Hotel and Inn Review: Grand Mercure Beijing Central Hotel (People's Republic of China)

Date of Stay: May 25-28, 2010

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: *******

Rooms: *******

Condition and Cleanliness: *******

Staff Performance: ********

Room Comfort: *******

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

Other Amenities: ********

Value for Money: *******

The stylish, 4-star Grand Mercure Beijing Central Hotel, formerly the Grand Mercure Xidan Beijing Hotel, is located in Xidan commercial and shopping area, a10-min. walk from Chang’an Street, 1.5 kms. from the Forbidden City and 2 kms. from Lake Beihai Park and the famous Tiananmen Square.

Grand Mercure Beijing Central Hotel

This international standard deluxe hotel  has 290 (we occupied 4) well-appointed rooms (de luxe double, superior twin, superior double, executive twin, presidential suite), all decorated in a modern style and furnished with cable TV, in-room safety deposit box, minibar and a private bathroom with bathtub. Free wi-fi, for internet and emailing needs, was available at the hotel lobby.

Room 603

The hotel has 2 restaurants and a coffee shop (Amazing Thailand Coffee Shop). The V9 All Day Dining Restaurant serves an international buffet while Cantonese dishes are offered at the China Kitchen Restaurant (with 10 individual VIP rooms).  It also has a bar, 24-hour Front Desk, business center, free parking on site, meeting/banquet facilities, souvenir/gift shop and a fully-equipped fitness center with heated indoor swimming pool, massage center and sauna facilities. An exemplary level of secretarial service is provided by The Executive Club.

Amazing Thailand Coffee Shop

The hotel also offer tours, travel assistance, car rental, airport shuttle, currency exchange, laundry, pressing and dry cleaning services, concierge and room service.

Heated Indoor Swimming Pool

Grand Mercure Beijing Central Hotel: 6 Xuanwumen Nei Ave., Xicheng District, 100031 Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Tel: (+86)10/66036688.  Fax: (+86)10/66031481.  E-mail: info@grandmercurebeijing.com.

Resort Feature: Virgin Beach Resort (San Juan, Batangas)

The resort's white sand beach

Virgin Beach Resort is located along Laiya Beach situated along the coast of Sigayan Bay (one of the cleanest bays in the country) and Verde Island Passage. 

 

The Balinese-style restaurant

This 40-hectare (6 hectares developed) Class “A” resort, opened in 2005, is noted for the oversized proportions and sprawled layout of its facilities which consists of 16 cottages, a new, spacious and well-maintained shower room and a huge Balinese-style restaurant/pavilion, most built with simple, organic and natural bamboo.  The majestic Mt. Lobo serves as a tranquil backdrop to its beautiful beachfront area, truly a combination of land, sea and sky. 

The Parasols

The cabanas have electric fans and two queen-sized or one king-sized bed. The larger, stylish casitas, on the other hand, are airconditioned and come with two double beds.  All have en suite private toilet and bath and a spacious veranda with bamboo sofa.  Right on the powdery, tree-lined beachfront are the so-called “parasols,” canopied bamboo beds enclosed with cheesecloth drapes and come provided with their own mattresses, pillows, bed sheets and blankets for overnight stays.  

These were huge enough to accommodate 4-5 people plus all our bags.  All these provide guests with “exclusive” feel on account of a strictly implemented maximum number of guests, thus ensuring privacy and a bother-free and enjoyable stay.  Plans are also afoot to build an infinity pool set on a hillside. 

Virgin Beach Resort: Brgy. Hugom, San Juan, Batangas.  Tel: (632) 815-2584, 815-2587, 759-2020 and 759-2828. Fax: (632)817-6334 Mobile number: (0917) 813-1301. Email: sunkisd@pldtdsl.net.  Website: www.virginbeachresort.com. 

