General Information

oetz
normally Asiatravel is the most competitive for manila or cebu etc,but if you compare Boracay rates using their local promo rates which ilongo boy can get by calling maricel,he will find out that Cencorp is cheaper only for Boracay,Cencorp is a general sales agent for Willys,Nami, and about 27 other Boracay resorts,in fact asia travel buys some of their rooms from Cencorp,you have to distinguish between the local and wholesale rates and the retail website rate,Ilongo was supposed to use the philresorts website to see what Cencorp offers then contact them directly to get the wholesale or local rate.what Asia travel does is also prepurchase rooms but mostly they buy in manila or cebu.sorry for the mechanics of philippine travel lecture,but since you were wondering why,I purchase my Boracay from Cencorp but most of my Manila and a lot of offshore from Asiatravel,nicky the GM of Asia travel and JP the GM of Cencorp are both friends,but Asia travel has over 65 staff and Cencorp has about 10,so service is generally better except for boracay,if for example you book with asia travel for willys ,they will then buy it from Cencorp then sell it to you.to quote the manila diamond hotel Amy the travel trade manager gives me a contracted rate of about 55$ a room and Asia travel gets i hear 50$,it is up to us how much we mark up and pass on to the consumer.my familiarity on the season is also based on being a part owner of hotel here in Cebu,minority investor and Asia travel and Cencorp both buy from me regards

oetz
sorry forgot to give a boracay example Seawinds is being offered at 114$ a night as of 5 minutes ago on the Asia travel website look it up,then Cencorp is offering Seawind at about 10,000 pesos per room retail for three days two nights inclusive of transfers,breakfast,which they can give wholesale for about 9,000 or about 180$,so they are cheaper,but they both get the same contracted rate from susan the owner of seawind which is about 75-80$ a night.hope this clarifies and explains the philippine travel industry system

all
sorry for the long lecture on the system here,but one of the things basic is that generally locals,expats,balikbayans and koreans pay the lowest and westerners and japs pay the highest,i hate that discrimination but that is how the system works here,Manila diamond hotel is available to locals and expats at 3,500 pesos a room for locals and balikbayans inclusive of breakfast,85$ room only for westerners,95$ to japs and 65$ to koreans room only,now isnt that unfair,regards

Ilongo
check the philresort website now,seawinds is down to 6,900 pesos for a a three day two night package inclusive of breakfast ,transfers plus 3,100 pesos per extra night on single room basis,defenitely a good deal compared to the 114$ a night of asiatravel..end of topic,just thought you might want to know

Quite the contrary cebu. An apology would be expected from you only if you knowingly witheld information from any of us who asked that could've kept our expenses low or our ass out of trouble. We all want you to give as long a lecture as you need to get your point across. Thanks for everything.

Vic

Cebu & Oetz,

Thanks for all your helpful information. Called kathy at Oxford Suites - out of the office today. Maricel will be dropping some info at my Makati office. She said that there will be more specials in late June and early July.

Definite plans for Boracay and Cebu.

Cebu local,
Do you have the number for Waterfront Lahug? Is 35US/night there best rate?

You also mentioned Tagaytay, how far is this from Manila, is a night stay long enough?

Thanks again, if any of you will be in Manila, Bacolod and Cebu for the month of July, send me a message and lets have some fun.

ilongo boy
tagaytay is a 1 to 11/2 drive from manila via the southsuper highway and the sta rosa road,personally i do makati tagaytay in 1 hour,it is a good for an overnight stay,go to the casino and stay at the days hotel there,all rooms have a balcony overlooking the lake,try their open air jacuzzi then go to nurture tropical spa for some of the best legitemate massage in the philippines,all the massures are licensed physical therapists then they undergo training for 6 months,www.treasures.com.ph/nurture tel nos 632-8102024/21.i can get you a discount say your cebuano travel agent friend is the friend of cathy palma and you will get a 15% discount.the telephone no of waterfront lahug is 63-32-232-6888,ask for the july low season balikbayan rate promo.enjoy and best regards

