Kota Beach Resort — Hotel in Bantayan Island

My partner and I recently stayed at your resort from August 12 to celebrate our honeymoon, as we had heard wonderful reviews about your property. Unfortunately, despite careful planning in advance — including my email sent on August 4 requesting a special dinner setup — our experience was filled with multiple disappointments, which I would like to formally raise with you.

Honeymoon Dinner Setup On August 4, I emailed to request a special dinner setup for August 12, but my request was declined due to kitchen renovations. However, upon arrival, we noticed a dinner setup right in front of our room. Although a staff member apologized, I was never updated about the change.

We then reserved a dinner setup by the beach for 7:00 PM to celebrate our honeymoon. We arrived on time, but the food was served 30 minutes late with no explanation. Had we been informed, we would have waited in our room rather than sitting idly by the shore.

During the meal, several issues arose:

The Caesar salad was soggy, and the replacement was of the same poor quality.

The seafood platter was completely cold, with shrimp that tasted noticeably old. The only dish served hot was the pumpkin soup.

The wine service was mishandled. We were given already-opened, chilled red wine, which was not suitable for seafood. Normally, white wine should accompany seafood, while red wine should be served at room temperature.

The cake provided did not match what was offered. We were asked to choose between vanilla or chocolate but instead received a plain chiffon cake.

This dinner was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime honeymoon celebration, yet it was deeply disappointing. I do want to acknowledge, however, the kindness of the staff who served us and the receptionist who helped arrange the dinner despite the outcome.

Construction Noise Months before our stay, my sister emailed to confirm whether construction noise would affect the rooms. She was assured that it would only be heard at the entrance. Unfortunately, this was not true. The noise was clearly audible from our rooms, disrupting our sleep and overall relaxation.

Room Quality For a room costing around ₱5,000 per night, the facilities fell short of expectations:

An old, broken mirror

Low water pressure

A blackout during our first day

These issues made our stay uncomfortable and not reflective of the price we paid.

Breakfast Service Breakfast service was equally unsatisfactory. After waiting 40 minutes for our meals, we received them cold — both the rice and main dish. The only warm item was the fried egg. The other meals which were supposed to be warm, which the staff mentioned had been cooked since 5:30 AM, explaining why nothing else was hot. This left us starting our mornings in frustration instead of enjoyment.

Lack of Managerial Support When we tried to raise these concerns during our stay, we were told no managers were available, as they were all out of town. This left us with no way to escalate our issues directly.

While most of our stay was disappointing, I would like to mention that the only positives were the room cleaning service and the pick-up from the pier to the hotel, which were handled well.

We have photos of the room and recordings of the construction noise during both day and night, should you need verification.

We had chosen your resort to make our honeymoon memorable, but the experience was far from what we expected. Given the cost (₱3,000–₱4,000 for the dinner and ₱5,000 per night for the room), the quality of food, service, and accommodations did not meet the standard promised.

I sincerely hope you take this feedback seriously, raise these concerns with your team, and offer appropriate compensation for what was meant to be a...

This resort has a great view, but it comes with some drawbacks. Let me start by saying my expectations were adjusted given that it was a very reasonable price for accommodations and we are in the Philippines. But even with the price you’d expect some very basic amenities that were lacking. Some of them include:

Our villa had what looked like termite droppings on the bed when we came back several times. A look into the recess of the ceiling revealed piles of it. The resort did try their best to fix the problem by covering a portion of the ceiling with some plywood, and it did help slightly. All throughout the night we heard rustling/scratching in the ceiling that may have been geckos, birds, or other small animals, but it wasn’t the most comforting to hear in the middle of the night. A charge for using more than two beach towels, even if there are three people in your room. For a beach resort, you’d expect every guest would have their own towel. I mean ideally there would be a spot with stocked towels if you ever need some for guests. For the entire resort, there were only 12 beach lounge chairs, and only two of them covered completely with cabanas. For a beach resort you’d expect some spots with umbrellas and more lounge chairs to let guests enjoy the terrific view they have. There were lots of shaded spots with palm trees but no chairs, so you could put down some towels and lay in the sand, this would be a good idea but you were only given one towel per guest. The bar was never staffed, so you would just wait for one of the waitresses outside the restaurant. Normally not a big deal, but the bar would be such a nice place to relax and hang out. Business wise they would probably make lots of money just from selling drinks with a nice atmosphere or even have a waitress checking in on the beach chairs to see if we wanted something. We found ourselves going to Amihan for better drinks and atmosphere. We were visiting for a wedding in the next town over and asked if 6 of us (all hotel guests) could pay for the resort van to take us there. But they stated it was only for pick-up and drop-off at the port. No laundry service on site, but plenty of cheap and fast options nearby. Massage spa closed two hours early without notice, with front desk unable (or not wanting) to book an appointment for you. Front desk unable to provided change for you if you only have large bills.

