Red picnic hostel — Hotel in Panglao

First of all the hostel is good. Staff nice, friendly and helpful. There are two beaches within walking distance and Alona beach is 13 minutes on the tricycle. Showers are like camping style - outdoor, down the stairs and communal with the pool.

Now, I have nowhere to leave a review of my experience with the tour booked through the hostel so I’m forced to leave one here.

There were several issues that impacted the quality of the tour:

I was given the option to choose either the ATV ride or the Chocolate Hills viewing deck. I specifically chose the viewing deck because I was told the ATV wouldn’t provide the full view. However, two tour participants who chose the ATV were later allowed to also visit the viewing deck. This was not communicated as a possibility to me, and had I known both could be done, I would have chosen differently.

We were told to meet back at 11:30am for the driver to pick us up after visiting the hills, but we ended up waiting until 12:20pm to depart. Much of this delay was spent waiting for the ATV group, who were picked up first and taken to the viewing deck afterward—something we had already done. This created unnecessary downtime and confusion.

The advertised cost of the ATV activity was P1100, but the actual price at the site was P1400. This discrepancy should be corrected for future travellers.

At the Tarsier Sanctuary, the driver initially said entrance was not included and that we had to pay P170. It was only after questioning him post-visit that he returned the money. If it’s standard practice for guests to pay and then be reimbursed, that needs to be explained clearly in advance. The lack of communication caused confusion among several travellers.

We did not arrive to the floating restaurant until 2:30pm well past a reasonable lunch time and in fact when some of the restaurants closed. When we arrived, there were not many alternative options provided outside of 7/11 for those who opted out of the river cruise at Rio Verde.

Lastly, at multiple stops, there were no clear instructions on where to meet the driver. This added stress and disorganisation to the experience.

Overall, the tour was poorly communicated, disorganised, and not aligned with the itinerary presented or what anyone would expect of a tour. It caused a significant loss of time, especially disappointing as I only had one full day to explore Bohol. I cannot get my time back.

I requested a partial refund (not a full refund, but only a partial one!) for the reasons above. I wanted to provide this feedback with the company directly however the hostel stated they would contact them on my behalf. Days passed and I hadn’t heard anything so I followed up with the hostel. They provided a response that the relayed the feedback and the driver was spoken to, however no refund could be provided. They stated they were not able to disclose which company actually ran the tour or the agency they went through and provided only a phone number of a specific person (no idea who this person is and how they’re related). I’m not able to contact them due to lack of working SIM card and already being in Vietnam. I was not provided any other contact details.

Overall, I feel my experience has been dismissed and as someone who has been unemployed for almost a year with still two months to go before finding new work, money is especially tight. So to spend my hard earned money on a tour that did not deliver (whatever the cost) is...

Blatant scam at Red Picnic Hostel.

We stayed at this hostel for 2 nights. It was all good until we enquired about the countryside day tour. The reception lady named either Juliet or Ella told us it was P1500 per person. Fast forward to next day when the tour started, we squeezed ourselves into a 15 people van with other tourists from various hotels. All tourists on our tour confirmed that they paid between P500-P700 per person to join this tour. At that moment we knew we were scammed by the reception at the Red Picnic Hostel. They have a bunch of leaflets at the front desk introducing all sort of tours without listing a price. Having said that, it makes sense to us now they are just randomly quoting a price depending on how much money they think they can get out of you. To give Juliet (or Ella) the benefit of the doubt, we enquired again about the same tour when we checked out - that time with another reception lady who hadn’t dealt with us before. She quoted us P2250 for both of us on a private tour (with a car, not a tricycle). This confirmed our doubts of Juliet’s (or Ella’s) malicious intent. This is the worst experience we have had since our arrival in the Philippines. The fact that the hostel staff could blatantly scam us should be a huge warning sign of the integrity of the staff and the potential damaging effects on the reputation of the hostel. We booked Red Picnic Hostel based on the good reviews online, but we are hugely disappointed. There wasn’t even a complimentary bottle of water, basic toiletries only lasted for a night stay, half a roll of toilet paper….. To make it short for whoever is reading this: BEWARE OF THIS HOSTEL, THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT THEIR GUESTS. ALL THEY WANT IS YOUR MONEY.

Edit after reading the owner’s reply: You are not getting my point here. Yes we did say yes to your P1500 per person quote. We also found out your other colleague was quoting lower for a private tour. Try explaining that. Oh wait, when your colleague realised she bursted your scam, she tried to tell us other tourists paid less because they were a big group which they aren’t, and more excuses why they paid less. Stop explaining further. Just admit it, you quote your price based on how gullible your guests are. Too bad your colleague quoted us a P2380 for two on a private tour exposing your lies. If she would have said P1500 per person on a regular tour, I’d have never written this review because we did say yes to your extortionate offer, it’s our price to pay. You should have told all your staffs not to exercise the ‘dynamic pricing’ strategy, your lies would have never...

**Personal Opinion: The hostel receptionist could have provided better service, but she opted not to. Everything seems strictly by the book. They greet and answer you offline and online with a script and perhaps a smile but it does not seem genuine. Check-in an hour earlier? Extra charge. Check-out an hour later? Extra charge. Need help warming up food? Extra charge — 150 pesos just to heat one plate of pata. Ask for more pillows or blankets? Extra charge. They provide what they call a "blanket" — essentially a paper-thin sheet — and then charge you extra if you want an actual blanket. They offer two pricing options: 50 or 100 pesos for what’s essentially the same sheet, or a thicker blanket. It’s baffling how they wanna charge for a real blanket when they’ve already given you what-they-call-one. We're lucky drinking water isn’t an extra charge! In all my travel experience, I’ve never encountered any hostel, hotel or resort that charges for literally everything. This was a first, and it was honestly shocking. Travelers are not walking wallets.

**Location: It’s about 5 km from the busy Alona Beach, so it’s quiet enough for a good sleep. White Beach is about a 20-minute walk away.

**Atmosphere: The vibe is nice and relaxing. There’s a small pool in the center, billiards at the reception, parking under the trees, and plenty of greenery surrounding the hostel. However, the street in front of the hostel could use some repairs to make it easier for guests with luggage. Also, at night, it would help if the hostel’s name sign was lit up.

**The Room: The Deluxe Room layout is fine, and the furniture is nice. It would be better if there was a chair with a back or more hangers. When we arrived, the room had high moisture levels, and the floor took hours to dry. Both the room and bathroom ceilings had visible mold. There are no blankets—just a bedsheet and an extra layer of bedsheet. Only two thin pillows were provided, so if you're used to sleeping with larger pillows, be prepared to pay extra.

**Tuktuk: A tuk-tuk ride from Alona Beach costs around 150-200 pesos...