Costa Pacifica — Hotel in Baler

There were only three things about Costa Pacifica that might have saved this from being a one star review. One, its staff -- they were mostly friendly and helpful. Some lack training, such as those in the Pavillon and the front desk staff, but the shuttle drivers and life guards were very helpful. Maintenance responded quickly (and more than once) to our requests for assistance when the blinds fell and the sliding door wouldn't shut. But they were generally helpful.||Two, its swimming pool. We were told it was newly refurbished, and while it was pretty and somewhat clean, the tiles and grout were already moldy. But its size and consistent depth were good for doing laps and hanging out away from other guests.||Three, the airconditioning in our room. It was strong and consistent, worked as it should and made the room comfortably cold. That said, it's pretty sad when the air-condition is one of the few things we can say we liked about this place.||Other than that -- Costa Pacifica was a big disappointment and certainly not worth the price we paid. Its pictures look pretty online, and it probably did look like that -- but 8 years ago. Today it is a sad-looking, run down ghost of itself with rusted metal roof lines, and cracked and faded paint. And it is in the midst of much needed renovations.||On the inside, the Pacifica Suite we stayed in was the most plain, generic white room that looked nothing like their photos. No decor to speak of. Instead it had the same faded paint and stained walls as outside, rusty light fixtures, dirty and malfunctioning window shades, and glass doors that were very difficult to open and close. The lighting was very dim at night -- no additional lamps were available even when we asked. Only one of the bedside reading lights worked. The bathroom door handle was missing. The desk and closet, made of laminated particle board, were old and chipped and could fall apart any day now. And the closet smelled of the previous guests' cheap pomade. Or perfume. Whatever, it was gross. There was a daybed with one cushion, its cover old and questionable. In the center of the room, was an open, waste of space --- but no coffee table, no extra chairs. Nowhere to eat the room service breakfast, except for a small, beat-up side table that looked like it came from a ukay-ukay for furniture. Outdoors wasn't much better --- the lanai had faded, plastic woven chairs that were unraveling and uncomfortable. The "ocean view" was lovely but blocked by an overgrown tree, which they trimmed on our last day there. ||The room lacked some essentials when we first checked-in: there were no hand towels, no coffee, no "do not disturb" sign, and no interior security bolt that decent hotels have. ||*Our biggest complaint, however is not how old and ugly or uncomfortable the accomodations were -- it's the fact that Costa Pacifica management did not inform us that they are currently renovating their main reception area and restaurant. There was no indication on Agoda when we booked the room, that construction was ongoing. We were not informed even when the reservation was confirmed by Costa Pacifica itself. Other resorts we have stayed at -- both in the Philippines and internationally -- are all up front about any ongoing construction that could possibly disturb or incovenience their guests; they post it wherever accomodations are booked so that guests can make informed decisions. Because, had we known about this, we would have chosen to stay elsewhere where there was no loud construction noise, no dust and no smells of paint and other chemicals. We wanted a relaxing atmosphere. Instead, we were surprised upon arrival by an ugly, boarded up main entrance and its ugly buildings, and casually told -- oh, by the way, we're renovating the place. ||That, plus the decaying accomodations and facilities, made the experience much less tolerable or excusable. In the end, this is still a one star review. What made our Baler experience a good one were the other restaurants and the beach. Not this "resort".||Given how long renovations and construction in general take here in the Philippines, we recommend guest stay away from Costa Pacifica for a few years until everything is done and new again. Maybe their management and maintenance will have...

Definitely a "shell of its former glory"

Don't know where to start as there were too many bad things to mention . First off, while outside at the font of the main lobby you can enjoy the rusting steel guard railings and building surfaces dripping with tear like rust formation (might be the buildings crying for help) then going inside the lobby you are greeted with a building thats way too dilapidated and a not so welcoming musky smell that might be from the wetness of the place. It's like a all you can eat buffet but you're served with the worst things you can imagine.

Sadly we came from a very long travel and we have children and elderlies with us so the hassle of searching for new accomodation and the additional travel time made us stick up to whats already there. Besides, It cant be worse than this right? After all, this was a highly rated place. Boy was I so wrong! Tiles popping off the floors, ceiling plastering falling and breaking off everywhere you look, there were also a lot of wet areas due to dripping water. Too many busted light bulbs too , maybe intentional to spice up the "end of the world" vibes. . Theres also a restaurant and an overlooking pool from the lobby but dont be fooled, there were popping tiles everywhere too and same goes with the ceiling. Then theres the rooms, too overpriced and too dim due to only having accent lights inside with a few busted ones too. The bath tub also had a damaged faucet so youre stuck with the included shower head to fill it with the also state of the art "variable water pressure" were the water pressure flactuates badly even when not moving the levers or knobs. There's also a lack of drainage near the bathtub floor so good luck kicking the water to the shower area if you managed to drip amywhere. Our aircons also suffered broken PCBs so we really experienced the full "end of the world" theme of the place . You can also see a poorly maintained fish pond behind our room. Too much algae on the water you cant see the fishes till they reach up to breathe. Food on the restaurant tasted ok though but too pricey for the taste and experience. Did'nt quite fit the "end of the world" theme so I dont know whats going on with that. There were also issues regarding our bills and taking us on hold for not fully consuming our reserved dates then sill making us pay for a room that we wont use but I wont get to it much as I was not the one...

Me and my family had the worst experience in this hotel/resort. The Rooms are truly spacious but they only allow a number of guest each room not maximizing its capacity, well we even told them were gonna pay for every additional person, sucks they didnt allow bec. They said its gonna be too crowded but actually not. They just want to sell more rooms. The hotel is not good for groups.. the room ceiling has also leaks coming from outside, we came there raining and there are leaks on the ceiling. The way going to the room is wet and slippery. The A/C also is not working properly in the (one bedroom suite) which 4 of my family member stayed, such a bummer, we called the front desk couple of times to report it but it wast fixed until the next day. Also the tiles at the lobby was all craked and creaky, the manager has a very lousy decision making skills. Like they charged us a Room because we didnt finished our 3days/2nigths reservation because he said that the rooms were already blocked, what a Policy, they didnt even told me that when im having my reservation over the phone, well we need to do early check out bec. The weather there is bad and there's no other place to go. Like what the heck its raining heavily how can my family roam around the area of Baler. They cant seem to understand our Point.. but then they charged us with one room for us to Check out. So for you guys be more vigilant and ask them to be more transparent. There is also an environmental fee which is collected upon arrival well as i have said its raining that time, we didnt even have the time to look around the hotel and its vicinity yet we are charged with the said fee and didnt even removed the Senior discount. What a shame.. this is a Very Cheap Way to treat customers, my family even gave Tip to the resto staffs. Hayyyys... We are so displeased on how they treat us. Its the first time we have experienced this kind of disgust in a Hotel/resort. Hope they could fix their rooms, their services and their policy because its cheap and very...