La Carmela De Boracay Hotel — Hotel in Malay

This resort was by far the worst stay of my entire trip in the Philippines, which included multiple stays that were quite a bit cheaper than this one. This was one of the worst hotel experiences I have had to date.

For starters, in room wifi was not working at all upon check-in. Nobody informed us at check-in that wifi was out. I inquired at the front desk and they first told me that it was my device. I told them that I tried on both my laptop and my phone. Then they said that no rooms ever have wifi due to the design of the building. Then they told me that it was only temporarily out for the evening and their IT workers were gone. The wifi was still out the next morning. We told them to fix the wifi in our room. Hours later, the wifi was still out. We told them again. Hours later, it was still out. Then they told us that it was a service provider issue but that we could connect through the lobby… through that same service provider. The result was a bunch of people camped out in the lobby. That evening, I tried the lobby connection and found that my internet did not work. After like 30 minutes of the workers blindly fumbling through my phone and me grabbing my laptop from my room, I figured out myself that their wifi auto blocks VPNs… so you can kiss internet security goodbye with this hotel; they apparently want the ability to spy on your web activity. Once I FINALLY connected, I found the connection to be poor and randomly drop, probably because it is one hot spot connection and there were 15 people using it at any given time. The wifi was out like this for our entire stay of three days.

Our luggage got lost with our airline and we realized the room did not even provide toothbrushes. We inquired and they had none for their tenants. The ONLY amenities provided were soap, shampoo/conditioner combo, basic towels, and a hairdryer.

They specifically told us that hotel staff would not enter our room without our permission, including housekeeping. We went out for an hour when we first arrived and came back to find towels on our bed that were not previously there and a bag full of other towels hanging on the door.

The rooms were dated. The furniture of the standard room had scrapes all over it like something you’d pick up off of the sidewalk. My friend’s bedside lamp and outlet were broken upon arrival. Our room was also filled with ants and a spider. I observed an ant trail going through the front door of my room even though we had no food in the room. I found several crawling on my bed. The balcony door was not air tight so bugs could just waltz in and sound insulation was weak.

The room phone had zero directions included and no indication of how to reach the lobby. I dialed 110 as a typical lobby extension and some totally rude resort staff member blew me off and hung up on me. I told the front desk and they literally did not seem to care whatsoever.

We did not lose our room key but they informed us that they charge approximately $30 USD for a lost room key (the cheap RFID ones that are like $1 bought in bulk) and they refused to provide us with two even though we were two guests staying there.

The lobby staff seemed totally disorganized. Upon arrival, we had no bags but they still insisted that we waited (for about 30 minutes) until the next bell worker was finally available to escort us to our room. We asked them to give us our key card and tell us the direction of our room and they refused. They insisted on going over the smoking directions after my friend clearly stated we both don’t smoke. EVERY time we inquired with the front desk, they either pretended to hear our concern and then just blew us off or they acted strangely ignorant even through they already knew the issue. My friend is Filipino so it wasn’t a communication barrier.

The tiny oceanfront pool is always overcrowded, mostly with children. I didn’t check the other ones.

The upsides were the good quality breakfast buffet and...

This is the 2nd time we stayed at La Carmela (the first one was 2012) and we are amazed that the hotel is now larger than before, with a separate building added. Our check-in was smooth around I guess almost 6pm-ish and seamless, and I was hoping that the rest of our stay will be.|I usually ask for the hotel room to be cleaned for each day I am staying especially the bathroom because I want it to be fresh when I got back as well as the toiletries replenished. Unfortunately, just right after our first night, the following day when we got back from our beach activity in the afternoon, we found a plastic with the hotel sheet with a note that we are being charged for the Henna stain on the sheet. But none of us had henna tattoo. We complained of course and were horrified because we might have slept in soiled and used sheets when we checked in. We asked for the supervisor who couldn’t give us a direct answer and even suggested that we inspect the room when the room is being cleaned (honestly, I don’t even understand how she even suggested that. How are we supposed to enjoy our stay if we are doing their job for them?). Anyway, they said that they would investigate, and the manager came back apologizing and re-assuring us that we used clean and newly laundered sheets. She also admitted that they use “used” sheets but assure that they are newly laundered and that the cleaning guy took it upon himself to charge us when he shouldn’t have. The manager stated that there is another manager who inspects the sheets to determine if the guests need to be charged and she said the “clearly this is an old stained sheet” and that their staff is mistaken. While the manager was apologetic and seems to sound convincing (that our sheets were clean in the first place), we somehow felt maltreated and victimized. She did offer to upgrade our room but somehow, we are already settled where we are (and it will take time to fix all our stuff which we don’t have and would rather save the time for enjoyment). The hotel was also generous to offer a free buffet breakfast on the last day but we already have plans on eating out. While we appreciate the complimentary being offered to us, I must be honest that this incident has already affected our experience negatively. As a result, we have decided not to have our room serviced for the remainder of our stay. We just asked for new towels, toiletries etc to be delivered to our room.|The stay was not at all that bad. Let’s review the breakfast. During the first morning, we opted for the plated breakfast and believe me it didn’t disappoint. We opted for this since we have an island tour and will be having unli buffet lunch. During the 2nd day we opted for the buffet breakfast for additional fee, and while there isn’t much choices, I believe the buffet menu was still generous given the price.|As for the sleep value, I guess we did sleep pretty well and the bed is comfy. And I believe they are one of the hotels with the best smelling shampoos I have ever tried. |The staff as well are very accommodating and polite. Except for “that” which has happened to us on the second day, our stay would have...

I booked our family in this hotel for 5 adults last Sept 25-26 but due to typhoon it was cancelled. I had another booking in a separate hotel which was Mandarin Island Hotel and there and then we had an amazing experience but why? Because La Carmela was just awe full and terrible when they knew that the vessels has been cancelled and suspended for few days and no one is allowed to travel to the island. So I had been calling them 4-6x a day before that day and been asking what ifs, since we cannot travel due to typhoon. Someone on the call from La Carmela advised that I can rebook one time within 30days if the vessel cancellation has not been lifted yet. And I said I dont know when will I rebook yet or what travel dates to rebook it. So I said I will call back but the next day the land fall came and all signals were affected and we also had blackouts although my calls were ringing to La Carmela but nobody answered or even called me back. So I decided to call Agoda since I booked through them and was advised that they will cancel and request for a refund but they are not able to reach them as well that day. So the next day, 26th me and my spouse separate hotel was good enough to rebook us there right away so we went to boracay since the cancellation of vessels were lifted and storm calmed already, we spent the night and just enjoyed our stay. Then on the 28th I tried to call La Carmela in the morning again and still no answer. So we decided to go there and just talked to reservations and to our shock, they said our reservations for our family has been forfeited and they said they dont know who advised me that I can rebook within 30days??? So it took about almost 2hrs waiting and arguing with them and we got tired and asked for manager but the supervisor Christy said to contact agoda and she gave us her number. We were so angry since we have errands to run to that day and we had been stuck dealing with them personally and just to be given a false information. They know that all boats are cancelled and they keep asking me again and again and I had to tell the story again and again and show my email confirmation and agoda response. It was just terrible. But just when we are on the boat back to Caticlan, the supervisor called and said that its ok and we can rebook the dates already. And asking if we are going to add another night, I said we will think about it. But we used that one night rebooking for the kids and my mom and turns out they hate it. They hate this place, the food and everything. Not good! Not friendly staffs either. Base on our experience. And the rooms are terrible and ugly. Yes its very cheap for family but we wont mind paying extra on other hotels if we get the right service. Thanks but no thanks to La Carmela its a BIG...