Cebu Hotels

[Clear Water]

Great hotel and across the road from Ayala Center. People come and go so very easy for casual hookups as the Building Houses Private Apartments as well. Just use just the main Road Entrance via Grand Cenia. Girls just come straight up to your rooms and do not need to submit any ID to security or such.

One thing I hate was when going to Ayala was negotiating 4 lines of traffic. Why can't they just build a Pedestrian walkway for fuks sakes. Also have to walk pass the bus port to get to the shops when a perfectly good park next door is all fenced off. WTF right?

Very good value if you are not after the Buffet Breakfast and can save yourself 1000 ph.

[Red Kilt]

This place has been reviewed before. Located above Robinson's in Fuente. Spent several nights there recently. Upscale place (price reflected). Has a nice outdoor pool area. No breakfast was included (booking.com reservation I think). Pretty lobby area and restaurant. Room was wel-appointed. No problems bringing in multiple girls.

This used to be called Cebu MidTown and was the place where my work office always booked us between 1996 to 2000. It was one of the better hotels in Cebu (it pre-dated Marriott and the Terraces of Ayala), and I recall that 20 years ago it was in pretty good condition but starting to need some enhancement even then.

It was great because it was a 5 minute walk to (and from) the now deceased Silver Dollar, and it was easy to find girls who would happily walk the short distance.

I stayed there 5 years ago for old times sake and checked out after one night and went back to Parklane (my hotel of choice) for the remaining 4 days.

[WestCoast1]

This place has been reviewed before. Located above Robinson's in Fuente. Spent several nights there recently. Upscale place (price reflected). Has a nice outdoor pool area. No breakfast was included (booking.com reservation I think). Pretty lobby area and restaurant. Room was wel-appointed. No problems bringing in multiple girls.

Downsides:

1) Getting to your room (or even the lobby) can be difficult. Step one: From the street, walk up a flight of stairs to get to the elevator. There is a security guard at the street level. When I arrived with luggage from the taxi, he made no attempt to help me up the flight of stairs with my luggage. I had to ask for the help, and he seemed a bit perturbed that I'd asked. He helped lug my suitcase up to the elevator level (same level as Bo's Coffee inside Robinson's on floor 1, where there is also a hotel entrance to the elevator). Step two: Elevator up to 4th floor where the lobby is, and check in. Step 3: Take a different set of elevators to my floor and get to my room. Getting out is the opposite: Elevator from my floor to the lobby; different set of elevators down to floor 1; finally down a flight of steps to the street.

2) Wifi sucked the entire time I was there. It was hit / miss, and during the hit times, extremely slow. Hotspotting from my phone was no better (should not have to hotspot in a swanky hotel).

3) This is an older hotel, remodeled in certain respects, but visible signs of wear in numerous places. See pics, these are from the walls in both my room, and another room on my floor. There were several rooms on my floor where the door was left open during various parts of the day, unoccupied. I walked into all of them, and all the rooms had walls that looked like mine. Its difficult from the western perspective to see such nice accoutrements in the room (nice bed, nice desk, nice couches, decent view from the window), and see the wall mirror and walls looking like this. However, this is pilipines!

Would not stay there again, given the price.

[WestCoast1]

Have stayed here before. Its literally in the Fuente Osmena circle (next to KFC). Much fewer street urchins this visit, I only got hit on twice by kids, in fact the same kid twice (not a pack), at about 6 am both times, when I was buying some hopia.

Its your basic p1800/ night place with full-size bed, table / chairs, coffee pot. Simple bathroom. Minimalistic. Rooms are date, it reminds me of Diplomat hotel on F Ramos St. My stay here a year prior had good strong Internet speed. This time, terrible. I was getting a decent signal from the router inside the room, and download speeds of 4-10 mb / s (not bad for a hotel). But outgoing speeds were either in the sub 0. 1 range. Sometimes my wifi tray icon would show "Limited Connection", which is euphemism for "Come back later". I went to the front desk to talk to them about it and showed that message to the 3 desk girls (always lookers behind the desk here). Quickly one of the girls said: "Yes sir, our hotel Internet is Limited Connection only". What? No, that message means your system is either overloaded, has gone down, or you have no bandwidth. "Yes sir, that is how our Internet is". Dejected, I went back to my room, dropped the laptop there, splashed on some cologne (well, not really, I grabbed some pesos), and went out and got a girl for the afternoon to chase my network blues away. It must have worked, as I forgot all about my internet problems at Elegant -- till now!

