Quest Plus Conference Center Clark — Hotel in Mabalacat

Great facilities and location, but F&B Service Needs Improvement.

This was our second stay at the Quest Plus Hotel. Our first experience was very impressive, which led us to choose it again for our vacation.

The hotel's facilities are family-friendly, featuring a children's playroom with scheduled activities and a swimming pool. It's conveniently located near Dinosaur Island and Clark Safari. Our children did enjoy their stay at the hotel.

Given that the hotel is older, some wear and tear is expected.

Unfortunately the toilet in our room had a problem and had blocked at least 6 times during our stay. To be fair, the staff did kindly offer to change rooms, but we declined as we were already settled.

Now for my rant.

As an experienced chef, my skills have taken me to the UK, Australia, and Hong Kong, I've spent a significant portion of my career in the hospitality industry. I'm disappointed to report that the Food and Beverage Service at this hotel was one of the worst I’ve encountered. Especially around breakfast time, setting us up for the day hungry and fustrated. It reached a point when we gave up with complaining because our frustration kept growing. We even considered booking another hotel.

With a long weekend holiday in the Philippines, we anticipated it was going to be busy. However, it seemed the hotel was unprepared for the influx of guests. During breakfast at 8:30 am, half the tables were occupied while the rest were cluttered with used plates, leftover food, and empty glasses. Unless guests explicitly requested a table to be cleared and reset, it remained in that state throughout the breakfast service. Similarly, there were no glasses available for refreshments, likely because used glasses were left on tables in the dining area. The buffet frequently ran out of food, and refilling empty service plates took a ridiculous amount of time. Almost like no information was being fed back into the kitchen. This led to overcrowding at the omelette station and the chef frying eggs, as it was the only readily available hot food option. The duty manager was preoccupied with serving tables in the bar area, completely unaware of the situation in the far side dining and buffet areas.

Coffee service downstairs was notably slow, often taking 20-30 minutes to arrive after a staff member was asked.

We tried the club lounge included with our booking but faced similar issues. The omelette station took 30 minutes just for two fried eggs, "no joke," having two chefs, one cooking and one delivering. The chef cooking couldn't multi-task. One egg at a time.

Food plates and drink dispensers were mostly empty. Staff focused more on making and serving coffee than addressing other needs. Why not allow guests to make their own coffee? Like many hotels, it could help.

I also noticed the downstairs toasting machine was left to run all day. AT around 2.4kW, it would be wasting just under 60 kWh of electricity every single day.

At lunch, some drinks didn’t arrive, requiring us to ask for a watermelon juice three times. The rice was delivered incosistant with some parts being uncooked, the nilagang baka soup was missing key ingredients like corn and potatoes and was served cold, and the fries were old, grey, and soggy like they had been cooked hours ago.

This highlights a lack of efficient systems and processes, resulting in slow and poor service. You could see the lack of enthusiasm and drive in the floor staff.

After this, we chose to dine elsewhere for the rest of our stay.

The reception and concierge staff were amazing, going above and beyond to accommodate our needs. The hotel provides a readily available transport service, which we used several times. The vehicles were all nice and comfortable.

During the evening, the club lounge was nice and relaxing. It was much quieter than breakfast. The floor staff in the club lounge were much more attentive, friendly, and outgoing.

I really do hope this hotel will sort out its problems because it has the potential to be an amazing...

My family and I planned to take the kids to Dinosaur Island in Clark.

Quest Plus Conference Center was one of the closest accommodations.

I did some research and found good reviews.

They have an option where you can book a reservation months in advance and only pay when you physically show up on that day, so that's how we did it.

Days leading to our vacation, Quest started sending us emails and text messages with information that helped us prepare.

Their location was easy to find. Roads leading to them were good.

It was easy to check in. Just showed our reservation information and then paid the full amount.

The entire place was clean and well maintained. Our room had enough beds for our family.

The bed sheets and comforter were really comfortable and clean.

It is true what others said about the lack of bidet, but this one I can live with.

Their air-conditioning system is comfortable.

Their WIFI system was easy to connect to and it was fast.

I really liked Quest overall. They are not perfect but lots of good points. One of them is the available free clean water close to every room (This is to encourage the avoidance of single-use plastic bottles).

The breakfast buffet was very good. It had enough variety and of good quality in my opinion.