Resort Review: El Puerto Marina Beach Resort and Spa (Lingayen, Pangasinan)

Date of Stay: March 30-31, 2016

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: ********

Rooms: *******

Condition and Cleanliness: *******

Staff Performance: ********

Room Comfort: *******

Food and Beverage: *******

Other Amenities: *******

Value for Money: ******

El Puerto Marina Beach Resort & Spa

The bungalow's interior

El Puerto Marina Beach Resort and Spa in Lingayen, owned by Roland Versoza and Flordeliza Bernal-Versoza, offers rustic airconditioned native-style bungalows, superior and de luxe rooms, superior beach view rooms and 1-bedroom suites, all of them airconditioned with cable TV and toilet and bath with hot and cold showers.  

Its rustic pavilion offers a menu of Asian, Continental and Filipino favorites (includes the healthy pinakbet, honeyed crispy chicken, sizzling bangus belly and cholesterol-rich  binagoongan pork or lechon kawali).  It also has a bar with wi-fi and Dream satellite TV.

The resort pavilion

Swimming pools

Building housing de luxe and beach view rooms

This quiet, family-oriented resort, opened in 2005, is also a haven for fast and slow-paced activity with its two swimming pools, (adult and kiddie with jacuzzi), an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) track as well as other indoor (billiards, pingpong, chess, darts, etc.) and outdoor (fishing, beach, volleyball, surfing, kayaking, skim boarding, etc.) facilities.  

Tours to Hundred Islands (which we availed of), Bolinao and Manaoag Shrine can also be arranged here.  After a full, active day, a steam bath and a soothing, full body massage is highly recommended at its spa. A nice touch is its mini-zoo and koi pond, also home to 2 big South American arapaimas.   

Lingayen Beach

One of the resort's resident arapaimas

The adjoining, gently-sloping beach is something else, with its clean, fine and gray sand, cool breeze and picnic huts. 

The ATV track

El Puerto Marina Beach Resort and Spa: Don Martin Domingo St., Pangapisan North, Lingayen, Pangasinan.  Tel: (075) 542-5328.  Fax: (075) 542-2285.  Mobile: (0917) 867-3908 and 3906. Manila tel: (632) 852-3404, 986-3404 and 775-6789.  Fax: (632) 824-7384.  E-mail: inquiries@elpuertomarina.com.  Website: www.elpuertomarina-pangasinan.com. 

Launch of the ROCKet Zipline (Corregidor, Cavite)

MV Sun Cruiser II

A tranvia bus

When one mentions Corregidor (nicknamed “The Rock”), the first thing that goes through your mind is the heroic World War II defense of the Fil-American forces of Gen. Douglas MacArthur (and, later, by his successor Lt.-Gen. Jonathan Wainwright) against invading Japanese forces.  It is for this footnote in history that most tourists go to Corregidor for.  

However, to complement the historical tour, a variety of adventures were also offered and this now includes the ROCKet (patterned after the nickname of the island) Zipline which was recently launched by Sun Cruises Inc. (SCI). SCI, which traces its beginnings in August 1988 as a ferry service, now brings 70,000 tourists to the island annually, making the island one of the most visited tourist spots in the country.   

Corregidor Hostel

SCI Gen. Manager Roland Portes

At a presscon held at the conference room of the SCI-managed Corregidor Hostel, SCI Gen. Manager Mr. Roland Portes said that the zipline was added so that tourists, who stay overnight, would have something to do aside from the usual historical tour. 

A zipline, consisting of a pulley suspended on a cable mounted on an incline, is designed to enable the user, propelled by gravity, to traverse from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable by holding on or attaching to the freely moving pulley.  

The zip line installed in Corregidor is 40 ft. high and over 655 ft. long and stretches from the Corregidor Inn area to South Beach.  It follows a double standard system (2 cables and 2 double pulleys).  It is hoped that, with the support of the Corregidor Foundation, another zipline, connecting the Malinta Tunnel to the Topside, would be built this year.  SCI Marketing Manager Ms. Kristine Castro also added that SCI would launch Corregidor, not just as a historical island, but also an adventure island.

