Natalna Boutique Home — Hotel in Luzon

Upside: The amenities were really nice; the place was relaxing if you want to stay away from the noise of San Juan but still enjoy the waves and sunset. The cocktails in the restaurant were good!

Downside: Our aircon broke in the morning and half of our bags got wet, including 1 tablet and 1 controller. Tbf, they did ask to check the aircon the night before, but one of us was taking a bath then, so we asked them to go back once she’s finished (est. 30mins), but they didn’t follow through. We didn’t complain during the night because we didn’t see anything wrong with the aircon, so when we woke up at 6am and left the room, we were complacent. But when one of us went up around 7:30am, the bags were soaked and there was no one in the front desk to report to and the restaurant staff only said they’ll report it. We had to dry out our stuff in the balcony while we waited for 9am when the front desk is in. Upon reporting the incident, the front desk officer said “nagtanong naman po kami na icheck kagabi” with a very unapologetic and unemphatic tone as if it was our fault that they didn’t follow through. They offered to dry the clothes, but most were already dry by that time. She also asked if the gadgets that got wet were still working and we said we still got them to turn on, but we didn’t know the extent of the damage. Then she just responded with “ok po” seemingly wanting to finish the conversation. No offer of any kind of compensation, we didn’t demand anything and decided not to make a scene, but it would’ve been a better experience if the front desk show some level of empathy at least. Despite the incident, we still wanted to extend our stay, we asked first if we can do a late check-in, and she answered “hindi po pwede e, kase may mag-check-in sa room nyo” in a very condescending tone. We were thinking of getting a new room since we saw online there was still available, but our conversation with her is just the worst, so we didn't stay longer anymore. I think the front desk lady needs to understand how important their role is on managing the guest experience. I think she was lucky because we were not like other guests who will make a scene and get angry, but she needs to be careful with her attitude.

Bottomline: We’ll probably still go back because we really liked the location, but at least now we know what to expect. Beware of the AC unit, food is so-so, and don’t expect hospitality from the...

Would I recommend it? It doesn’t really matter. I personally wouldn’t return—not because of the accommodations, but because I don’t think the owners are good human beings.

Natalna Boutique Home, La Union is an Instagram-worthy destination. The pool area is well-designed with plenty of lounge chairs, and just a few meters away, the beach sits right in front of the pool. The property also has a restaurant, two fire pits perfect for chilly nights, and beach lounge chairs complemented by a coffee and cocktail bar.

However, my experience was far from smooth. I got scammed through a business page carrying their name and only found out upon arrival. When I brought it up with the receptionist, I was told that the hotel has limited engagement on Facebook and primarily operates through Instagram. I travel frequently and usually book via Agoda or Airbnb, but they weren’t listed there. I also checked other booking platforms, but no dates were available. Since I don’t use Instagram often, I turned to Facebook, found what looked like an official business page, and even checked for duplicate pages to verify. No crazy promos were offered, if you have to asks. The Messenger chat was set up as a business account, which made it seem legitimate.

It turns out that because they’re not actively managing their Facebook page, scammers took over as early as Q2 2024, handling most of the Facebook marketing. So many scammed customers reported the real page that it no longer even appears in search results. And if you want to find their actual Facebook account, you have to click the link from their Instagram—which is already confusing because it flashes a warning: "Natalna FAKE FB ACCOUNT!". That’s not exactly reassuring. If I had found their real Facebook page earlier, I wouldn’t have booked at all, considering the number of negative reviews.

Here’s the worst part: the owners knew about the scammers and have the resources to get professional help, but instead of addressing the issue, they’ve seemingly pivoted to just letting guests get scammed—without any real effort to stop it. When you arrive, they’ll offer a 20% discount as compensation. They’ll also let you stay in one of their owner's units, which, according to the receptionist, is reserved for scammed guests—as if this has become just another part of...

There's no problem with the place and its amenities and I must say that it really exceeded our expectations. The problem is the owner (or the owner's brother??) and another male staff barged into our room without our permission. Take note that we're all girls in the room what if someone is changing or doing whatsoever. His reason was our friend's car's alarm is disturbing the guests in the nearby room since like 3am? (we admit that was our mistake but he doesn't have the right to enter our room without our approval). If the car alarm is going on since 3am they could've informed us early in the morning (during the first hour of the occurrence and not at 7am in the morning, after 4 hours???) They could've knocked loudly if they think that we couldn't hear their knocks or they could've just called us to inform us of the situation. We have other relatives/friends on the other rooms so they could've just told them if they couldn't reach us thru phone call. We were sleeping at that time and we're all shocked to see him beside our bed topless and showing the picture of the plate number in his phone (no good morning greeting whatsoever) he just said "is this your car?" repeatedly. My friend immediately went outside with him to turn off the car alarm. He then told our friend to say sorry to the other guests that were disturbed by the alarm. I mean we're also their guests in their resort right? Do we really have to say sorry personally to the other guests? Don't they know how to handle situations like that? I remember from our view in the room, it looked like my friend was a staff of theirs who's forced to say sorry to the clients that were disturbed.

The other owner (a woman) apologized to us before we left the resort. She told us that she's gonna talk to the man who barged into our room and she also asked for our friend's number so she can send us an update. But as of now, no update or action was taken. We booked and paid 4 rooms in that resort, we didn't stay there for free to deserve that kind of treatment. Please don't let that man manage your resort again. He is not the right person for that. After all that's happened, I don't think we will be back to the resort again. That was a horrible experience even though it just...