for me, and I checked online for scams like this in Asia and it says it was a normal scam, so I declined to pay and did not pay, as the situation felt questionable. Overall, the situation left a negative impression at the end of our stay. After all of this, I did feel sorry for Anna, who was called in on her day off to help mediate the situation, assist with translation, and ensure my perspective was understood. She remained professional and supportive throughout. Overall, while Anna’s hospitality and assistance were a highlight, the maintenance, cleanliness, location issues, and the final incident made the stay less enjoyable than expected.
Juan·5か月前