Jump-off point at Corregidor Inn

Mr. Joey Cuerdo (left) of Powerup

Aside from the zipline, other sports activities sponsored by SCI include a marathon, beach football and volleyball, the Corregidor aquathlon challenge, a kayaking race, sport fishing and wakeboarding (South Beach) as well as quieter activities such as birdwatching (White-Collared Kingfishers, Zebra Dove, Blue Rock, Asian Glossy Starlings, Eurasian Tree Sparrows, Black-Naped Orioles and, just recently, Philippine Cockatoos) the ephemeral, short-lived art of rock balancing (often linked to photography and landscape art) and  sunset watching (at Battery Grubb).  

Portes assured us that, despite these innovations, preserving history and the environment remained top priorities, their corporate social responsibility being to clean up the beach quarterly as well as using solar-powered electricity in the island.  

Being suited up by Mr. Jason Sauco of Powerup

At the SCI-managed, 31-room Corregidor Inn, the ROCKet Zipline was launch with a free trial for media and guests.   Mr. Joey Cuerdo of Powerup, who helped install this new adventure facility on the island, assured guests that the zipline can carry up to 250 pounds.  

Thus assured, we all took turns screaming our lungs out for 25 seconds as we zipped from the jump-off point at an amphitheater-like ravine below the hilltop Corregidor Hotel to the South Beach area.  

Even star basketball player Asi Taulava, whose team  Pepsi was in Corregidor,  tried it.  I myself tried the zipline twice.  The experience was like being a human cable car.  After this adrenaline rush, we next partook of a buffet selection of foreign and local dishes at the inn’s La Playa Restaurant.   

Visitors to Corregidor can now enjoy this adventure sport for PhP150.  There is no age restriction so anybody is allowed to try.  

Sun Cruises, Inc. (SCI) - Reservation Office: CCP Terminal A, CCP Complex, Roxas Boulevard, 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.

Hotel and Inn Review: Venetian Resort Macau

Date of Stay: November 1 - 5, 2009

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: *******

Rooms: ********

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

Staff Performance: *******

Room Comfort: *********

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

Other Amenities: ********

Value for Money: *******

Venetian Resort Macau

For my first extended visit to Macau with my family (my first visit, with my wife Grace, was only a day tour from Hongkong), we all stayed at the 40-storey, US$2.4 billion Venetian Resort Macau, at the Cotai Strip, a luxury hotel and casino resort owned by the American Las Vegas Sands Casino company.  

Here, we stayed at two of the hotels 3,000 suites (Levels 7-38). The high-end and spacious interconnected airconditioned suites were furnished with a flat-screen TV, wardrobe, minibar and a seating area with sofa.  The ensuite bathroom had a bathtub, bathrobes, slippers and hair dryer.

Facilities include a 24-hour Front Desk, business center, restaurants, bars, outdoor swimming pool, spa, fitness center, children's playground and barber shop/beauty salon.  Activities include minigolf courses and gondola rides.The hotel also offers car rental, currency exchange, laundry and dry cleaning, concierge, ticketing service, room service and free luggage storage.  A free shuttle service is available from Macao Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal and Macau Taipa Ferry Terminal to the property. 

The Venetian Macao is a 5-min. walk from The Shoppes at Four Seasons, an 8-min. drive from Taipa Ferry Terminal and a 14-min. drive from the Macau Ferry Terminal.  

It is also located 500 m. from the Eiffel Tower at the Parisian Macau; 600 m. from House of Dancing Water and Taipa Houses Museum; 700 m. from the  Museum of Taipa and Coloane History and Rua do Cunha; 1 km. from Macau Stadium; 1.2 kms. from the Lotus Bridge; 1.3 kms. from the Macau East Asian Games Dome; 1.9 kms. from Macau International Airport; 5.2 kms. from Lilau Square, Mandarin’s House and Moorish Barracks; 5.4 kms. from Dom Pedro V Theater and Hongkong-Macau Ferry Terminal; 5.5 kms. from Leal Senado Square; 5.7 kms. from Monte Forte and 5.9 kms. from the Ruins of St. Paul. 

