Funtasea Hotel and Beach Resort — Hotel in Luzon

The staff are very nice and helpful but need better training, some procedures should be changed, and some items needs changing (such as the mattresses). Chris (the restaurant manager) was especially great. It is only because of the politeness of some of the staff that this review didn’t contain fewer stars. They need to focus on fixing what isn’t working before they start building a new glamping section! We’ll skip this next time and stay at Sundowners -Rona gave me the best 2 massages I’ve ever had in my life, including ones I’ve had in expensive hotels and spas. She was extremely talented - strong yet gentle. I highly recommend. -No ramp/disabled access to any rooms -Limited choice for breakfast, which was oily, but the chef did cook me some bespoke things I asked for at dinner which was kind -The 2 swimming pools (one deep, one shallow) were nice and relatively clean, except for the wild dogs, cats and lizard that drink from them every evening -The function room where we held our event was nice, with good air con -The rooms are basic and not worth the price charged. -Tiny sink and no surface in bathroom to put things like a toothbrush. -The toilet in our 2nd room took 10 mins to refill each time. -No hairdryer or iron in whole hotel, despite it being an events venue. -Tiny bin, no space to put toilet paper in -Wifi stopped worked for several hours -The room could have been cleaned better eg the shower screen had clearly not been cleaned in a while. Towels and bedding given had stains on (and should be checked first). Bathroom mat was dirty. -The worst thing was the mattresses - in the twin rooms they don’t have proper mattresses, only foam ones (not even memory foam, just basic foam) - even when I have stayed in cheap hostel rooms I have always had a real mattress. I don’t understand how the hotel thinks it is acceptible to give guests foam mattresses, especially when the prices are quite high. We moved to a queen room as the queen beds had real mattresses, but this was super hard - it was better after they gave us a couple of mattress toppers, but that wasn’t until we asked after a sleepless night, and the toppers should be put on all beds routinely. -The room we moved to had an ant infestation, which went away after we asked them to fill in holes in the bathroom wall - it would be better if they checked rooms for such issues before guests are checked in. -They haven’t emptied the bins by the piil all week -The staff were burning leaves in the front garden right next to the open reception, which is illegal. The kids could breath in the smoke. They stopped when we told them. -My relative got locked in the bathroom. Some of the bathroom doors in my relatives’ rooms do not shut -There are flies everywhere including in the restaurant -Wifi only works from some rooms -Staff are just at the front chilling and having a smoke, but never check who is entering the hotel so security is non-existent. -At check in, an inventory was done in the room (even counting the number of hangers) which I have never experienced before in hospitality - it immediately makes the guest feel mistrusted. Also when we asked for a plate from the restaurant to bring to our room, they said they required us to leave an ID behind as collateral - again, unecessarily mistrusting of guests and ruining our experience of the hotel. -My relative’s tap is loose -My relative has no towel rail in the bathroom -The aircon worked very well in our room but not well in some of our relatives’ rooms. -On the shower heater there was a sign saying not to turn it up past 4 (the heater went up to 9), which meant the water was not hot at that level - I am unsure why we could not use the higher temperatures. -However, the staff were very friendly and tried hard to rectify issues...

We were in Iba for business. This property is probably tops with locals as it sèemed to get busy during weekends. As a Hilton Diamond member, I will try to be as objective as possible. Read below the details.

Service. Top notch. Every staff will try to go the extra mile. Restaurant staff deserve special mention. They will open doors for you, food was delicious. Breakfast included were local favorites. I like a lot of ice anywhere I eat and staff cheerfully accomodated. Also we had lunch and had some leftover, they packaged it and allowed us to eat this leftover later during dinner....served on plates and tableware.

Location. It is ocean front. Short walk to the surf. Like most provincial beach resorts, outside the hotel premises, it was unimproved. Nearest store or shop was downtown, which was a 5 min drive. There were trikes just outside the gate. Downtown has Robinsons, Jollibee, local market, and plentiful shops.

Swimming pool. Really good. It was covered all throughout. Seemed to be maintained daily as I saw a person doing the upkeep. Kiddie pool and an adult pool, 6 ft deep. Showers around the pool area, Lounge chairs abound. A full bar is currently being built. Pool towels available from the front desk, 1 each per person.

Room. We had a King bed. There were larger family rooms. Room was smallish compared to western standards. Plenty of outlets, non USB. AC was strong. No inside seating at all. Two local chairs and a small table out front outside served as a small patio area. Small closet to hang clothes for a 2 day visit. Bath amenities galore were room slippers, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, and soap. Small fridge and 2 bottles of water provided.

Bathroom. Small with a shower separated with a sliding door. Narrow shower area. Large persons will be a tight squeeze. Hot water heater works efficiently. Btw, it was perfectly fine to take non-heated showers. Sink was small. Hair dryer with 220 outlets built in. There was a handheld spray for bidet type cleanup.

Security. Not that there were any known threats as Iba is peaceful. But the entire facility was gated. A security guard manned the gate 24/7. Backgate to the ocean also secured. Outside vendors not allowed entry. There were some vendors on the beach side selling local trinkets and local food.

Some wear an tear is visible throughout....being this close to salty ocean and high humidity, this will be a challenge. But otherwise it is acceptable.

Will I stay again when in the area? Yes. I think this hotel resort is the best in the vicinity. Plus the service from staff...

There is so much wrong and a few things right with this place. I'll start with the positives. Great location by the beach. Great refreshing pool with plenty of shade. Cheap massages. Cheap food, but not much choice.

Now the negatives.

My wife took a bath towel onto the beach. Wrong? Yes, but not a hanging offence. She was told to bring it back, which she did, returning it to housekeeping.

For the next few days (we stayed 12 nights), we were harassed about stealing a bath towel. OK, we cleared that up, so we thought and got on with enjoying our stay.

Then came the gestapo actions of security telling us that we left the beach area after 6pm and to return to the hotel so that we could exit via the front gates. Pathetic. Why wasn't this rule applied during the weekend nights? Seems to be a rule for Monday to Friday and a different rule for weekends.

Housekeeping had to be constantly asked to make up the room, often this didn't happen until 5pm, as "check in rooms get priority".

We had 3 different rooms for our stay. Twice being transferred, but with no assistance from staff. We had to pack up and move, simply because they couldn't get their reservations done properly.

Now the nail in the coffin. On check out, we were charged 7000 pesos for the 'theft' of the towel. I disputed this vehemently and won out in the end. It appeared to be a scam that others need to be aware of. Document everything, take photos and don't take things at face value.

We tried not to let this affect our holiday and for the most part it didn't. But, if this hotel wants to move into the 21st century, it needs to act professionally. Start with taking credit cards for bookings. Have online bookings available. Improve your internet. The hotel's wi-fi is terrible and the only things you an watch on TV are Netflix and Youtube. Why?

Noise. Allowing karaoke until midnight, then not enforcing the rules. Why is it my job to go out and ask the staff to turn the music off at 12.30am? People staying in hotels don't all want to stay up until the early hours of the morning.

Flies. Indoors. Everywhere.

Calling us at 10.30pm to ask what breakfast we wanted? Really?

Couples room is no better than a standard room. Simply not worth the extra pesos per night.

I would stay here again, simply because there isn't much choice in Iba and generally things were ok here. However, you need to...