ilongo boy
forgot to add that the hotel rates in cebu are high until low season on june 15,so dont be bothered by the roughly 50$ rate quoted by asia travel and other services for waterfront lahug city hotel or 45$ in waterfront airport hotel,to give an example days hotel cebu is 1,950 pesos per night,but i have some groups going in on june paying only 1,250 per room,regards

ilongo boy
regarding getting a good deal for days hotel tagaytay have your office contact their vice president for sales angie at 632-8110809 and ask her for a corporate rate,she will probably give you up to 40% off,just tell her your friend in cebu referred her to you,she was formerly assigned in cebu 3 years ago and this is where i met her,she can probably give you a good deal on their cebu hotel also

Hi cebu,

Just got off the phone with Kathy at Oxford Suites, she won't go below 25K per month for a Superior room not to mention Executive room. Would you be able to change her mind for me? I did mention a friend from Cebu recommended her hotel...and that I will be staying at her hotel 3 times a year.

Thanks for the other info, I will book Waterfront in July and hope to have enough time for Tagaytay.

Thanks again.

ilongo
will be seeing kathy this weekend,will just talk to her then and maybe will get you a deal regards

Thanks for the responses, Firedick and Cebu Local.

You are telling me that the fiancee visa took A YEAR?!?!?! Wow. I should get started on this right away. What to do in the interim? That should be a reason to go back to the Philippines every 90 days or so, to fill my boots when I get there (it's kind of dry if you want Asian women here.)

And not only tha, but for the person who divorced after 90 dayst: Why did yours go back after such a short time? And if you don't like that one, can you just go back and get another with no problem?

What can you guys tell me about the searching process? One person to whom I spoke (this is years ago), told me that he just "flew to Cebu and went to the bar." And another person on this forum told me that "You can take the girl out of the bar but you can take the bar out of the girl." That means you all picked up bar girls. That is a bit, um, disturbing to me. I don't know if it's because I would expect some rougher/ more thoroughly used material. Were there any differences between normal girls and bar girls that you found? Or was the bar the first stop with no in betweens?

Cebu Local

Firedick a friend of mine said you would probably know the most about PI in July. I hear the Cebu area, Boracay and Bohol are not so affected by the weather that time of year the way Manila is. I’m looking to do a little diving and hangout on the Beach for a week. I mentioned Dumaguete earlier because I’ve stayed at Atlantis in PG twice. They charge $65 a night for one or two in a Seaview suite. Looking for nice beach and just a few dives and something with some nightlife nearby. Do you have any other suggestions?

I also need to spend a few days in Manila on business. I get a rate of $70 on the Internet for the Heritage. The good thing is you can cancel as late as 2PM the same day. I’ve have even made a reservations from their business office for the following day. It’s good because it gives me flexibility but the hotel is starting to show a little wear. Do you know of anything better that’s nice and maybe a little closer to Makati? I’ve stayed at City Garden but I need something a little more upscale for business clients

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cebu local
[i]ilongo
will be seeing kathy this weekend,will just talk to her then and maybe will get you a deal regards [/i][/QUOTE]

Many thanks Cebu.

regarding your questions here are your answers,Cebu,Dumagete and Bohol are outside the Philippine typhoon belt,so while it will be rainy,the rains will be less frequent and the downpour more moderate then in Manila or AC,that is why Atlantis in Dumagete is an excellent choice,it is located beside the Apo island Marine park which is a world heritage site,super excellent diving compared to PG,I answered the nightlife question earlier also,Dumagete city 20 minutes away has an interesting nightlife,much cheaper then AC or Manila.
Regarding the hotel,stay at the Mandarin Oriental which is voted by Conde Nast traveler as the best hotel in the philippines,Asia travel.com has a special for 80$ inclusive of buffet breakfast,that is 75% off ,that is as prestigous as you can get,they prepurchased about a thousand rooms so they got a very good deal.the hotel is in the center of makati.hope this answers your questions regards