Officially opened on August 28, 2007, the Venetian’s casino space is the largest in the world at 550,000 sq. ft. (51,000 sq. m.) with over with 3,400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables.  

Also the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and the 4th largest building in the world (by area), it also has 3,000 suites (Level 7-38) served by 250 guest lifts, 111,000 sq. m. of convention space, 149,000 sq. m. of retail (330 shops), and a 15,000-seat entertainment/sports arena.

Its foremost attractions are Cirque du Soleil’s Zaia, an aerial ballet that takes place above the audience’s heads, and the gondola rides where visitors are rowed, by a gondolier serenading you in Italian, through the romantic indoor Grand Canal, the next best thing to Venice.

The Venetian Resort Macau – Interior

The campanille

We tried dining at the 1,000-seat Festivita Foodcourt, located on the 3rd level of The Grand Canal Shoppes.  

It offers 21 big brand names in fast, mid-priced food offering almost every international cuisine (Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican and American). 

When we looked up, we found ourselves under the perfect blue sky although we were actually indoors. The ceiling was done in a way so as to create an impression of a clear blue sky (even at night) which is Pantone 14-4318 (Sky Blue). Some say it was done to lull shoppers into thinking that it’s not yet time to go and that there’s still more time to shop.

Festivita Foodcourt

Venetian Resort Macau: Estrada Da Baia De N., Senhora Da Esperança, s/n, Taipa, Macao. Tel: (0)2882 8888.  Website: www.venetianmacao.com.

Resort Review: Calicoan Surf Camp (Guiuan, Eastern Samar)

Date of Stay: June 30 - July 1, 2009

RATING (Scale of 1 to 10)

Location: *******

Rooms: ********

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

Staff Performance: ********

Room Comfort: *******

Food and Beverage: *******

Other Amenities: *******

Value for Money: ********

Calicoan Surf Camp

Bungalow interior

Calicoan Surf Camp, Calicoan Island's (connected to the mainland by a short concrete causeway) best and most luxurious hideaway, was developed by Cebu-based lawyer and pioneer developer Maning Go who owns about 500 hectares of the island’s 1,600 hectares.  

It was designed, with distinctive Asian-inspired (Thai, Balinese, Indonesian and Filipino) lines, by Frenchman Nicolas Rambeau, owner and creator of the highly-acclaimed, high-end Pansukian Resort in Siargao (Surigao del Norte). 

Infinity pool

The resort has 7 well-appointed, spacious bungalows with soaring rooflines.  Each bungalow has a native feel, with its own deck and floor with alternating dark and light wood stripes.  

Modern amenities include airconditioning, compartmentalized bathroom with hot and cold shower, satellite TV, coffee/tea maker, hair dryer, minibar and safety deposit box. 

The resort’s inviting 300-sq. m. saltwater infinity pool borders the 3-km. long, white ABCD Beach, the island’s prime surfing area.  Verdant pandamus trees (locally called bariw) grow through the pool’s uniquely-designed wooden deck, embracing it and providing cool shade, thus binding nature with design.  Here, you could watched the surging, breathtaking surf (boasting perfectly-shaped left or right reef breaks) as the island’s  eastern side juts out to the rolling surf of the Pacific Ocean (its powerful swells tirelessly rolling in over 10,000 m. Philippine Deep), making it a surfer’s paradise. 

The resort's restaurant

Calicoan Island Ocean Villas

The best surfing months are March, April and September to October when southwesterly winds blow offshore, piling up incoming ocean swells and carving them into glassy shaped hollows.  

Surfboards are rented out for a small fee and beginner’s lessons can be provided, on request, by the resort staff.  Surfers must wear booties as protection against the sharp rocks. 

Although the currents are strong here, the island offers opportunities for big game fishing along the “Tuna Highway,” the migratory route for tuna to Japan. 