Some things that might be out of the resorts control, but should be noted: The water in the shower/sink smelled like sewage. The east side of the resort is up against the owners house, where his son resides. The son has special needs, so just be aware that in the middle of the night you may hear some screaming/singing etc., just as a heads up. And for some nice things: Pillows and bed were nice. Free breakfast in the morning is convenient and was tasty. Port pickup and drop-off Security at resort made it feel secure. Easy tricycle hiring and motorbike rental. Staff were friendly and greeted you with a good morning, but generally uninterested in going above and beyond for guests.

Overall, it did the trick. But that being said there were so many little things the resort could have better provided and make for such a better vacation spot. With the view they have it could be a world-class location, but it...

We had our wedding reception at Kota Beach Resort last March 2025. Our special day was almost perfect but the food was really disappointing.

Food tasting (Nov 2024 and Jan 2025): 6/10. We gave our feedback, and they promised to improve.

Actual food during the wedding: 3/10 Chicken Mushroom Soup – Tasted like instant Knorr chicken & mushroom soup. Chopsuey – 3/10. Tasted like steamed veggies with no flavor. Sweet and Sour Fish – 5/10. Mushy and the vinegar tasted undercooked. Spicy Butter Garlic Crab & Corn – 6/10. Shrimp was overcooked and bland. I didn’t even get to taste the crab because I had already lost my appetite. Bam-i Pancit – 3/10. Pale and was tasteless. Grilled Pork Belly – 5/10. Some pieces were overly salty, others bland. Tough to chew. Beef Bourguignon – 1/10. They served pork menudo instead. They insisted it was beef, but the meat was white and clearly pork. Totally different from the food tasting. One of our Muslim guests even ate it not knowing it was pork. Baked scallops– 7/10. They cooked frozen scallops placed in shell. Iced tea - 10/10. Eto lang talaga ung masarap

We asked our guests if they had photos of the food, but no one took any because it looked unappetizing. Fortunately, one of our aunts took a few (see attached photos). The arrangement and food trays were poorly done. Mas ok pa sa fiestahan/karinderya. The food ran out quickly even though many didn’t go back for seconds. It didn’t seem enough for 117 people, and 5 of our guests didn’t even show up.

Even some of our principal sponsors didn’t get to taste all the food because it wasn’t served to them properly.

Me and my wife were starving, and when we finally got to eat, we were so disappointed. We couldn’t even finish one cup of rice. All our guests flew in from Manila and abroad—yet this was the experience.

They charged us so many extra fees, corkage, etc. Ms. Maris was unprofessional during our Zoom meeting. She couldn’t clearly explain the added costs or provide any basis for them.

They don’t allow you to rent their venue unless you also get the food from them. We initially chose this menu (Price: PHP 1,050 per head): Chicken Tinola Soup Chopsuey Sweet and Sour Fish Steamed Crabs Bam-i Pancit Island Humba Beef Caldereta Creamy Fruit Cocktail Baked Scallops Iced Tea But since it’s like home-cooked dishes, we made some changes to: Chicken Mushroom Soup Chopsuey Sweet and Sour Fish Spicy Butter Garlic Crab & Corn Bam-i Pancit Grilled Pork Belly Beef Bourguignon Creamy Fruit Cocktail Baked Scallops Iced Tea They raised the price to PHP 1,500 + service charge = PHP 1,650 per head (117 guests total).

We didn’t have much choice since the wedding was near, and we had already made several trips back and forth to Bantayan. We’re not from Cebu and we work abroad, so our time was limited but we did our best to manage everything. Their staff were polite and kind, but seemed poorly trained and inexperienced.

Thanks to Mr. Chris, after our complaint. They refunded us almost 1/3 of the total food cost. But this still can’t fully compensate for what we lost during our wedding.

I hope we’re the last ones to experience this kind of issue at Kota. Their resort has great potential, especially with such a beautiful location, and they still have...