Plantation Bay, a Real Resort with a Real Spa — Hotel in Lapu-Lapu

This was one of the worst experiences l've ever had travelling with my children. As you can see from my other reviews- I travel extensively with my two children, I have never experienced the level of abject poor service as l experienced here. My two children were playing in the water slides in the children's pool-the resort have chosen to locate this next to the breakfast restaurant. There is a somewhat bizarre sign next to the pool (in the photos) saying no repeated screaming due to a water safety concern of distracting the lifeguards. Ok-normally this concern is removed by the blanket rule that no child under 12 should be in a swimming pool unattended, but I can offer the benefit of the doubt that repeated screamina in distress could potentially cause a confusion...||||However, my two children were in the pool being supervised by FOUR other adults from my party and were happily playing on the slide. I was approached by a lifeguard who says verbatim:||" my manager is having his breakfast in the restaurant and he wants to remind you this pool (the children's pool) is a noise restricted area and he is being disturbed. Can you move to another pool (the other being unshaded and without the pool slides)" i ask him, in absolute shock, why.. as my children were neither screaming nor playing unattended and his response was " my manager is saying it is disturbing him". I ask his manager to come out and deign to leave his break and speak to me himself- I wait 15 minutes and am greeted by a thoroughly nonchalant manager who says this is his policy, I point to the fact there is a jcb causing an extraordinary disruption to guests enjoyment, right next to the swimming pool and this is not being restricted, there is also NOONE else around the pool or dining in the restaurant, bar him. He repeats "this is our policy". I ask him does he consider my children are screaming or in distress, or are they simply playing? He looks at the ground and says " I don’t have children"…. Seeing that this conversation was getting more bizarre by the minute I ask to speak to his boss. He refuses to call him and denies having his contact details, at one point saying “ there’s no one to call”.||||Never, in all of my travels, have I had someone tell me that my children can’t play in a designated play area, and I have certainly never been told that protecting the ambience of a staff members break time ( who happens to be taking his break in a guest area?!) supercedes the enjoyment of guests using the facilities for the purpose which they are designated.||||The staff member in question lacked the managerial training or professionalism to come and explain his predicament personally- he sent a junior, and when confronted by the obvious error of judgement ( he acknowledged eventually my children were neither in danger or “ screaming” but their play was “disturbing him”) he looked at the floor and repeated “ this is our policy”. He also admitted “ many guests complain about this policy”, but when asked what is he doing about it, he looked again at the floor.||||This issue should never have happened, this individual had no reason to come and embarrass and upset his guests in the way he did. At no point did any other member of staff check in on us, despite mine and my husbands obvious upset, no one offered any resolution, and the jcb noise complaint was met with “ it stops at 5pm ma’am” ( this was 10am). I have no words for the level of unprofessionalism or lack of basic service this resort showed to me and my family. I would never recommend this place to anyone travelling with children. I actually would have had no problem if my children had been in an adults only area or had been clearly disruptive or unruly, to be told that their play was inappropriate. But to reiterate this was in the water slide feature area (the only one working!), so unless the resort assume this feature is regularly used by couples or seniors (?) I think it is fair to assume this feature is orientated to the enjoyment of children. My tip to fellow travellers is don't have the "audacity to disturb a staff break time" and maybe you won't be treated the way my family was.||||To add to this- the swimming pool is FILTHY- as you can see from the photos management acknowledges this, and just chooses to do nothing about it. There are multiple bizarre rules- such as no phones in the restaurant, no more than 3 drinks are allowed to be consumed at the pool bar, tables cannot be joined together in the restaurants to accommodate larger groups, and there are no activities after 5 despite the fact it is fully staffed but “this is the time they practice their staff dance” (?). It is genuinely one of the strangest places I’ve ever stayed- and the service level was nothing short of appalling. The check in and check out process was utter mayhem taking over 40 minutes both times. Redeeming features: the spa is very nice and the food is fine.||||We have travelled extensively in the Philippines ( and we were a mixed group of 8 people- 4 of us were native cebuanos) and we know that this level of disinterested service and horrible attitude towards children is completely incongruous with the culture and this beautiful country, so I think this knowledge made our stay all the more...