The resort’s restaurant which offers International and Filipino cuisine including seafood such as freshly caught, fleshy, sweet and delicious lobster, prawns, scallops, abalone, crabs and fish.  Along the way back to the mainland is Calicoan Island Ocean Villas, another of Maning Go’s development projects.  

Go enlisted the multi-awarded architectural firm of Francisco “Bobby” Manosa to prepare the island’s master plan.  He envisions zoning development where visitors can make nature treks to large areas of the island without encountering any bar, souvenir shop or billboard, thus offering more natural attractions and leisure activities with less of the hustle of the better-known Boracay.  

NOTE:On November 8, 2013, Super Typhoon Yolanda, internationally known as Haiyan, devastated the town of Guiuan and Calicoan Surf Camp, as well as other surf resorts, were destroyed. The corals were also badly damaged, affecting the formation of waves. 

Calicoan Surf Camp: Calicoan Island, Guiuan, Eastern Samar.  Manila Tel: (632) 376-5818.  Website: www.thesurfcamp-calicoanisland.com.

Resort Feature: Malipano Villas (Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte)

Malipano Island

The secluded, 7-hectare Isla Malipano, a part of Pearl Farm Resort, is just a 2.5-min. boat ride from the mainland. The 200-pax, octagonal and multi-functional Malipano Gazebo, at the other end of the island, is a perfect alternative for weddings, theme parties and other occasions.  

Malipano Gazebo

Isla Malipano has a white sand beach, an offshore reef plus 7 lavishly-decorated, 3-storey private luxury villas, each with a wide veranda with breathtaking views of the Davao Gulf. Small barbecue parties can be held at the veranda.

The island's sparkingly white sand beach

The villas are composed of 3 octagonal structures with reception areas, guest suites and dining area, all around a cantilevered deck. Their roof design is patterned after the salakot (traditional Filipino hat).  Four of the villas are perched on stilts directly above the sea while the 3 other villas are built over rock outcrops on the beach.

Malipano Villas

Five villas have 3 bedrooms (with 2 queen-size beds and 2 single beds or 3 queen-size beds) while 2 villas have 4 bedrooms (with 3 queen-size beds and 2 single beds or 4 queen-size beds).

Veranda with a great view

All villas are airconditioned and equipped with minibar, coffee and tea making facilities, safety deposit box (at the master's bedroom), cable TV, hair dryers, spacious living room and toilet and bath (the master's bedroom has a bathtub).  Butler service is available for food orders and other guest assistance while a standby speedboat is available to transport guests to the restaurant and other resort facilities.

One of the villa's master bedrooms

The island is also ideal for scuba diving as the wrecks of two World War II Japanese freighters are located 60 m. away and in front of the resort.  The 40-m. (132-ft.) long Wreck I is located just a few meters from the resort’s Samal houses, in 35 m. (115 ft.) of water.  Here, you can find groupers, jacks, moray eels and others.  

Relaxing on some sun loungers

For advanced divers, an open bay hatch allows safe penetration.   It is also recommended for underwater photography.  The slightly smaller, 35-m. (115-ft.) long Wreck II rests on its side at a shallower dept of 28 m. (98 ft.) of water.

Pearl Farm Resort: Kaputian District, Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte.  Tel: (082) 221-9970 to 73.  Fax: (082) 221-9979.  E-mail: pearlfarmresort@fuegohotels.com.  Website: www.pearlfarmresort.com.  Davao Citysales office: G/F, Anflocar Corporate Center, Damosa Bldg., Lanang.  Tel: (082) 235-0876 and 234-0601.  Fax: (082) 235-0873.  E-mail: dvosm@pearlfarmresort.com.  Manila sales office: 15/F, 1504 Corporate Center, 139 Valero St., Salcedo Village, Makati City.  Tel: (632) 750-1896 and 98.  Fax. (632) 750-1894. E-mail: mlasm@pearlfarmresort.com.