lakwatsa

I agree with Karen, TREASURES of BOLINAO is NOT a recommended place to go for a perfect family vacation. We were there last April 30 to May 1, 2009. But I also agree with you Jake, that It does not matter as long as you’re in VERY GOOD COMPANY you can still have a good time. Thank God we had our closest family relatives to survive our experience at this so called only Resort/Hotel accredited by DOT at Bolinao. Jake, being a true bakasyonista allow me to share with you why we did not get a good deal on our money here. Our family was in 2 Maharlika Suites at the 3rd floor and the view was spectacular. But the beach was indeed OUTSIDE the resort but their website claimed that they have open cottages. The food was awful, making me happy that my good sister-in-law secretly brought with her delicious ADOBO and rice good for 2 days; We ordered 2 Pansit Canton that tasted too SALTY as the famous Lucky Me, 5 pcs of small Daing and Fried Bangus which is the ONLY seafood in the menu considering that Bolinao is a seafood capital, 3 Sinigang na Spareribs that did not arrive to later find out it was not available in the first place and the worst of them all are the 2 WHOLE fried chickens chopped into very tiny pieces. My 7-yr old nephew even noticed it’s being so ordinary being used to her Lola’s good home-cooked meals. Upon seeing these chickens I called the manager to complain that the chicken only had one leg and wing. He apoligized that it was not a whole chicken but the tinola cut style so instead he offered to give us additional 5 small pcs. The bill was almost P3500.00(pls. do the math here). You may think that it’s all about the money here. But I tell you when I saw the menu price I was expecting at least good-tasting food if not restaurant-style food. Not fried foods using OLD cooking oil and noodles dripping in too much oil. Even the house specialty – Bangus was nothing special and even my maid can cook prepare daing much better. Imagine a hotel charging P55 per small bucket of ICE made from DIRTY water. You can taste and see the sediments from the ice. They charges a 10% SERVICE TAX plus a 10% additional since we opted to have the food served at the Gazebo near the sea(calling on BIR…is this legal, their receipt DO NOT have a TIN). So for every order you have to add 20% on top of the price. At least we are very near the corals and the waves hitting them were a sight to behold. The staff were NOT accommodating and NOT even VISIBLE considering that we were on a so called HOTEL acccredited by DOT…calling on Sec. Ace Durano and Mark Lapid (PTA) who is encouraging us all Filipinos to support domestic tourism thru numerous economic holidays. Our rooms (suites), with the expectacular view of the sea but where the doors needed to be forcibly opened by a staff since the door knob malfunctioned, napakahina ng tubig at barado ang
shower. The bathroom was locked and they had no key to open it so they had to climb thru the window and advised us to NOT close the door anymore to avoid it being locked. So without spoiling the day we opted to all take a bath on the shower area which we found out mahina din ang tubig sa shower. So we all took showers NEAR the pool area where the water was strong. Remember this place, near the Jacuzzi? You should have seen me with the shampoo and soap scrubbing my whole my body and I didn’t care as I wanted to smell and feel good. During lunch, 2 young ladies served us and we asked them of their status. They told us that they are just on the job trainees (OJT) who are paid NOTHING to serve the guests. We asked them that if they get a part of the TIPs given by the guests or allowances even but they said they do not. Our heart went to them as they were the only ones who basically served our food to later find out that they were not paid at all (calling on DOLE, is this LEGAL?). We noticed that no other staff was availablus as we found out that they forfeited the FREE BREAKFAST given to all guests as the price quoted to us was discounted. Thank God again that I was able to hold my temper as we were not again informed of this ahead of time. Considering that the food was awful and priced at P200/plate we opted this time not to order and to leave early and dine at Alaminos. My father-in-law just passed on last March and my mother-in-law was with us in this trip. She enjoyed the stay coz she’s with us ALL inspite of every POOR SERVICE we encountered and that’s more than enough for us. By the way, we are going back to Bolinao with more family members who did not come the first time but NEVER EVER AGAIN TO “TREASURES OF BOLINAO”. We would rather spend our HARD-EARNED MONEY with our LOVED ONES on the open cottages beside them, Backpack style. We talked to the owners already and they were friendly and very accommodating. Besides, the beach is right in front of them so what more can we ask for. We have our Air conditioned rooms, every kind of swimming pool and clean houses in Manila. We want to experience Bolinao in its pristine state, where the people are kind-hearted, accommodating and honest. We’ve talked to the owners of the nipa huts and were informed that they can even do marketing (we pay) and even cook the food for us for free. I suggest you and your friends do the same and support the local communities striving to survive because they cannot offer air-conditioned rooms and pools. Rest assured they can offer you warmth, abundant camaraderie and True Filipino hospitality which is worth the 6-hour drive from Manila due to the detour and rough road. Besides we can always sneak into Treasures as they do not own the corals there. I noticed that they only provide so-called good service to LARGE GROUP of visitors and we truly felt we were not that important to them even though we also paid in good cash. Anyway, to all bakasyonistas – it’s never about the destination but the JOURNEY. It’s not about the storm but HOW WE DANCED in the rain!!! Enjoy the SUN and WAVES of Bolinao.