Sam Xander’s Stone Beach Villa — Hotel in Cebu

Budget-friendly rest house welcomes families and groups of all sizes looking for a quick place to stay. Just two hours away from the capital!

Pros: Beautiful and durable traditional furniture Spacious bedrooms: one with king-sized bed, end table, three-tier stand and a large wardrobe; one queen size with two end tables on either side, a mirror, three-tier stand and standard wardrobe in the other; and a double bed, one end table and same stand in another; plus A/C installed and trash can in each (mattresses already set up) Complete kitchen for cooking, eating and drinking needs: cookware, gas, non-electric countertop dispenser, to name a few Fridge has freezer Air-conditioned living/dining room, complete with TV and small subwoofer and some wall fans Free cable TV Abundance of bath towels for each ten people Plenty of chairs to sit Lovely and inviting atmosphere Beautiful scenery of the sea; Mt. Kanlaon in the distance Stairs directly accessible to the beach Bonfire, along with chairs, overlooking the sea Outdoor grill station Plenty of space outdoors for group activities (comparable size to The Summer House in Sogod, Cebu) Approachable and warm caretakers, willing to take multiple demands one after another (just ask nicely) Bonus: Bedrooms filled with warm lights Bonus: Coffee maker with kettle Bonus: Wine and shot glasses Bonus: Teapots and cups Bonus: TV allows plugging in USB devices Bonus: Toilet has bidet Bonus: Terrace with matching daybed and patio chairs Bonus: Pristine garden and backyard; small pieces of garbage hidden in plain sight Bonus: Alfresco dining with limited utensils and a separate area for basin/washing Bonus: Lots of pillows to use for sleeping in the outdoors Bonus: Open-air bed in king size Bonus: A raised platform to view the horizon or simply sleep in fresh air, coupled with toss pillows Bonus: Three hammocks outside to use as a bed Bonus: Two floppy hats to wear for fashionable look Bonus: Snorkeling gears placed freely available beside the entrance Bonus: Pets are allowed around the property

Cons: No distinguishable landmark Property is isolated and will require passing through different roads to get there Doors inside the house can be hard to close Hand towels and dishcloths not available in the kitchen Bathrooms donʼt come with shampoos, only liquid soap Muffled sound coming from the TV Karaoke for a price Doesnʼt feature swimming pool (for now) Minor detail: Surveillance cameras may bother people concerned about their privacy Minor detail: Small dining table may turn off some Minor detail: Mirrors missing in other bedrooms Minor detail: Remote for TV lacks battery (asked for spare to no avail) Minor detail: YouTube on TV not set up Minor detail: TV doesnʼt come with Netflix Minor detail: Bar soaps do not come provided as an option Minor detail: Confusing exit to the beach at first, as the door to the far left corner had no sign telling you itʼs the way out Minor detail: Homegrown coconuts not for free Minor detail: Lights in the alfresco area flicker every 6 minutes Minor detail: Built-in lights for the open bed outside are not supplied with power

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5)

In a word, it was worth the stay. Itʼs close to perfect—just as how you would imagine for the price. If it werenʼt for the obvious cons weighing down the good ones, it wouldʼve been a straight 5. On the bright side, as we were leaving, we were told that a private pool is underway. Keeping that in mind as we would definitely come back when that happens. Not having a pool is a major deal-breaker anyway.

The owner or host sure knows how to make guests feel at home in such a short while, just judging from the amenities they offer. Highly recommend they install a sign pointing to the place. People who would take matters into their own hands might find it hard to get there the first time. Tip: Contact the person listed by the host to avoid inconvenience. Suggest you take two nights to get the most out...

We stayed here over the weekend to celebrate our Mom's Bday. Be prepared for disappointment as this property is HOPELESSLY UNPREPARED and VULNERABLE to power outages and offers no backup solutions, compensation, assurance or even a word of acknowledgement on the issue.

