La Jolla Luxury Beach Resort — Hotel in Bagac

TIMING was BAD, BUT the resort and people made a difference!

Our 4 days - 3 nights stay couldn't have been more ill timed. With a 3 hour (3km) flood traffic northbound, a whopping 6 hour (9km) traffic southbound, a storm, habagat and monsoon, that should've detered anyone's plans. However, us being who we are, went ahead anyway!

Reaching La Jolla after 7 hours (vs 3.5 hrs) from Pasig City, it was an immeasurable relief to be met by courteous, friendly people from the gatehouse up to the loft villa. Sadly, the beach, infinity pool as well as the water facilities are closed due to the stormy weather. BIG BUMMER! The waves were very strong, whipped up by the typhoon winds. The floating trash are being blown ashore despite the insane effort of the clean up personnel to bulldoze (payloader actually) the whole length of the beach all day. The crashing waves also turned the usually clear water into an opaque slush capped by stirred up stuff. There goes 90% of the vacation plans. However, our stay didn't end up miserable. We still enjoyed the strolls, quiet time watching the waves (though of course, we came for more than these). Thankfully the sun came out for a few hours on our 3rd day allowing me and my daughter to still get sunburned in the pool right across the Villa. We had a good time bumming around the place, probably even more so if we were able to hike or bike around the forested side of the facility (mostly closed for safety). In general, we found ways to enjoy anyway.

The Loft Villas are spacious, had great mattresses (even the extra one), clean, fresh smelling, down-pillows the kind we get from 4 star hotels. Had very nice bathrooms with generous fresh towels. There were no customary welcome drinks but we did get surprisingly good in-house made white chocolate. Me and the Mrs are not fans of white choco so that says a lot! A/Cs were good, they pumped out the humidity. Fridge, electric kettle, hair dryer and the electrical conveniences all worked properly. A VERY welcome feature with the stay is the daily coffee... while most would have 3-in-one instant...La Jolla has fresh ground drip brew! The room don't come with creamer or sugar (must be an oversight) but the staff would bring them if you call the consierge. The pool staff provide big fluffy towels too, nice.

The food from the "Mango" resto, beside the Villas served really good food, actually we were initially pessimistic after reading some terrible reviews about the food (notably the beach bar). But we were pleasantly surprised, especially with the bulalo and sinigang. The breakfast buffet were also quite good, custom cooked tapsilog, corned beef hash, eggs are offered by the servers. In fact, if you ever choose to have the breafast late near 9am, that would make an awesome brunch too, but try not to pig out before a swim that's a bad idea!

The staff we encountered were ALL nice, polite, and always ready to help out. We weren't sure if that was standard policy or just the fact that there were very few guests during our stay. We also met with the guard at the beach who happened to be the guard in Kawilihan Lane in Kapitolyo were we used stay for over a decade.

"The work ethics of staff and line personnel has direct correlation to that of management". We met Eugene, the manager. He tried to make sure our stay was as comfortable and as enjoyable despite our unfortunate timing. We now understand why the people were the way they were!

To sum it up, despite our rotten timing, everything went well, thanks mostly to the people who made it so. The Villas we stayed in were both GREAT. The food (Mango resto) surprisingly GOOD. As for the "fun side" of the facilites, maybe next time we'll be able to give it a proper review. To Mr Eugene and his people, from the guard at the beach up to the housekeeping... THANK YOU for making our stay a good one.

I do have a few suggestions... a convenience shop would be nice. Complimentary bottled water per visitor per day would be too, hydration and the beach go together right (and it wouldn't cost much at...

