Hotel and Inn Review: Dorsett Regency Hotel (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Date of Stay: December 28, 2010 - January 1, 2011

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: *******

Rooms: ********

Condition and Cleanliness: ********

Staff Performance: *******

Room Comfort: ********

Food and Beverage: ********

Other Amenities: ********

Value for Money: *******

Dorsett Regency Hotel is located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle.  Its 30 sq. m. (322.9 sq. ft.) Deluxe Room has 2 double beds, 32-inch flat-screen LCD satellite TV, minibar, in-room safety deposit box, coffee/tea making facility and bath. The hotel also has 38 sq. m. (409 sq. ft.) Deluxe Premier Rooms an,d  45 sq. m. (484.3 sq. ft.) Junior Suites.

Deluxe Room 

Its food and beverage outlets include  the lobby level, 80-pax Window’s Cafe and Lounge (with its dedicated bar), the first floor, 150-pax, all day (6 AM-1 AM) Checker’s Cafe and, beside it, is the cozy, 25 pax Cellini’s Italian Restaurant.  

Checkers Cafe

The hotel also has a swimming pool (4th floor), 4 function rooms (10-200-pax), gym and offers limousine service, tours, concierge, valet, laundry, dry cleaning, pressing and 24-hour room service. The hotel was a stone’s throw away from KL’s finest shopping malls (Pavilion, Star Hill, Lot 10, Sungei Wang, Berjaya Times Square and Low Yat Plaza), eateries, tourist and entertainment spots.

Dorsett Regency Hotel: 172 Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Tel: 603-2716 1000.  Fax: 603-2715 5000.  E-mail: reservations.kl@dorsettregency.com.my. Website: www.dorsetthotels.com/malaysia/kualalumpur/.

Hotel and Inn Review: Corregidor Inn (Cavite)

Date of Stay: December 10 -11, 2010

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: ******

Rooms: ******

Condition and Cleanliness: *******

Staff Performance: *******

Room Comfort: *******

Food and Beverage: ******

Other Amenities: *******

Value for Money: *******

Corregidor Inn

Hallway leading to the rooms

Corregidor Inn, sometimes called the Corregidor Hotel & Resort, is strategically located on top of a hill at the center of the island (Middleside), between the North and South Dock.   

The hotel has 30 airconditioned standard twin room with bath (PhP2,950) and a lone but more opulent and roomy suite located at the end of the hall.  All are furnished with exquisite rattan furniture but have no cable TV (the lobby has one showing only local channels). 

The standard twin room

This Spanish-style hotel, manned by a helpful, efficient and super friendly staff, has rustic capiz windows and tiled roof.  Its La Playa Restaurant, with its wide collection of local and foreign dishes, offers lunch buffets and a la carte meals.  

Its airy veranda dining area has a good view of the island's beautiful surrounding scenery as well as the mountains of the Bataan Peninsula across the sea.  About 50 m. from the hotel is an outdoor, modest-size fresh water swimming pool.  The inn also has a bar, business center, library, tennis court, basketball court and a souvenir shop.

The inn's swimming pool

La Playa Restaurant

The whole island is powered by its own power plant and, during the night, the generator would be shut down for about an hour to allow for refueling.  The nearby Corregidor Hostel has dormitory-type accommodations at its 2 wings.  Each wing has 13 double deck beds, good for 26 guests.  The hostel also has a conference room here companies can hold seminars and team building sessions.  

Corregidor Inn: Signal Hill, Brgy. San Jose, Corregidor Island, Cavite.  Mobile number: (0917) 527-6350. E-mail: corregidor_inn@suncruises.com.ph.  Website: www.corregidorphilippines.com/corr_inn.html.

Sun Cruises, Inc. (SCI) - Reservation Office: CCP Terminal A, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila.  Tel: (632) 831-8140 and (632) 834-6857 to 58.  Fax: (632) 834-1523.  E-mail: suncruises@magsaysay.com.ph.

Sun Cruises, Inc. (SCI) - Sales Office: 21/F,  Times Plaza Bldg., Ermita, Manila.  Tel: (632) 527-5555 local 4511 and 4512.  Fax: (632) 527-5555 local 4513.  E-mail: sales@suncruises.com.ph.

Corregidor Island: Adventour Challenge (Cavite)

Emerging from a Japanese tunnel

The Corregidor Adventour (the word is a hybrid of the words “adventure” and “tour”) Challenge, an Amazing Race-like challenge, is the latest effort of Sun Cruises, Inc. (SCI) in promoting Corregidor Island, aside from its being a historical treasure for history buffs, as a nature and adventure destination for adventure lovers.

Solving letter equations

Participants who join are first briefed on the rules of the challenge then are grouped into teams.  They then donned Adventour T-shirts and are provided with flashlights and a survival kit consisting of oatmeal cookies and bottled water.  

Just like the Amazing Race, the Adventour Challenge is a race against time and participants have to tackle obstacles that require mental and as well as physical exertion as they hike trough sites that are, more often than not, not part of the regular tour.  

At Battery Way, they have to search for a bamboo containers that store pieces of a map giving directions to theirnext destination and challenge.  

Without going to much detail, they next have to duck walk along a dark, gecko-inhabited Japanese tunnel (exiting via a ladder); solve letter equations at the Hospital Ruins, figure out counting squares puzzles at the Spanish Lighthouse, and engage in games of trust (a blindfolded team member is guided through an obstacle course by the others), all in the quest to other pieces of our map (also stored in bamboo containers) as well as directions to their next challenge.

The last and most difficult challenge, held at the Parade Grounds, involved rolling a plastic ball, along a railing of two short bamboo poles, to a basket located some distance away at the sunken field.   This isn’t easy as it seemed as it required great composure, very steady hands and you could only guide or stop the ball with a bamboo stick (touching wasn’t allowed) and if the ball fell, they have to go back to the starting point and do the challenge all over again.  The first team to finish wins.

The Adventour Challenge is an ideal team building activity, testing our ingenuity, powers of observation, planning skills and ability to manage time, resources, endurance and stamina.  

Sun Cruises, Inc. (SCI) - Reservation Office: CCP Terminal A, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd., Manila.  Tel: (632) 831-8140 and (632) 834-6857 to 58.  Fax: (632) 834-1523.  E-mail: suncruises@magsaysay.com.ph.