Ester's Place Casa Bonita Inn — Hotel in Oslob

Great location - walking distance to the Whale Sharks Interaction Area (approximately 1km away). The building is quite new. It looks clean. We had a spacious room with 1 single and 1 double bed but a very basic one. There is a small cable television but no fridge or coffee making facilities. No hair dryer. The bathroom has a hot & cold shower. The only reason why I have rated it very good is its proximity to the Whale Sharks Interaction Area. It was good enough for a night's stay. The breakfast is ok. The staff are very helpful. They offer guiding service to the Whale Sharks Interaction for a fee of Php 50.00 per person (children are free). This include a shuttle ride to the area ( it's near enough to walk if you prefer to) and they will also do all your transactions in behalf of you (this is handy as there is normally a queue). All you need to do is give your guide your Whale Sharks Interaction fee and your name/details required. The guide and shuttle will wait for you until you finish the activity. Our guide kindly looked after our bag whilst we went to the sea. She also accompanied us to the souvenir shop. Beside Casa Bonita is Brumini Resort where you can find restaurant shacks that offer fresh seafood for very cheap prices. You buy the seafood from them and they'll cook it for you. Try the tiger prawns!!!! Just tell the Resort guard that you're going to eat there. Whilst waiting for our transport back to Cebu City, the reception staff shared that they can help arrange for transport to the nearby islands - Bohol or Dumaguete. There is a ferry nearby that leaves at 11am to Dumaguete. There are boats that bring tourists from Bohol to the Whale Sharks Interaction and the reception staff said they could arrange a ride from them going to Bohol. Or if you prefer Malapascua, you can take...

Room was nice and comfortable with plenty of space and a wet room style bathroom. We arrived and were told by staff to get up at 5:30am and we would be back by 7:30 for breakfast and to pack before catching our ferry across to panglao at 11:30am. We were at the beach by 5:40 and the crowds began to mass and hours passed and nothing was happening. The sun was rising, it seemed that everyone on the beach was going on the boats to the whale sharks except all of the Casa Bonita residents. This continued for 5 HOURS. We were given no help by the staff, we were provided with no water and were simply told to "wait" over and over whilst other hotels came, did their swim and then left. When we eventually had our turn the experience was very rushed and artifical - the whale sharks are seemingly netted in so they cannot leave and they are lead around with food being put into their mouths so they swim where they want them to go. When we returned to the hotel they refused to give us even a partial refund when we were insisting we would most likely miss the ferry to panglao (there is only one per day from oslob due to their poor organisation and communication. The experience was a nightmare and not something I would...

We booked one night here so we could see the whale sharks in the morning! When we arrived we were taken across the street from the main hotel to a little house and given a room with a fan which at first seemed bareable but if I can offer advice to just one person it soon gets absolutely unbearable we hardly slept with the heat! We paid 1100 pesos each to see the whale sharks with our hotel tour guide we were told we would leave at 5.30 we waited ages for other people from our hotel which was annoying as we knew the queues were forming and we could of just walked along ourselves! When we got there the crowds were massive and there was absolutely no organisation from the tour guides at all we were told to sit and wait and weren’t told what was going on! We waited an hour before we got into the water when other hotels were going in much sooner! Then when we did get on the boat you pay for half an hour in the water, a guy on our boat timed it and we got 12 mins! 1100 pesos for 12 minutes is an absolute disgrace! People come to Oslob and spend money getting and staying here and they just completely rip...