Pyramid Beach Resort — Hotel in Panglao

The most disappointing hotel/resort I've ever visited. TLDR of this review is that we checked out after one "night" that can barely be considered a night because we didn't sleep at all.

I booked this hotel for myself and my partner as the pictures online looked amazing and perfect for what was meant to be a relaxing stay in Panglao after a hectic few days of activities in Moalboal. We booked a deluxe double room with a pool view balcony for 5 nights, and upon arrival everything seemed like what we had seen on online. However, a few minutes after entering the room it was obvious something was off. I went to the toilet to find ants crawling around the sink, 'ok' I thought, maybe just a few stray ants. Then when I went to wash my hands I found there was no soap. What sort of hotel doesn't provide hand soap? Next I did my usual room inspections around the corners and edges for any bugs or dirt, only to find a huge pile of sand near the balcony doors, which combined with the no soap, confirmed my thoughts that the room hadn't been cleaned before our arrival, which is shocking in my opinion. A common thing you'll see in reviews about Pyramid is that they charge you (a crazy amount) for stains on the sheets and towels. This already is a ridiculous policy as it's literally their job to clean them and they should be using stain remover on white goods anyway. But what makes it even worse is that literally every sheet, pillow and towel we had was already stained! Further reinforcing my belief that they do not care about the cleanliness of their rooms. Moving on to what in my opinion is the worst thing in this hotel and something mentioned by others in reviews too, the bugs and lizards. Having just come from another beach hotel in Moalboal, I understand that it's inevitable bugs are going to appear and dealing with them is part of staying in a tropical destination. However, what I will not accept is the apparent ant infestation we had in our room. As mentioned in the beginning, I originally found a few ants in the bathroom sink. When we had returned from dinner, what was a few ants in the sink, had turned into a whole colony making it's way out of the bathroom and into the main room. This was then followed by finding ants in the bed, which is when we started to feel incredibly uncomfortable. This was around 11pm. We then proceeded to lie in bed awake, trying our hardest to get any sleep whilst trying to switch our brains off to the fact that there would inevitably be ants and god knows what else crawling on us. At around 3am, we heard a quite infamous clicking noise and immediately knew what was happening, there were 2 geckos crawling around on the wall by the balcony. These geckos were not in the room before, so they had clearly made their way in from outside through a hole that should not have been there. This was the last straw for us and at that point we decided that trying to sleep was futile. We jumped out of bed, put our day clothes on and went for a walk to watch the sunrise. I can't believe that what was meant to be a first night in a paradise like location turned into probably one of the worst nights of both of our lives, but Pyramid exceeded all expectations of how bad a hotel could be. This last point is going to seem like a drop in the ocean compared to the previous novel I've written, but the wifi is awful. The coverage was almost non existent, and for some reason they give you tokens with codes that are only valid for one device. So if you're bringing something like a laptop or tablet, choose carefully before you use the code just for your phone like I did. To summarise, this was the worst hotel experience of my life. Maybe you're reading this thinking that insects and lizards should be expected in a tropical climate, but imo they shouldn't be in the room. Pyramid Beach Resort fails as a hospitality business in almost every category. The only redeeming factor was the kindness of the staff, but we were only there for 12 hours, so I can't even judge...