We recently had a meeting at Plantation Bay. It could not have been better! The venue is amazing. When you enter the first thing you see is the saltwater lagoon which is beautiful! It is crystal clear, clean and great for swimming, water sports, and for kids to play in. It has built in places to relax in the shade, a water slide, a diving rock for cliff jumping, water falls and it is massive. Further it is accessible 24/7. Next, PB has amenities for everyone, but especially kids and youth. Aside from the lagoon, it has 5 freshwater swimming pools, an archery station, a small put put area, tennis court, pickle ball court, climbing wall, children’s play ground, children’s obstacle course, pool room, ping pong, beach, and bicycles and all of this is free! In addition, they have a shooting range and arcade for a small fee. They offer excursions, which is great as they arrange everything and have special relationships with all the vendors. So, there is something for everyone to enjoy. In regard to rooms, they are excellent. Clean, no mold or musty smells, great air conditioners, and every room has a patio which is so nice. The rooms have a king or 2 queen beds, which is great for a family of 4, but for larger families they have a family room with bunk beds with table and video game console, which is very nice. And the bathrooms are massive with separate tubs and showers and lots of hot water. As to food, across the board it was excellent! The breakfast buffet s extensive and unlike many resorts they have the best crispy bacon. The egg station offers eggs every way you can imagine, including poached. But what is really fun is that every day they have a themed breakfast. So you get the normal breakfast foods, plus additional food based on the theme -Filipino, Mexican, Italian, etc. There are multiple restaurants on site with Western, Filipino, Italian, Japanese and Korean. Obviously their Filipino food is good -try the adobo and kari-kari! But, I would also recommend their tempura shrimp, their steaks are some of the best we have had in the Philippines, as well as their pastas! I know it sounds to good to be true, but it isn’t. An if you get tired of eating on site, there is a free shuttle to a nearby mall that has shopping and other food options. As to the meeting venue, it could not have been better. The resort assigned us a meeting representative -Ms. Vine Verna. She was absolutely the best! She was professional and worked with us as if she was part of our business. She worked to understand our objectives and needs and then worked with the resort to make everything perfect. She worked with the resort staff on everything from rooming, the meeting venue, food menus, activities, financing, signage -literally everything, and it could not have been better or gone more smoothly. She was absolutely a joy and blessing to work with! To be frank, we went with Plantation Bay in large part b/c of her. Hosting a meeting involved a lot of details and the need to find solutions on a short time frame. We met with other resorts, but none compared to the professionalism and ability of Ms. Vine. But it was not just Ms. Vine, it was the whole resort staff. They knew our names and the names of every guest, helped with media needs, room needs, transportation, and the list goes on. I have never seen a resort staff that was more aligned, friendly, and well trained as those at Plantation Bay. They know their jobs and operate like a fine-tuned machine. They are so polite and make every person feel special. If you read this far, I am sure you are waiting for a but, but there isn’t one. It was the perfect place to host a meeting and vacation. I highly recommend Plantation Bay for a vacation or for...

Just got back yesterday from our 5 days/4 nights getaway. This hotel exceeded our expectations in everyway.

The hotel: super nice, big, well equipped, amazing-attentive-friendly staff! They are also very helpful for whatever your needs are. Even they night before we checked out, front desk called us to ask about our transportation to the airport.

Room: very nice, big, huge bed, nice balcony, beautiful bathroom! The only minus, TV is small for room size but who goes there to watch a movie, and shower door seems outdated. Everything worked like a charm. Complimentary water every day, which is very nice and needed.

Pool: you have 6 to choose from! Saltwater and regular too. They are big, well maintained. We really enjoyed it! Our favorite was the big saltwater pool were you can do diving, kayak, paddle board, etc...

Beach: a bit small, depends allot on the tide as well. But not really important when you have all the pools to choose from.

Other activities: jetsky, snorkeling, diving, helmet diving, boat tours, firing range, archery, tennis, game room, volleyball...you will not bore here, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a movie theater in there too.

Restaurants: Savanna, Kilimanjaro, Palermo and Fiji. All are great, incredible food, very attentive staff! The Savanna Powerhouse Burger with egg, was super tasty, the second best burger every had after In-N-Out. @ Palermo, great food and Roz and L.J provided great attention and service. @Kilimanjaro Maricris and Kiara also showed great attention and service. @Fiji, it was packed so service was slow, but the food was excellent! And nice to eat in the Terrance next to the beach. We also joined two events, Brazil and Spanish night. Their roasted pig (lechon) is so juicy and delicious! Decent show too, but the buffet food is really good! Our waiter, Joven, great guy with excellent service too.

Souvenir Shop: there is 3 of them, very nice and you can also buy snacks and drinks.

Tours: we did the whale shark tour, incredible! Really something amazing to swim next to these giants! Great attention and service as well from tour guide Lloyd and our driver DJ.

Spa: we did not go, they have a strict policy of no electronics, and from other guest that we spoke to...the spa is incredible, extremely relaxing, great saunas, good massage. We will try it next time.

An incredible hotel, with super friendly staff. This hotel is great for families, couples, friend trip. Different style rooms fit every need. Different pools, beach and activities mean you never bore. Different tours you can enjoy every day. The hotel is a bit on the expensive side, but they really make up for it with service, and their facilities. You do not need to leave the hotel if you don't want to, it is a great place to go and disconnect from our hectic world for a few days. Or you can connect to their Wi-Fi, available throughout the hotel, and keep in touch and send pictures to make others jealous haha.

On a further note to the management team, some guest have given you guys unfair reviews; I have read them. I understand the need to defend your hotel, but no need to be too strong with the reply. Other guest's, like myself, will write the proper review your hotel deserves.

Without a doubt we highly recommend this hotel to anyone that wants to relax and unwind in one place, and we are already looking forward for our...