Hotel Bintang 4 di Visayas Tengah, Filipina

I have been using Costabella for nearly 20 years and have always considered it a pleasant, well maintained hotel. In fact I even got married here! However, during my most recent stay, the experience fell noticeably short of expectations. We booked a poolside room and, after check in, I was genuinely surprised to find that the room was on the third floor. Based on my many previous stays, I had always understood poolside rooms to be those adjacent to the pool at ground level. If you are booking a poolside room, be aware that this may not be the case and expectations should be managed accordingly. The room itself was a little dated in style, but it was clean, comfortable, and well looked after. Housekeeping was consistent throughout the stay, which helped offset the older décor. The pool area is relatively small but generally well maintained. Unfortunately, it was extremely crowded throughout the day due to the large number of day pass visitors. As a result, there were no chairs or loungers available for hotel guests for most of the day, which was disappointing. On a positive note, the beach area was clean and pleasant. The food was the main let down. The buffet breakfast would rate no more than 4 out of 10. Much of the food had not been replenished, including empty juice and coffee stations, and what remained was cold and unappetising. However, it was better on the second day. Dinner was equally disappointing. Several main courses were served cold and had to be sent back to the kitchen twice. In the end, we cancelled two seafood dishes altogether, as reheating raised concerns about food quality and safety. The steak, which was once a highlight of Costabella for me, was extremely tough and far below the standard I have previously enjoyed. Overall, Costabella still has many positive qualities, but this stay did not reflect the standards I have previously associated with the resort and this will be my last visit. Unless the quality of the food and the management of guest capacity improve, I would find it difficult to recommend Costabella based on this recent experience.

We really enjoyed our stay at Luxu. All the facilities are brand new and very well maintained. The service is exceptional. Breakfast was good and offered a choice of Asian and western style options, though got repetitive after few days. The only issue we had was that rooms were not soundproofed well, so you get all the noises from the corridor, other rooms and the street, what could be disturbant for some. Count with about 15 minutes walk besides a road if going for the beach.