No problem bringing multiple girls in for my 3-some play. Plated breakfast for 2 was included in the price.

[WestCoast1]

Also, this week the networks are slow and signal strength very poor (hot and cold at times) IMHO. I use Globe and the delivery of WhatsApp messages for example has taken 90+ minutes at times, lots of unsent SMS (first time of sending) and dropped calls.

Even some hotels I now lost their WiFi connections for a while.

WR and I both had great difficulty connecting to the Internet in multiple places in Cebu a few weeks ago. I was at several hotels where the Internet was either down completely, or simply worthless. Using the Globe network was also useless at multiple times. For instance, I'd send a txt to WR about meeting at his office. An hour later we met there and were sharing a coffee, when his phone would beep and my txt finally came thru. Alternately about 1/3 of my txts FAILED TO SEND on the first try, even when I had full bars and a 4 G symbol. I'd be sitting in Bo's Coffee with full bars and 4 G + Bo's wifi running. I could not web browse, txt msg, or call anyone. I attempted to hotspot my phone to get my laptop on the Internet at times; I could connect the laptop to the hotspot easily, but could not use the Internet on the lappy: "Limited Connection" showing in the tray, which is a euphemism for "Try later fella".

[BrainDrain]

Thanks for the info. The GlocalMe G2 is sitting on my desk, unused yet. I have not even read the instructions etc as I do not have a need for it here in USA.

These days anything that requires the instructions to actually be read is going to be a failure. Just turn it on and use the defaults before you leave home.

[LifeIsABeach]

Met WR here at his office (Bo's) and showed him the G2 a couple days ago. I'm sure he will buy as he spent all day today whining about not being able to upload videos. Wonder what there were of ;) One thing to note: if you buy a GlocalMe data plan like the 1 GB global, you cannot switch to another like the cheaper 1 GB SE Asia until the first if fully consumed, so just keep that in mind. But you can switch from the virtual SIM to either of the physical SIMs on demand. Also, if you get a local SIM card like SMARTBro, they go in upside down (circuit side up). Took me a while to figure that out.

Thanks for the info. The GlocalMe G2 is sitting on my desk, unused yet. I have not even read the instructions etc as I do not have a need for it here in USA.

[Irony Monger]

Exactly what I have been looking for. Ordered on Amazon. Will have it in 2 days.

Met WR here at his office (Bo's) and showed him the G2 a couple days ago. I'm sure he will buy as he spent all day today whining about not being able to upload videos. Wonder what there were of ;)

One thing to note: if you buy a GlocalMe data plan like the 1 GB global, you cannot switch to another like the cheaper 1 GB SE Asia until the first if fully consumed, so just keep that in mind. But you can switch from the virtual SIM to either of the physical SIMs on demand. Also, if you get a local SIM card like SMARTBro, they go in upside down (circuit side up). Took me a while to figure that out.

[Wicked Roger]

the delivery of WhatsApp messages for example has taken 90+ minutes at times, lots of unsent SMS (first time of sending) and dropped calls.

Even some hotels I now lost their WiFi connections for a while.

Just to show an example, met Westie and he forgot something so came back, he came, he collected, he left. Then 10 minutes later I get his SMS saying "I am coming back now to get it now" While a text message it shows the network issues (not new I know).

Everyone I know here is saying eh same regardless of operator or hotel. Some are clearly worse than others especially if full occupancy.

[LifeIsABeach]

Actually, I have a new favorite pocket WiFi: the GlocalMe G2. It has a "virtual SIM" that can connect to virtually any network on the planet without having to purchase a local SIM card. The rates are a bit higher than you would get from a local SIM, but saves you so much hassle on short trips. However, it also has two SIM card slots for adding local SIMs if you are going to be in one spot for a while. Best of all worlds in my opinion. Tested the virtual SIM capabilities in PI, Singapore, Thailand, and Canada with no problems. Only place I had issues was in the USA. Also running it off a SmartBro SIM in PI now. Great 4 G connections.