It was not our first time here, but this time we were EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED with how everything turned out during our day tour. We were initially planning to book an overnight stay, but thank God they were fully booked—otherwise, we would have wasted even more money on what they call a “luxury” beach resort. What a JOKE.||Lobby Staff:|* They don’t know how to properly greet or assist guests at check-in. They seemed completely lost, especially when it came to the collection of environmental fees. Zero professionalism.||Restaurant (THE WORST EXPERIENCE):|* No one assisted us when we arrived. I had to ask TWICE if we could have lunch already, and the staff themselves looked unsure and had to confirm if lunch service was available.|* Once we were seated, we had to ask THREE times for just two extra chairs to accommodate our group of 15.|* We even asked the waitress if the plated meals would be served all together or if we had to line up at the servers, but she was unsure and gave us no clear instructions. She also never explained that we needed to choose what food we wanted until we followed up ourselves. If I hadn’t asked again, we would have been left hungry and still waiting for food that was never going to come.|* We had two options (Beef Rendang or Chicken Teriyaki), so we ordered and then waited a long time.|* They served only 3 soups for 13 people. When we asked if that was it, the server casually said the others would come “later.” That would have been fine if they had informed us in the first place. Instead, we were left confused and waiting.|* Drinks were only served to HALF of us, and we had to follow up AGAIN before the rest were given. Absolutely unacceptable.|* The staff even started giving excuses, saying she wasn’t supposed to be there because the one assigned to the restaurant was sent to the stock room. Excuse me—why do we, the guests, need to hear that? Is that even our problem??|* Later, she returned and informed us that Chicken Teriyaki was no longer available. Only Beef Rendang and Spicy Pork Bulgogi were left—without any warning that the pork was spicy. We had kids with us! Why weren’t we told upfront so we could decide properly? We had already compromised when chicken wasn’t available, but this just added insult to injury.|Front Desk / Exit:|* We decided to check out at 3 PM. The staff gave me an exit pass, confirming everything was settled. But when we reached the gate (with 4 cars), the guard REFUSED to let us through and demanded that I go back to the lobby. I even asked if we could just resolve it over the phone, but they insisted I return in person. Such an unnecessary hassle!|* When I went back, they suddenly claimed there was an issue with our bill. The manager insisted we ordered 15 set meals, when in reality we only had enough for 13 adults. (Yes, we were 15 pax total, but 2 were kids ages 1 and 4 who obviously didn’t eat the set meals.) We had photo proof of our group with the food served, and we even asked them to check their CCTV.|* Instead of resolving the matter professionally, they made us feel like we were criminals trying to skip payment. In the end, they said they would “shoulder the extra bill”—which only proves it was THEIR mistake in punching the order. Why were we, the paying guests, subjected to this embarrassment in the first place?|* What makes it even worse is that I already PAID the full bill two weeks before our trip (instead of just the reservation fee) specifically to AVOID any hassle. And yet, despite being fully paid, they still managed to create this mess and stress us out.||Overall, this so-called “luxury resort” gave us the WORST service experience—from disorganized staff to poor communication, lack of professionalism, incomplete service, and even making us feel accused of something we didn’t do. We left feeling more stressed than relaxed. Definitely not worth the price,...

Location: it's a 3 hour drive from Manila, taking Skyway then NLEX, then SCTEX. You'll pass through two checkpoints: (1) at the end of Dinalupihan exit, and (2) upon entry to Bagac. The resort is accessible via private transportation. It does not look like public transportation is an option, but not impossible.

Facilities: expansive resort with great amenities. The beach view is amazing too. Beach is not crowded and there are plenty of areas to stay while relaxing. However, there is no map or resort guide of any sort provided to us during our stay.

Room/Stay: while the room smells amazing, it is not very clean. Our comforters are stainer stained. There are noticeable dust at the side of the bed. There are no towels in the bathroom nor any bathroom mats. We had to ask 3x to request for bathroom towels that should have already been there in the first place. There are no bathroom floor rugs, or hand towels as well. Bathroom floor is also wet upon check-in. Based on their hotel guide received through email, they provide a sanitation kit for every room. This is not true. There was nothing in our room except some TV guide, and a QR code for Room Service. In addition, the QR code in our room is assigned to a different room, hence our order came in late, and one was even cancelled. We called the front desk and they didn't offer to replace the QR code with the correct one for our room and instead asked us to order online again. Poor customer service. Wifi connection is provided for 3 devices (I guess this is dependent on your room type), but the internet keeps on getting disconnected and we have to sign in over and over again.

The hotel charges a pet fee of 1000. Then, upon checkin, we were told that pets are not allowed outside the room! What a policy. Why charge us 1000 if we are too keep our pet inside the room only. They should've just not allowed pet if they will not even allow pet outside. When we complained, we were allowed to bring our small dog to the beach, but not anywhere else. Such a hassle. It's very frustrating. If they don't want pets in the first place, they should've just said so upon confirmation of our booking.

Food: no outside food allowed, which is understandable. Since we want to keep minimal interaction with other people, we always room service. However, ordering food is frustrating as the system is unresponsive (add to this is my previous frustration of having the incorrect QR code card in our room). We ordered quesadilla and la jolla burger. The burger is overcooked and dry. If we have any choice, we won't be eating dinner here anymore.

Pools/beach: There are two pool area, the main pool, which is beside the main lobby, and an infinity pool, beside the beach. The pool area has great view, spacious lounging area and enjoyable pool experience. Unfortunately, since pets are not allowed, we were only able to go there to tale pictures. The beach has generally fine gray sand, but the shallow part of the beach is a bit rocky. There are also several trash, but it was tolerable. There are plenty of place to relax beach-side in case you don't like yo actually swim.

Check-out: we were advised to call for checkout. So, we called 10am for check-out. At 10:30am, no update yet. We had to call for follow-up on checking out. Having to check out should not be taking this long. So we decided to just go to the lobby. When we our about to pay for our room service charges, it was found out none was charged to our room due to the QR code mismatch. We had to wait another 15 mins for them to sort it out. Such a frustrating check out experience.

Over-all, for a resort that has luxury in its name, this doesn't live up to the luxury in terms of customer service and overall stay satisfaction. Perhaps, the luxury is mostly to define the expansive area and great amenities.

I will think twice before...