La Vista Hotel & Beach Resort — Hotel in Luzon

After a horrific stay at Bakasyunan we fled to La Vista Hotel.||||Already at the gate we could see the quality of this hotel was above standard in Iba. Everything looked new and everything was clean. A nice big tree covering the public area giving a lovely shadow in the extreme heat was refreshing and idyllic. ||||We were met by a very kind staff, who understood western mythology and know how to take care of them. My wife being Filipino only made everything even more smooth. The staff will always service you before anything else and even do it with a smile.||||The room.||Big, refreshing and clean. We had a beach front view which was astonishing. Very nice and LOW NOISE air conditioning, what more could you ask for? The toilet was clean and spacey with room to actually move around. There was minor errors but we were not even seeing it, as we were stunned about the quality of this hotel. Only when we had the cleaning lady clean the room i could see some things had been fixed, but that also shows, they care and they actually take the time to do things properly.||||TV was nice, many channels to choose from and nice flat screen with good sound and good picture quality. Internet was not working with our stay due to theft. It didn't bother us at all. We later bought a mobile broadband modem with Globe which turned out to service all our internet needs for a low price.||||The restaurant.||They had a little of everything. Good breakfast and nice selection of all day meals. According to my wife it was a little pricey, but me, being European thought it was extremely cheap. ||||Breakfast meals were sublime. Pancakes, french toast, you name it. It tasted nice and it was good produce. Again the service was good. The cook knew what he was doing. ||The few times we had dinner at the restaurant was satisfying. Everything tasting good and looking inviting made it a good experience. Small selection of drinks, juice and beer. I would have liked to see Red Horse on the menu, but hey, i couldn't complain, Save More supermarket was only 2km away. ||||The Beach.||La Vista is right on the beach. We're talking 25 meters from the actual water. The view was breathtaking and water warm and soft. There is no pool and the hotel, but who needs it, when the beach is literary right there. The management had placed tables and chairs for guests to use. They would even serve drinks for you, if you were on the beach. ||||The bad things.||Every hotel has bad things. I must admit though, that these things didn't actually bother me much, which is only positive. They had a Videoke system and when used it was turned up to the highest volume. 1 night we experienced a larger party, where the Videoke was used until 3 am. The worst thing is, that actual party left 1 am and thereafter the staff was using it for an additional 2 hours. It woke me up once, but then i went back to sleep. My wife didn't notice. ||||There were actual raging gangs of dogs on the beach. Sometimes you would hear them bark and chase after humans as most of them had rabies. You would also see them in daylight, but they just coexisted with everything else and they didn't bother us. Locals would chase them away if situations would get heated. I would suggest keeping a distance personally. ||||As a final word i would like everyone reading to know, that we've only tried the delux room. We don't know anything about the quality of the other rooms. The hotel is new, so i would expect everything to be in a good shape. I would definitely suggest you stay at this hotel, it's the best we've tried...

the moment we stepped into the resort, all my fears of not having any rooms left dissolved since the place was practically deserted. and by deserted i mean my husband and i were the ONLY guests for that weekend. so if you're the type who wants to party with the crowd, stay away from this place during off peak season. try the subic resorts instead.||||my husband and i wanted some peace and quiet so having the entire resort to ourselves was a good thing. the place is a bit far (by my standards) from the Iba town proper so you might want to drop by a store to get some snacks, drinks, cigarettes, etc before you head down to the resort. there's savemore nearby. although a bit far, the resort will be easy to locate thanks to the road signages.||||we got there around noon and we had no choice but to order food from their resto (husband's first choice was Jollibee, unfortunately, they dont do deliveries there). the downside of the peace and quiet and not having any other guests around was that there was no food readily available from the restaurant except for breakfast meals (tapsilog, tocilog, etc). for the other entries in the menu, they'd have to go to the market first to buy the ingredients and stuff. so we had the breakfast meals for lunch and to avoid any hassles for later, we already ordered what we wanted for dinner and even gave the time when we want them ready. food was good and it was nice to think that it was cooked especially for us. hehe.||||the room was nice and clean, size is just right. although keep in mind that this is Iba so dont expect the same stuff that you'd get in a nice subic resort. but the room was nice nevertheless, it had everything we needed so that's what's important.||||the resort staff were all nice, always wearing a smile, and i got a discount as well since it was low season. ;)||||the parking is safe and secure so that kind of sealed the deal with my husband since he judges hotels and resorts based on their parking lots.||||the beach was really nice and clean. water was crystal clear. we had the beach almost all to ourselves. sand is not as white as bora's of course but it's super fine so you wont't hurt your feet even after doing jumping jacks for 15mins stright. or if you're gonna bring toddlers who would run around the shoreline refusing to wear slippers. :)||||im not sure how the place looks like during summer but given our great experience with the resort and its staff, we'd most likely come back if we need...

La Vista Hotel & Beach Resort is a pretty ideal place for budgeted travelers looking for nice rooms and good service. Getting to it requires entering a small alley, so you have to pay attention to signs. It's gated and has a security guard, and there are limited rooms. Parking might be a bit of a concern during peak seasons.||||The family room we stayed in, which is good for 4 (single and bunk beds), was pretty small but sufficient. I have some reservations about the door, though. It gets stuck and you have to force it open and close, which is actually kind of an advantage because the door jamb where the knob is is broken (although there's a slide-on lock).||||You can cook your own food but they also have a restaurant where you can either order off the menu or ask them to cook whatever you buy from the market. Dining options are either in the air conditioned area or the alfresco one with the karaoke machine.||||It's particularly perfect for vacationers who like to spend their summer just swimming and tanning since they offer very little in the way of activities. There are some boaters going around offering snorkeling trips though.||||See my full review and more photos here:...