We love Bohol and Alona Beach and have had several holidays there since our first visit back in 2005 when we stayed at the lovely Alona Palm Beach hotel which is now the Henann Resort. Unfortunately, Henann's prices have gone up so much that we decided to try another smaller, more reasonably priced resor and chose the Pyramid Beach Resort which we had seen on previous visits and where we'd had dinner several times over the years. It has a wonderful location on Alona Beach and is really only steps to a number of other hotels and restaurants, making it very convenient.||We had booked a ground floor room as I have arthritis and find it difficult to climb stairs. The room was very nicely located at the back of the resort just beside the pool and away from the noise at the front of the resort from neighboring bars with live music. The bed was comfortable, the bathroom was fine, the air-conditioning worked very well and there was a small desk space where we could put the laptop but only had a stool rather than a proper chair. We ended up bringing in one of the chairs from outside the room as the stool wasn't suitable. The WiFi in the room was fine, we had no problems with it at all during our stay. One strange thing was that in the bathroom there was no hot water in the washbasin, only in the shower. It's not a major problem but it's nice having hot water for shaving in the morning.||The one problem with the room is that there were lots of little ants everywhere, particularly in the bathroom and also near where the fridge and TV are located. It was my partner's birthday and I had ordered a cake which was delivered at dinner on his birthday, which was lovely. We took the cake back to the room and looked forward to having it the next day but forgot to put it in the fridge and the next morning it was crawling with ants so had to be put straight in the garbage!||We found the staff at the hotel very nice and easy to deal with, in particular all the young ladies at the reception who were charming, helpful and efficient. The hotel should be proud of them and the service they provide for guests. The wait staff at the restaurant were also very nice but unfortunately spoiled my partner's surprise birthday cake somewhat as one of the young ladies obviously thought the cake was for me and asked Alvin in Tagalog (so I wouldn't understand) when he would like the cake to be delivered to our table! When they did bring the cake, it was before they had cleared the table so I was the one who cleared the dishes while the 4 of them were singing Happy Birthday so we could take some photos of the cake being cut etc. They really should have waited, cleared all the dishes from the table and then brought the cake out. So, friendly service but not particularly efficient or professional.||The one major negative about the resort is the swimming pool which looks lovely on the website but when you arrive, you are told that the pool is 10 feet deep as it was designed for giving diving lessons by a previous owner. Access to the pool was problematic too for anyone like me who is a Senior Citizen suffering from arthritis as obviously there were no steps, just a ledge and a ladder to climb down into the pool. As a result, we did not use the pool at all during our stay, which was a real pity. I do think the hotel's website should mention the problem with the pool as it is a major negative aspect of the hotel.||We enjoyed our stay at the Pyramid Beach Resort but probably would not go back because of the few negatives mentioned in the review. If the rooms could be remodeled and made more comfortable and totally ant-free and some sort of solution found for the dreadful pool, it would definitely be a more attractive property on...

Pros: -Great Location directly on beach -Affordable -Friendly staff with welcome drink -Deep pool and outdoor showers -Can arrange ferry/airport pickup -Clean* Cons: -Loud Neighboring establishments -Lizards/Ants in room -Far transport pick up/drop off To Know: -Stains on Linens will be charged -Only 2 water bottles per day -Linen and towel replacements every other day

Summary: We rented the Deluxe King room overlooking the pool for 3 nights and 4 days. starting with Pros - everything listed above, location: can’t say how great it is. literally 50 feet from beachfront. the pool is 3 meters (~10ft deep). We arranged for a pick up from the ferry terminal for 800 php (make sure you pay the resort if they set up, not the driver). I put clean* because while the resort itself is very clean and the housekeeping does a good job of cleaning, we would occasionally come into the room to find tree dust/lizard droppings on our bed sheets / floor / bathroom from lizards that scamper about on the ceiling. Cons - The resort itself is very quiet but being right on Alona beach the property is flanked by busy raucous bars on both sides. they play loud music late into the night. We could faintly hear from our room - it didn’t bother us but if you are a very light sleeper you may have an issue. Although resort is clean, we found lizards in our room on the ceilings that probably came in through the bathroom fan. If you leave food out on the tables (even if covered in a bag) you will find ants in your room. Transport can only drop you off to the end of the beach road - since the resort is located literally on the beach you have to walk the last 200 meters to the resort. sometimes transport will only pick you up from mcdonald’s which is about a 6 min walk from the resort. Things to know - Stains on linens are charged - if you get a henna tattoo or spill coffee or get a blood stain on the linen that they cannot remove you will be charged the price of the linens ( most expensive i saw was 2000 pesos). You get two complimentary water bottles per day. the mini fridge is stocked with beers and soft drinks for purchase. you can get your room turned over daily but house keeping will only replace the linens and towels once every two days. Overall, think this is a great resort with awesome locations but can be a little rugged at times with some minor inconveniences. if lizards and dust on your bed are major no-nos this may not be for you. but if you can tolerate some occasional tropical invasions then this is...