Exactly what I have been looking for. Ordered on Amazon. Will have it in 2 days.

[Wicked Roger]

Actually, I have a new favorite pocket WiFi: the GlocalMe G2.

It has a "virtual SIM" that can connect to virtually any network on the planet without having to purchase a local SIM card. The rates are a bit higher than you would get from a local SIM, but saves you so much hassle on short trips. However, it also has two SIM card slots for adding local SIMs if you are going to be in one spot for a while. Best of all worlds in my opinion. Tested the virtual SIM capabilities in PI, Singapore, Thailand, and Canada with no problems. Only place I had issues was in the USA. Also running it off a SmartBro SIM in PI now. Great 4 G connections.

I would recommend this if you need something reliable and strong. Used it yesterday with I'm in my office and worked very well. As he said can be more expensive than the local stuff but I found it excellent and is something I will buy.

Also, this week the networks are slow and signal strength very poor (hot and cold at times) IMHO. I use Globe and the delivery of WhatsApp messages for example has taken 90+ minutes at times, lots of unsent SMS (first time of sending) and dropped calls.

Even some hotels I now lost their WiFi connections for a while.

[Irony Monger]

Sorry if I misinterpret BM.

The pocket WiFi you use is what others have as the only way to go. I chose hotel as close to Ayala and a nice bed which the only criteria. I try to use my condo as then easier but not always possible (long story) and with PDLT I can get reasonable speed but the back up is the Huawei.

As I travel a lot you soon realize how poor the country is in connection speed.

Actually, I have a new favorite pocket WiFi: the GlocalMe G2.

It has a "virtual SIM" that can connect to virtually any network on the planet without having to purchase a local SIM card. The rates are a bit higher than you would get from a local SIM, but saves you so much hassle on short trips. However, it also has two SIM card slots for adding local SIMs if you are going to be in one spot for a while. Best of all worlds in my opinion. Tested the virtual SIM capabilities in PI, Singapore, Thailand, and Canada with no problems. Only place I had issues was in the USA. Also running it off a SmartBro SIM in PI now. Great 4 G connections.

[Buko Max]

I was told that these devices are carrier dependent and I need to buy a sim card for the carrier for it to work. Not being a techie, this is not what I was looking for. I wanted a device independent of carriers that I could use worldwide. Is there one or I always have a sim card not only for my phone but also for the hotspot device?

You need to get a SIM card for each country you operate in but there is another way you can get the frequency needed. It takes another device such as a tablet but not being a techie better scrub that idea!

The Quest hotel has a dedicated router per room and blistering fast internet at 20-30 Mbps.

They must use PLDT as they are the fastest provider but one router per room? Unheard of even for so called business hotels!

[Avoloz]

During my last visit to Leyte, the hotel gave me a hotspot device to use in the room as their wifi was poor. It worked. I decided that I should buy one myself. While shopping at the Ayala Mall in Cebu city, I was told that these devices are carrier dependent and I need to buy a sim card for the carrier for it to work. Not being a techie, this is not what I was looking for. I wanted a device independent of carriers that I could use worldwide. Is there one or I always have a sim card not only for my phone but also for the hotspot device?

In every country I visit, I get one SIM from the 'strongest' provider with data, text and voice load for the duration of my stay and put it in my phone. My phone is dual SIM, so I still having roaming on to receive SMS. When there is phone reception, there is a data connection. Pair all your devices with your phone (done once). Set up your phon as a HotSpot and Bob's your uncle. No need for any more gadgets. Enjoy.

[LifeIsABeach]

Was trying to reiterate that if people think they can conduct business and depend on the internet here, think again. It is a pity that members decide on a hotel based on their WiFi speed. With the proper device (I use a Huawei 4 G Mobile LTE pocket WiFi with Mimo antena), one does not have to depend on hotels or coffee shops for a decent internet connection!

During my last visit to Leyte, the hotel gave me a hotspot device to use in the room as their wifi was poor. It worked. I decided that I should buy one myself. While shopping at the Ayala Mall in Cebu city, I was told that these devices are carrier dependent and I need to buy a sim card for the carrier for it to work. Not being a techie, this is not what I was looking for. I wanted a device independent of carriers that I could use worldwide. Is there one or I always have a sim card not only for my phone but also for the hotspot device?