Almost every single member of the staff was friendly and ready to help.

I wouldn't be able to mention all of their names as there were so many of their employees that were just great. So I apologize to those who I have in my mind but I just couldn't remember the names.

I remember Nathan who guided us to our room. He also gave us information on which walking-distance place to see in our first day, and we did visit the place and we liked it.

I remember a Front desk person at the reception during my check in. I am not sure if I remember his name right, but I think it was Jonnel or something very close that. He was on duty on February 21st at around 2:30pm onwards at the front desk/reception. This guy was so busy. He helped me in many of my needs including getting official receipt, etc.

During a breakfast buffet, there were so many of their employees who were just very friendly and very attentive to the needs of the guests. If only I can remember all of their names, I would have listed them here. Many of them I just remember by their faces, not by their names.

I remember the one who was creating noodles on morning of February 23rd. She did great.

There were many female employees around coffee making and at the reception for the breakfast buffet who were welcoming, friendly and helpful. I couldn't remember all of them but they were really all great. I do remember some only such as Trina and Emaille, but I tell you, the others who are also with them were also as equally helpful.

When we asked the frontdesk to help us steam our food, someone came and not only steamed the food but even gave a complimentary wooden spoon(s). I think his name was "Chan" or something very similar.

Also the security officers were great. Helpful and does their job solidly.

Also the employee manning the gym. He was also able to help me.

There were also some very helpful people by the pool, a few guys there doing the foaming for the pool for the kids. All of them were great. I just can't remember their names.

There were even those who help clean the rooms. They wear, if I remember it right, a white poloshirt or something similar, but I noticed that they don't have name tags (or maybe they do but I didn't notice). But many of them are helpful.

Now, I've gotta give my reason for giving a 4 star instead of 5... I think they could do a better job on the following:

Mosquito Control at the pool area Bidet Smart TVs in all rooms

If you're looking for a place to just relax and unwind, Quest Plus Conference Center in Clark is one of them. Highly...

We stayed at the Quest Plus Conference Center Clark, whilst visiting my partner’s family in Pampanga. We visit each year and we like to stay at a multitude of the high end hotels that Clark has to offer whilst we enjoy our Month stay in The Philippines.

Most of the staff were welcoming and friendly, and able to help us with any queries we had. I would like to thank the front desk (reception staff), cleaning staff and restaurant waiting staff for their kindness.

However, first impressions count. When we arrived at the hotel there was a discrepancy in payment with our driver that was prearranged to pick us up from Manila Airport after our trip in Palawan. Whilst I was on the phone discussing the issue with the company, trying to find where the problem had occurred, a member of the Concierge staff, came outside.

He began to engage in conversation with our driver whilst my partner stood beside me. Our driver was respectful and helpful; on the contrary, the concierge member was not. The staff member stated in Tagalog, “4,700php? That price from Manila to Clark is very cheap.” He then continued to gossip about us, directly in front of us.

It was non of his business, he should not have been involved. He should not question how much WE pay towards a already pre-arranged fare. (For context, It should have been 1000php less, as we paid more for the 9,400php total price on our way out from Clark to Manila, however there was a miscommunication.

The presumption that my partner, who is Filipino and born and raised in Pampanga, does not speak Tagalog and have a full understanding of the language is ridiculous. He is a fluent speaker, and proudly so. I too have a understanding of Tagalog. We choose to speak in English and Dutch as those are the languages we are most comfortable with. We live together in The Netherlands. There are many people from abroad who visit the area to see their family who too, understand Tagalog; presumptions should not, and cannot be made.

It was rude of him to judge our finances, it was a private phone conversation. It was not an opportunity to gossip.

He was questioned why he decided to gossip, he gave the reply, “We just care about our guests, Mam.” Such a generic, insincere response, an apology would have been appreciated.

It was disrespectful and inappropriate. First impressions are what set the stage to the customers of your hotel. I beg to question how many times this occurs? Is it common practice?

This experience should serve as a great learning opportunity, we do not wish to damage anyones career or prospects. Please take the time to ensure to respect all guests equally, do not gossip with the presumption they are clueless.

It was a shame we had a tainted first impression and lack of apology, we saw the staff member multiple times and it would have been appreciated to correct the situation directly, rather than...