MDF Beach Resort — Hotel in Cebu

Well first of all through Airbnb, they advertised that they were located right there with the whale sharks when in fact they are actually on the other side of the island. I made the reservation with the belief that I would be right there and was very disappointed. I got the email with the directions and was noted to drive between 12 and 2 in which I did. When I got to the establishment nobody answered the buzzer. I waited 20 minutes before I just walked in through the gate. Music was blaring from somewhere and there was nobody at the office. I went and sat down at the tables by the water for another 20 minutes before we actually found the housekeeper. She pointed me to my room with no check in no key no rules or anything. This was to be the Japanese room by the water. Upon climbing the stairs to the room i did a brief inspection. Nothing really fancy about it other than you could see the sunset from this side of the island. ||||Anyway at this point I needed to make my morning reservation for the whale sharks so I started to leave and realized that one the latch on the door was broken and two there was never any key given. So here I was to stay in a room that anyone can walk into at anytime and my personal effects could not even be secure, plus I was on the other side of the island and not where I wanted to be in the first place. Upon leaving I did ask the housekeeper about food and she stated that she needed to be informed at least an hour in advance because she had to prepare it and it was all frozen. No keep in mind that still I did not see another soul at the establishment. ||||Outside the gate I was able to flag down a motor bike to get me to Olsob so that I can book my experience with the whale sharks. It took 45 minutes to get back around to the other side of the island where the Sharks were. I finally decided that I would not be safe at this establishment that had now guest only one staff and a owner that did not want to show to greet his guests. I found a place where the whale sharks were and went back to get my suitcase of effects that I left at the room. I felt it would be ok with the lock on it at least. When I got there the owner was just sitting there by the stands smoking a cigarette. He didn't even ask who I was until I was leaving with my case. I had instructed the motorbike to wait for me at the gate. The man walked up to me still puffing on his smoke and then asked my name. I told him and he said then I guess your leaving early and I told him yes because it took me 45 minutes to get to the whale sharks when he plainly advertised that the resort was in Olsob where the sharks were. He actually tried to argue with me and said on no it only take me 20 minutes. But that was not the point. They did not advertise properly. ||||Now I canceled through Airbnb and they had a no refund policy if canceled within 5 days or your stay. So they get my money whether I like it or not. I contacted Airbnb to try to resolve the issue and explained that i felt unsafe and that they advertised incorrectly. I explained the latch and the experience but unfortunate I did not take any pictures as proof. Well because the add says it has a lock there is nothing to go by because I did not take the pictures. I am not sure if the Airbnb guy looked the place up on google maps or not but one thing he has to realize is in this country (not the US) every km is done at only 40 kph. Not very fast so it takes a while to get around. In any-case, because of my long term with Airbnb and the fact I travel often internationally, they did decide to refund my money for the room at least. I Had to decide to write a review here where it does not mater what kind of lies or bull crap the owner will try to say to cover up the facts. Here I have an excellent track record with well over 200 reviews. I will not mis inform any of my readers. I feel it is important to let people know so that they don't have a bad experience or something...

Pros: Unsafe Construction/No WiFi/Extremely Expensive on Property|- Near Lilo-an (10 minutes by scooter) where we enjoyed the best meal(s) of our month tour in the Philippines called Felice Ristorante Italiano ||Cons:|- A large portion of the floor caved in while we were sleeping inside of the building where we were staying (see photos). The rest of the structure was never checked and the owners dismissed the incident as ‘common in the Philippines’.|- They are erecting an additional building on the compound so construction noise was constant. Loud music and karaoke blared through large speakers well past 1am. |-WiFi never worked properly, the room itself smelled like mold, the bathroom was never cleaned, the shower drain didn’t work, and the garbage was overflowing and never removed.|-My husband and I felt terrible for the malnourished monkey they kept as a pet which was attached to the construction site by a short chain.|-Owners treatment of staff is deplorable, they are treated poorly, aggressively bossed around and yelled at in front of guests.|-Our building decor included dozens of seductive looking photos of the owner along the walls which made for a laugh (exp: her sucking on an ice cream cone) but felt quite awkward.|-The listing suggests a great location for every attraction, meaning it isn’t actually close to one specific attraction. Once on the property, they charge aggressively high prices for food/drinks and motorbike rental as they know you have no other options. If you bring your own food or drinks, they impose a charge of 100 pesos per person.|-The listing on booking stated that a credit card will be charged 50% 7 days prior, then the additional 50% on check in. They do not actually accept cards of any kind, but demand cash payment in full upon arrival (a challenge for us as cash is difficult and expensive to access in this region).|-The listing says ‘beachfront’ property, but there is NO beach. You must hire transport to visit a beach.|-This property was recently removed from Airbnb based on the quantity and variety of complaints.|-Also, be cautious of the owner. Reluctantly, she partially refunded our stay after the floor caved in because we did not feel safe sleeping in that building. She then spread lies of thievery and “internet hacking”, and threatened the involvment of the police and her gangster husband as intimidation not to leave a bad review.||Basically, there are plenty of better places to stay that are a better value and much more convenient/closer to the main attractions of the area. It’s sad to see unethical actions of these people going against everything the Philippines are trying to build...

I booked MDF Resort for the budget friendly family room, clean surrounding, great photos and wonderful amenities offered online through booking.com. I was under the impression that given the number of families staying in the family room, they'd provide a private bathroom/toilet. I was very wrong. Here are the issues that I had to deal with: ||||1. When we got there, we were told that the bathroom/toilet was not attached to the room. Rather, we had to get out of our room and walk some distance to utilize the "shared" bathroom/toilet. Excuse me but I don't like "sharing" my toilet and bathroom with anyone that I don't know of. There was only one toilet to be shared with at least 12 people at that time. Imagine the agony of having to wait outside so that you can do your business. The toilet floor was always wet because there was a leakage on attached water jet hose. Even the bathroom hose and pipes had leaks somewhere. True enough that the toilet bowl was clean but the surrounding walls need a lot of remodelling and renovation. And what's with the dim light in the toilet? I honestly don't like to make nasty comments but MDF's shared toilet is more like a public toilet to me. Next time, please advertise your resort's amenities with honesty. ||||2. I love animals but your two dogs although tame are kind of annoying. You need to control them especially when you have paying guests that come in and out of your resort. I hate it when they try to stick their faces close to the table and your food or lie right under the table close to your feet while you're having lunch or dinner. Sorry but that's just appalling. We couldn't eat properly especially when at the back of our minds we anticipate that the dogs might bite us anytime should we step on them by mistake. ||||3. The place is really tired looking as opposed to the photos online.||||Had I known that we will be greeted with a shared bathroom/toilet, I wouldn't have booked the place at all. There are far better places around the area and Oslob region with a competitive price. The reason why I booked this place is because of the ratings and reviews that the other people have given. Now that I've seen MDF, I kind of wonder whether those reviews are really from genuine guests or not. ||||The only thing that made our stay a bit bearable is the fact that their two staff (Belle and JR) are such wonderful,...