Island Hop Inn — Hotel in El Nido

I will NEVER recommend this travel tour. It was the worst package I've experienced in my years of traveling. My friends and I purchased a 3-days travel package from Puerto Princesa to El Nido(Sep 10-13). Our flight back to Cebu was Sep 13, 11 am. The van picked us in our hotel 7 am Sep 10 and we had a half day tour to the Underground river. We arrived in El Nido around 7 p.m. Sep 10, and here’s what went wrong:

Sep 10. Arrival at the hotel. There was a lack of coordination between the staff in Puerto Princesa and El Nido. Our tour guide, Shou, informed us that the environmental fee was PHP 200. However, when we arrived, the hotel staff collected PHP 600. We inquired about the discrepancy, and they said the fee increased on June 1. So 400 for the environmental fee + 200 for the lagoon entrances. Our frustration was we are not informed ahead of time that we have addtional fees to pay. They have so many chances informing us about this. Also, why were we given info per tour guide and hotel staff do not match? This was very confusing and frustrating.

Still sep 10 at the hotel. We were assigned rooms #12 and #15, which were extremely small and had a terrible smell from the toilet. Room #12 even had a cockroach. The air conditioning blew hot air, the water pressure was poor, and no toiletries were provided. The beds were itchy and seemed unclean. Due to these issues, we had to find alternative accommodations coz we know we’ll never have a good night sleep with this environment. So right after dinner, we looked around. Fortunately, we found a nearby hotel, but we settled down around 12 midnight already. Everyone was exhausted and 4 of us end up cancelling the tour. Imagine our frustration and the hassle we had that day.

Sep 11. On the second day, we returned to the hotel around 6 pm to confirm the pick-up time for the second tour and the airport transfer from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. To our dismay, we were informed we needed to pay an additional PHP 3,500 for the van because there were no other passengers to share the ride with us. This is because we need to depart from El Nido at 2 am Sep 13. Like are you nuts? We paid for a package tour, it was booked way ahead of time(around august). We’ve provided the person’s name, information and the flight details. We paid in advance(in full). We mentioned multiple times that we need to be back in Puerto by 10 am Sept 13. How did you missed that?????? Lastly, why is it our fault that no one else is the same transfer time when you had all the information in the first place???

As I expressed my frustration at the front desk, other guests gathered and revealed they had similar issues. Eventually, the staff offered two options: join the 6 p.m. transfer on September 12 or pay PHP 3,500 for a 2 a.m. transfer on September 13. Neither option was ideal, so we decided to extend our booking at Banig Resort and arrange our own transfer. This added to our disappointment and made this the worst travel experience ever.

A big shout out to the Island Hop Inn management or to the person incharge: Sometimes, people book packages for comfort and convenient! To lessen the hassle of planning and organizing a trip as well as peace of mind that someone will pick and drop us from one place to another. If you can’t give this to your guests, you should have decline their booking in the first place! You’re promoting the tourism but you’re also the one...

Booked this room as an additional room for me. We were a party of 4 and my brothers were in a quadroom booked thru another agent. There was a huge confusion and long story short, they almost did not give me this room. The attendant was confused and the one who went on duty after him had the same confusion. It was so difficult for them to comprehend that I booked 1 quadroom and 1 deluxe room.

The wifi was another story. It was weak and since we were on an island, the signal was also understandably weak.

The staff were unfriendly and did not even offer to help out with our bags. As we needed to take the stairs to the 3rd floor with our heavy luggage, the male staff just looked and did not say anything. I even called him to ask for his help but he just went back to his seat like he did not hear anything.

Breakfast was awful. It cannot satisfy even a child. We were served with extremely small portions of everything. 1 egg, 1 tiny dried fish (by tiny, i mean about 2 inches of small dried fish) or 1 egg and 1 very small piece of longganisa.

The room was old and needs updating, dirty and has a weird smell. There were no other amenities except the bed. No free toiletries, only one tissue paper for my entire 3 night stay.

I would rather find a better accommodation close to the town center next time. Tricycle ride was 100 pesos per trip, would have spent it to a nicer and more conveniently-located...

If you're looking for a comfortable place where you can relax after doing activities the whole day, I would not recommend this place.

The room was given to us was so small for two persons. Our room didn't have a fan. We asked the lady up front if we can get us a fan, they said they forgot to bring us the fan.

Bathroom was too small. They've got stains on the light switch and on the bidet (we don't know what kind of stains). Bathroom looked dirty and it's like it's not maintained properly.

They wanted to charge us 100 pesos/person for taking a shower and another 100 pesos/person if we wanna use their towel since we had to do an early check out. (But kudos to them for changing their mind kasi chinarge na lang kami na 50 for shower/person)

Privacy If you let your AC running and nobody's in the room they will go in to your room and turn the AC off.

To the owner, I really hope na hindi nyo ito itake na against sainyo. I hope na after ng review na ito ay mabuksan ang mga mata nyo sa mga dapat pang iimprove since hindi lang isa ang may bad comment sa mga rooms and bathrooms. And also baka pwede nyo ding turuan na magsmile mas madalas yung mga nasa...