Novotel Suites Manila At Acqua — Hotel in Mandaluyong

We booked the hotel overnight since it was near my husband's board exam location. We got lost finding the hotel, the gate was located in a narrow street near the Pasig river. I wanted to use my free room upgrade voucher, but I was informed that the next room category was not available, hence I had to pay an additional 2000 to cover for the upgrade. Apparently the voucher is only worth a 500 peso discount if the next category was not available. Comparing to when we stayed at Admiral hotel, since they did not have the next room category, they upgraded us to a HIGHER one, free of charge. I don't know if the charging was standard policy, but since I have a point of comparison, this hotel was less accommodating to it's accor plus members. We were told that we can stay an hour or so in the small room since the suite that we upgraded into was not yet available when we arrived.

The room we got was big, almost the size of a 1 BR condo unit, had a long sofa l, an office table, a 4 seater dining table, a king sized bed, a cleopatra sofa, a functional kitchen with induction cooker, full sized fridge, overhead exhaust, microwave, nespresso machine and complete utensils. We had 2 toilets, 1 bath with shower and tub. The aircon was a bit difficult to adjust, it got a bit warm during the night, we had to open the door to let the air from the living room to go inside the bedroom. My son enjoyed the size of the room and kept on playing hide and seek inside, much to our delight. He also enjoyed the pool area. We had a comfortable sleep on the bed, despite the temperature. Breakfast was a bit disappointing, choices were too limited. There was like 2 to 3 hot dishes, cold and hard bread (no toaster), little to almost no dessert choices except for fresh fruits. The omelet station was probably the nicest thing that was there, overall disappointing meal. I understand it's a small hotel, but given the price I paid (almost 6k for 2 pax, 1 night), I expected a bit more. I've had better breakfast choices in other hotels of the same pricepoint.

The concierge staff was accomodating and very efficient even though he was just by himself during our stay. Front desk staff, needs more training. There was only 1 staff at the front desk when we arrived despite it being a holiday where they were "fully booked". She had to verbally ask for help from the others who were just inside the callroom. I don't know why they were there, they should have expected guests to come in, especially if they allowed early check ins.

The only reason I chose the hotel, over other hotels in Makati which is nearer the exam location, was because it's a member of the accor group, since I wanted to maximize the use of my accor plus account. However, I did not find my stay to be as satisfying as the other accor group hotels...

Arrival: Upon arrival, the personal help you with your luggages and bring your bags to your designated room with smile. I found it for a 4 Star hotel, they don‘t offer the upcoming guest of welcome drinks. So many person in reception but they are just standing there and looking.

Rooms: I found it big enough and clean, well organized. Toilet and bowl is separated and it is good. We came from some other hotels, other are have perfume or freshener in room that keep the rooms fresh and good smelling(like Mövenpick) in Boracay. for some guest like windows open, sad to say you cannot open it because of the location and how the hotel built,

Pool: the time we visited this hotel the pool is currently close for renovation. The alternative pool is just for kids and I did not enjoy it.

Breakfast Buffet: I found it normal, there are bread, salad and rice for Filipino guest like me. Freshly cooked eggs is also availble. You can also request fresh cappucino from the bar. The bartender need to give more smile to the guest. I found her a bit unfriendly. The other downside for us it they dont have fresh orange juice(pressed) I dont know whymaybe because they dont have personal to do it.

Here comes the big highlight of our stay in this hotel. We decided to stay on this hotel for 3 days before our flight to Germany. Normaly just for 1 day but this Manager namely(Jocelyn Tayao) greet us with smile and very friendly so we stayed. So I settle the first stay in this hotel and I used my credit card. It went all well, and the this Ms. Tayao suggested if I can also settle the payment for the the other 2 stays. I used the same card and it doesnt goes thru because the card reader doesnt print reciept so I tried again and it did not pass thru. The Online bank sent me a message that the 2 transaction I made is in ma bank pass thru. So that start our problem. We message our bank via Email(Manila and Germany). I called Deutsche Bank in the Phillipines but as always they need this Pin for telephone banking inquiries. ms. Tayao emailed also the receptive Bank but thats it. For the past 3 days of right in there Emails, asking how does it went wrong and not pass thru and whyit is false computed. So needed to tap my card 2x. She told us that we book 4x Breakfast with them but the other Manager we spoken to Mr. Arnel, he saw it that we are just allowed to book 2x breakfast othing more nothing less. Ms. Tayao, told us every email that we need to settle first our payment if we want to stay in this hotel. She write us everzpy Email to us. Mr. Arnel let us stay in this hotel as promise that we settle everything before our check out. As per for 3 days already aggreed on.

To Novotel thank you for good stay, and for the last 3 days stay plus stress you...

I would not stay here even if it were free.

During our stay we were greeted by a friendly guard who seemed to be tasked to wear so many hats. It was apparent that they were understaffed. He greeted us, assisted us with our baggage, inquired about our purpose and directed us to the 21st floor for check in. There were security machines (ie. metal detector, bag xray) but none were used on us, Im guessing because the security guard had his hands full literally and figuratively. Upon entering, the concierge desk is unmanned. No other hotel staff in sight. Just a bunch of guests filling the very few seats as well as guests standing with their luggage waiting by the elevator. There were two elevators servicing 30 floors, but only 1 was working so you can imagine how long it would take to finally get your turn to ride. Take note that this was a Saturday and early afternoon, which is the peak time for checking in as well as checking out. Given how understaffed they are, they don’t have a bellhop to help you with your luggage. However, you can borrow their trolley to help you bring your things to your room but you’ll have to return it after use. As you can tell by now service was awful. When we checked-in, the receptionists weren’t the friendliest. They didn’t seem understaffed in this aspect. There were around 6 of them servicing two groups of guests totaling 4 adult guests, with us being one of them. They weren’t grumpy but they weren’t warm. There was no effort to apologize for the hassle of a single elevator servicing the whole hotel as well as the fact that they were severely understaffed. No effort also to give any assistance. I checked in with a 19-month old. Although I didn’t ask for it, I would have appreciated an offer to assist us with our stuff. When we got to our room, I was relieved that it was at least clean. Or so I thought. While playing with my toddler, I noticed that the carpet had some particles and/or foreign objects that would not have been there if it were properly vacuumed so that just added to my disappointment.

To say the least, this was not a comfortable staycation. It is a 20-minute walk to the mall and had no convenient stores nearby. Wish they had a shuttle to bring you to Powerplant mall, but of course they don’t. No redeeming quality. I wish we just...