Harolds Mansion Hostel — Hotel in Dumaguete

We spent 4D3N at the place as lodging for the business trip in the area. Twin bed room was at PHP 1000. I do not recommend comming here IF they are almost fully booked since you'll get the problematic rooms (e.g. faulty airconditioning and plumbing). We had to transfer rooms 2 times and spent a night without aircon before we got a recently vacated good room. The front office staff was good to accept our request to waive the extra bed charge since they transferred us to a single queen-sized bed.||Pro tip: Check the aircon and the bathroom before checking in!||The rooms have no phones so you have to go down the front desk if you need something. ||Note that small insects are a norm since except for the rooms, the corridors are open air.||The hostel is strict about towels; you have to request one at the front desk and leave an ID.||On the food, they offer free light local breakfast - all carbs so you have to order if you want protein and greens with your meal. The menu (which you pay up front at their rooftop resto) is good for its price and quality - affordable and okay. For a local, the serving of the food is good for two people. ||Location wise, this place is best if you want relatively less noise but just a 5 minute walk away from the port and from the middle of Siliman University.||I recommend this place for business travel or if you are just looking for an affordable place to sleep. I wouldn't hang out here the...

USED TO BE GOOD, BUT NOW RIP OFF TOURISTS. DO NOT USE!

I did an Apo island tour with Harold's in 2018 which I thought was very good, so I thought I would do it again in April 2024, but it was awful.

Unfortunately this time was not so good. I was quoted p2,100 per person via email, but when I went to the hostel to book, they charged me p3,400 per person for 2. They only accepted cash, but didn't have p200 change after I paid p7000, which is suspicious since it was cash only and they were operating the hostel as well as dive tours. They said they would give it to me when they picked us up the next day, but the guide didn't know anything about this. THEY ALSO DIDN'T GIVE ME A RECEIPT. So the whole thing feels like a SCAM overcharging tourists. The pick up was 40 minutes late picking us up. The tour itself was quite good, food was a packed lunch of rice and chicken in a box, whereas previously and other tours are much better.

In addition to the p7000 I paid for the tour, the guide pressured us to tip the boat crew and himself. I am not against tipping good service, but considering I was overcharged by Harold's, I wasn't very happy paying even more.

Overall, guide was good, but I would never use Harold's again and would recommend tourists go...

Place was recommended and highly rated so we decided to stay here inspite of the fact that our other companions stayed at another hotel. Service was good on the first day however when we asked for housekeeping we were told it was only till 5PM. So early next morning we asked for housekeeping again only to be asked if we already paid in full.. of course we already did and the receptionist should have known that. I was taken by surprise by what she meant - we asked for housekeeping services and did she mean they wont clean the room if we are not paid in full? There was that "attitude" we dont appreciate and we do not get when we stay at 4 star and 5 star hotels. Mind you we stayed in their "suite". Rooms are a litle old but airconditioning was excellent as well as their hot shower. Also their free breakfast starts at 630am til 10am but when our kids came over to get brekfast at 745am it was no longer available. We also ordered lunch only to be turned away because of there were also 2 tables waiting to be served. A little disapointing since they were highly rated...