Base on experience, Metro Manila is at its best during the Holy Week. There is no traffic jams because most of the people go on out-of-town vacations. So when the rest of the crowd head out to beaches and the provinces, The Yaps strategically chose to just have a staycation.

 

Nothing fancy, just an overnight stay in a room with a really nice bed to rest and away from the cares of our daily lives even the chores at home. After searching through Agoda and going through the hotel reviews I finally booked a Deluxe Queen Room at Fersal Hotel Bel-Air Makati.

 

 

 

Located at 107 Neptune St., Bel-Air II Makati City, Metro Manila. We drove our way from Alabang using Here Drive+ App in hubby's Windows Phone with Globe 3G signal as we head to the hotel. The app was pretty accurate in the distance and the directions. We found ourselves near Kalayaan Ave. and Makati Ave. within 30 minutes and to my surprise, a few steps away from the newly opened and quite hyped up Century City Mall.

 

We were greeted by hotel personnel at the reception area and ushered to our room in the second floor. We were given keys for #206, a non-smoking room around 24 sqm with a double-size bed. Truthfully, the bed is as good as ones in the 5-star hotel. Too bad, there was no view from our room.





The room comes with a 24" LCD TV mounted in the wall. It has an analog cable provider which has international channels but signal tends to be grainy. Other amenities includes a personal ref, electric kettle, pairs of cups, glass and bottled water.



Food not included except the bottled water

The bathroom supplies are toothbrushes, white towels, a tube of shampoo with conditioner and some soap. The room is neat and clean but I think the bathroom needs some repainting.

 

Their Inn Café provides breakfast and offers room service for some homey food. But there are a lot of establishment nearby including 7-eleven so you have a lot of options. For people who needs to attend to business meetings all day and just needs a place to stay at night with a really comfy bed and attentive staff, this place can be recommended.



The best thing I like about the Fersal Hotel is the WI-FI connection. I was able to download several apps for my laptop and a number of huge files during the night. Yey!

 





It has been a year since we went to Ace Water Spa in Pasig, so a day after Christmas day, we went back there but this time with the whole Yap family. Nothing much changed from our last visit even the rules and regulation are the same so you may want to read back on my previous post here for review.

For this visit though, we bought several vouchers from Metrodeal Deal to be able to bring the family over and experience the hydrotherapy massage that Ace Water Spa is known for. We got the deal for Php 350 each instead of Php 550 a month before our visit.

Still, taking pictures are not allowed in the pool area so here are few of our family snappies before and after our treatment.

with my in laws and hubby's nephews

We all first took a dip in the pressure pool to try out the different massages. Base on what I noticed, MIL and DIL (mom and dad in law) like the different temperature in the herbal pool while the kids enjoyed the swimming pool. We also borrowed a life vest to ensure the safety of the youngest so he too could practice and learn how to swim.

Belated Merry Christmas everyone and
hope you have a blessed new year ahead!

God bless!!!

Last November was my birthday month and hubby gifted me with an overnight staycation at Bellevue Hotel Alabang - Main Tower through Deal Grocer voucher.

Located at Northgate, the hotel are among corporate buildings with night shift thus a few steps away you can conveniently find your go-to shops like Starbucks, 7-Eleven, Country Style's New Bistro, Jollibee and others. 

The highlight of the room is the king-size bed! Honestly, it really irks me when hubby would lie down at end of our own bed horizontally instead of vertically while watching TV kse I wouldn't be able to straighten out my leg kse nakaharang sya! Urrggh... But he was able do this at the hotel and it was all good.

A round of complimentary drink is available either at the cafe or the swimming pool. The pool is found at the 3rd floor together with the gym and even the Jing Monis Salon. However, there was ongoing building construction outside so there was not much of a view to look at. WIFI connection is also available with login credentials provided during check-in.

The next morning, we head out to the restaurant for the buffet breakfast. There are variety of food for the kids, the bread, the rice, the meat, the cheese lovers and others.

Of course, we would not check out without having our quirky photos taken right? Lakas lang maka-Gladys Reyes' Moments at Net 25 ang couch na ito sa lobby, frustrated talk show host ang peg.

Thank you Father for another year of experience and for loving protection all year round. Your grace and faithfulness is my stronghold. Belated Happy Birthday to Me!

In the previous post, I mentioned that the HK-Macau packages quotation of the different travel agencies are basically the same except for the hotel accommodation. So after reading hotel reviews in TripVisor, I decided to avail the package trip from GJM International which includes accommodation to The Emperor Hotel in Happy Valley Hong Kong.

Our 3-day trip is jampacked with activities, we basically reach the hotel every night by 12mn and wake up at 7am so other budget travelers might consider booking cheaper hostel but for us, we still prefer to go home to a nice-looking room at a reasonable price. So we are quite satisfied with the facilities in Emperor Hotel and here are some of the highlights of our experience:

• The location is 20 minutes away from Causeway Bay and 5 minutes walk to the tram station or terminal. This distance is quite acceptable except that when you are already tired from walking all-day the time could be longer.
• The bus and taxis are available in front of the hotel but we were not able to try out these one. Also, coming from Mong Kok you can ride Bus 117 but take note last trip is at 9:45 pm so if you are doing the Ladies Night Market you won't be able to ride it.
• There is a free hotel shuttle coach with routes going to Causeway Bay so check at the front desk for the times and reservation
• McDonalds and convenient stores such 7-11, K Circle, Market Place, Vingo are within 5-10 minute walk radius of the hotel
• The hotel staff are helpful but not too friendly compared to the hospitable Filipino hotel staff
• Allows guests to leave their baggage at the front desk during early check-in/out 
• Nearby landmarks are Happy Valley Racecourse or Jockey Club and from what we learned is that this is one of the most popular form of entertainment during Sunday where a lot of people come to watch and bet that allows them to earn billion of US Dollars
• Other landmarks are Hindu temple then our tour guide also jokingly pointed out the location of AIA Building (Insurance), the hospital and cemetery right beside each other.

Anyhow, The superior room is at 230 square feet which already includes the bathroom area. According to our tour guide the average unit for a family in HK is only 50-60 sqm and the price is not about the size but the location. Thus, there is no complaining to the hotel room size. On Day 1, I was disappointed to enter to 2 single beds in the room that I immediately called the front desk and informed that I booked for a double room. They explained that it was not noted during the booking however no need for us to change room number and they will  just change the bed during housekeeping the next day. True enough, we finally came home to a double bed in our Day 2. By the way, since the travel agency processed our booking, I actually sent an email directly to the hotel a week before our arrival to verify our reservations just to make sure.

Hope this review will be helpful to those looking for accommodation in the HK Island side near Causeway Bay. Also, several Filipino families were staying at the same hotel as well and here are some of the pictures of our room located at the 17th floor.

Gold kung gold ang mga fixtures 

Inside the room you will find the following: 

Choice of Double or Twin 

Private bathroom 

Electronic card keys 

in-room safe 

Individually controlled air conditioning 

Mini-bar 

Coffee & tea making facilities 

Cable TV with 39 channels and 2 radio channels 

Writing desk 

IDD telephone system 

Wireless broadband internet access 

Hair dryer  

Alarm clock

Welcome to Acacia Hotel Manila - Alabang

Reception Counters

The lovely Shane, ready to assist you

Swimming Pool at the 3rd Floor around 7pm

That ends my three-part series on Acacia Hotel Manila. Just a recap, here is the De Luxe Room and the staycation experience we had in our overnight stay. Hope you enjoyed the posts!

Already stayed there as well, how was it?