We decided to book at Manila Crown Palace Hotel during our stay at Hotel 101 Manila. I said to my blog partner, "why not try booking at somewhere near Ermita?" So we ended up booking at Manila Crown Palace Hotel for next week. As day goes by, I decided to read reviews about this hotel and honestly, more of them are negative. Did we have any negative experience at this hotel? Read more to find out.
Manila Crown Palace is located at Adriatico Street, Ermita - just a fifteen minutes walk from Robinson's Place Manila. Since there are lots of foreign businessmen around the area, this hotel is one of the options to check-in for a night (or more).
The outside look of the hotel looks a bit old. Lobby is quite small (well, the hotel is actually small). You need to wait for you to be accommodated.
Room Features
We availed Manila Crown Palace's Deluxe Suite. Check in time is 2PM until 12PM the next day. You need to pay Php 1,000 for incidental charge. Be sure to keep/ask for the receipt so you can claim it afterwards. The interiors might look a bit old too but its spacious. High ceilings with a wide window, with the overview of Malate street.
There's a refrigerator, a cup and electric kettle available. Maybe I'm not used to it but there's no free sachet of coffee or tea available. There are snacks, juices, alcoholic drinks, cigarette boxes and shaving kit which you can avail with additional charge. Complimentary two bottles of water is available.
The closet looks old but spacious. You can see a safety deposit box and two pairs of slippers.
The AC Unit is a bit noisy but manageable. TV is wide but the reception is very poor. It's also hard using the remote control and you need to angle yourself to be able to click it. There's a DIGITAL TV BOX for cable channels but still you can't enjoy watching a show.
Two large seats and a coffee table located near the wide window. The seats are dirty (with visible stains) and a bit itchy to seat on.
Complimentary dental kits, soaps and shampoo are available and good for two persons. The bathroom has hot and cold shower.
I can't complain anything to their bed and pillows. They are comfortable and clean and I had a good night sleep.
Amenities
If your stay has a free breakfast included, you'll dine in at Steakhouse, their in-house restaurant located at the ground floor. The said restaurant is famous for their steaks.
To avail the free breakfast, you need to get coupons at the receptionist. Then once you're settled inside, you can choose from the breakfast available (your breakfast choice + a choice of drink). I ordered beef tapa and my blog partner ordered chicken tocino.
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| The food looks pretty decent. |
The food? Very disappointing. The beef tapa is like you are chewing a rubber. I am dismayed to think that this place is famous for their beef dishes.
TIP: If you need a decent food to eat, you can see three 7-11 Convenience stores near the area. Walk for ten minutes and you can see McDonalds. If you're up for some food adventures, lots of Japanese and Korean restaurant are within the area. There's also a Korean and Japanese grocery store and we availed two instant cup noodles for midnight snack.
Experience:
I should say that we are quite lucky. We didn't experience some scenarios mentioned by other reviewers about this hotel. Here are some of the experiences we encountered during our stay:
- I noticed the towel on the bathroom which serves as the floor mat. I immediately hid it behind the bathroom door, afraid that it might get stains and we ended up paying for the charge. I did it because of the reviews I read that this hotel is very strict on linens and towels. Once it got dirtied (even small ones), they'll charge you for it.
- As I mentioned above, no coffee or tea sachets are given as complimentary. Good thing 7-11 is nearby and we had our coffee fix (I need to wait for my partner to finish since there's only a cup available. We didn't bother to request for an extra).
- Staffs are nice. Since our electric kettle is not working, we called and they immediately replaced another one. Good job for that.
- The only working lights are from the bathroom, the biggest one on top of the bed and the lamp shade. There are lots of switches and most of them are not working.
- Our room is cigarette smell-free. Most of their previous customers complain because of it and I guess we are lucky that we didn't encountered it.
- The staff who accommodated us at Steakhouse was very welcoming. Although a big thumbs down to the food.
Rating: 3.9 / 5.0
At least, our stay at Manila Crown Palace was hassle-free. It's really good that you read reviews before checking a certain hotel so we can be ready. If you are around Manila and looking for a place to stay - this hotel is worth the try. This hotel is one of the cheapest in terms of price around the area and its pretty decent for its price.
Of course there are some scenarios that we can't avoid from happening and I do hope that everything will be fair for both the customer and the hotel.
Manila Crown Palace Hotel
1726 Adriatico St. corner Alonzo St., Malate, Manila
+63 2 328 2828
www.manilacrownpalace.com
+63 2 328 2828
www.manilacrownpalace.com