Our nice birthday dinner with family was interrupted when power and water supply suddenly went out. We were forced to eat in the dark (none of their numerous staff even offered to get us the very basic: candles) and had to consume most of the food meant for the following day, knowing it would spoil without refrigeration. Worse, some of us had to sleep unshowered, saltwater on our skin, in the heat, without AC or even a fan.

For a property that is so inflexible with rules as if it’s a 5-star resort (won't exempt very young children from the full-priced headcount, won't let you in the empty property or apply the cafe discount even minutes before official check-in time) and charges at least 15k per night, I can’t understand why they haven't invested in a generator or contingency plan for outages and would rather just leave their customers to fend for themselves with nothing. Their lack of preparedness and accountability is unacceptable.

But even more frustrating than this was the owner/admin's complete lack of concern. Caretakers seemed clueless, claiming they had contacted the power company (who never came) but could do nothing more, like we should just accept the situation and that's it. I repeatedly followed up with the property owner, only to be left on read. All we wanted was assurance that it will be resolved, or compensated. That there's a solution. A responsible property owner would have, at the very least, shown concern and taken steps to address the issue, whether by offering alternative accommodations or securing a generator. Power finally returned three hours later at midnight (without their intervention), but by then, our evening was already ruined. Our planned night of celebration turned into one of anxiety and stress. And what if it hadn’t come back?

As for the property itself, the house was clean and reasonably maintained, but the beachfront and pool area were nowhere near as impressive as their ongoing social media posts that continues to show alluring photos that are not recent. In reality, the outdoor amenities were either worn out or missing entirely. The bonfire recliners and shade/hut beside the pool don't exist, as do the cushions and curtains in their cabana. Their hammock was shredded and looked like it had never been washed. It's like being catfished by someone posting their 10 year old photo, except in this situation, you've already paid around 17k and driven 3 hours with no viable way out especially in the middle of the night.

The owner/admin was very responsive before payment, but that responsiveness disappeared the moment we checked in. They ignored urgent messages about the unresponsive caretaker and the power outage, offering no apology, assurances, and accountability even after checkout.

FINAL THOUGHTS: While the property may look appealing in photos, their complete disregard of failure on their part, and lack of preparation for emergencies is a massive turn off. I advise potential guests to look elsewhere if reliability and accountability are...

We stayed here overnight last weekend, August 2-3, 2025. The place itself was nice enough but nothing extraordinary since it was fronting the beach and there were plenty of areas to hang out. However, the negatives far outweigh the positives to a point where I don’t even know where to begin.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the most unfriendly staff who, by the way, demanded that we settle the whole payment upfront before they can even let us enter despite the hot weather outside. They would rather have us wait in the heat outside even after explaining that a second car was coming right behind us who will settle the whole payment, and that our group was the one who paid the downpayment. This absolutely didn’t make sense to us because they knew that the whole property was gonna be rented privately and we clearly explained the situation. Obviously, these people care more about making money than giving their guests a good experience. They know nothing about hospitality.

Take note, the actual road from the main road going to the property is not concretized at all, it’s vey narrow, and your car will get scratches from the overgrown bushes beside the road. Then, the horrible experience keeps piling up.

There was an obvious electrical issue in the entire property because the air conditioning couldn’t cool off any of the three rooms we were supposed to sleep in. Also, all the lights would randomly dim down then back up after a few seconds. It would be an understatement to say that we had a very uncomfortable night. We checked their reviews in Google, and this looks to be a longstanding issue which, apparently, they are just choosing to ignore. In fact the water dispenser wouldn’t dispense cold water either due to the electrical issue or the appliance is malfunctioning. The same is true for the refrigerator, so we spent our entire time there with no cold water.

All the door knobs of the three bedrooms were busted, for some reason. This is a serious privacy and safety issue. There were also stray dogs and cats inside so we had to be extra careful not to leave our food unattended. The fire alarm thing on the ceiling kept beeping the entire time making it even harder to sleep. The swimming pool was mediocre at best and was tiny. There were damaged seats and tables in the amenity area. And it was really obvious that the property was not being maintained properly. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this place...