Nobu Hotel, City of Dreams Manila — Hotel in Parañaque

I've been to hotels all over the world and this "guest is an Enemy" feeling is something I only felt with Nobu Female Security staff (Sharon Lacopia, at the entrance) and female staff at the gym.

NOBU has always provided good rooms, room service and amenities. It's a brand with style. However, the staff (mainly the entrance security and gym) in NOBU City of Dreams CAN RUIN THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE.

Not gonna talk about the rude and depressing female staff at the gym (tho the pool lifeguard is very friendly and nice) the security guards, esp. that one female guard, are very snooty and rude.

Working in the service industry, guards at the front entrance are the first point of contact for guests. and Nobu COD entrance female guards ruin the guest experience💯

They make visitors feel very UNCOMFORTABLE.

That's alright with me.. but the last straw was when I got out at 10pm-- in my pajamas -- to get my swimming gears (speedos) from my dad who passed through security check. (I left my gears from vacation at my dad's house and he went to Nobu to give them to me)

There were no people that time. No cause of confusion. I trust that as security guards, their observation skills are "top notch". From my experience, that's not the case.

So, I go out the exit-- in my PJs-- to get my swim stuff from my old man (72y/o) who drove to COD at 10pm. He's been through the machine and waiting for me. He didn't go inside. Just standing by the door.

The guards, especially Sharon Lacopia, were either stupid or powertripping -- as Nobu won't hire stupid security, I guess she's.. powertripping.

Im the only one who went out that time and my old man was waiting at the entrance door with her.. she had to make everything so complicated..

She wanted my ID & VACCINATION CARD (I'm checked in~ All I had was my key card&phone) did she expect me to run up the hotel room and get them? Why are you giving a guest, in their pajamas, a hard time? She made a fuss when no fuss was needed.

And she was asking my old man questions I can't understand as they didn't make sense. He drove there to deliver my swim things, my swim things were cleared by the machine. What is she opening her mouth for? Why is she still talking?

Common Sense is crucial in her job, and I imagine, an average IQ would suffice. Observation skills too, which she lacked as nobody else was there.

Being in the service industry, you should know that dealing with visitors and making them feel safe and welcome is part of YOUR JOB. If you're so depressed, why stay and make the visitors feel unwelcome?

Why are you, Sharon Lacopia, treating Nobu's Guest like an Enemy?? It's not even a big deal. Such a fuss-free and normal thing... Turned to 30 minutes of my time writing this review.

NOBU City of Dreams, please add more training to these stuck up and powertripping staff. Housekeeping is great, some people in the frontdesk are efficient too. But the female guards and female gym staff, WOW, they need some added training.

I know that they should do their job, but please make sure that they (female security and female gym staff) have proper etiquette, customer relations training, and maybe don't act so uppity. Priority is to make the guests not feel offended, annoyed, and unsafe,...

The positives:|1. Very solution-oriented and friendly operating staff kept this hotel above one star. Really, Filipino hospitality is second to none for which this hotel is no exception.|2. Nobu Restaurant is still quite good.|3. DreamPlay within the City of Dreams great for kids.|4. New Ayala Mall nearby is great place to shop and TimeZone super fun to hang out with kids.|5. There is a medical clinic. It can be used freely and staff is competent and friendly.||The negatives:|1. The smell of old is everywhere with extensive use of perfume to cover up for it. It is not as bad as many other hotels in the Philippines but bad enough and will only get worse in time.|2. Everywhere inside the building you go outside your hotel room and hall ways are super noisy. City of Dreams is essentially a casino, the hotels inside of it seems as if they do not represent the core service of it.|3. We spent the first 4-5 hours changing rooms as we were first awarded a room with trains making very loud noise from the street outside. There was no information about street noise during the booking process. We even booked directly via the hotel website and paid a premium price compared to booking sites as a guesture to the hotel (which we always do when travelling) but that strategy offered little protection, except that we obtained a new room. But this step really should not be necessary.|4. Mattresses are much smaller than the beds. You get the impression the original mattresses were changed with more affordable ones when the original ones had to be replaced. It looks super silly.|5. The blinds are nearly impossible to pull down and make a lot of noise. Remember to pull them down BEFORE you put the kids to sleep.|6. Staff insist to come and pick you up in your room, rather than letting you go to the medical clinic by yourself. This process requires a wait of half an hour and makes absolutely no sense as it is right next to Starbucks and super easy to find. Also, you need to sign a form that the clinic assumes no responsibilities for recommendations and guidance. It is understood the service is free to use; however, this would normally mean that the cost is included in the room price instead, so how is this procedure justified. It really makes no sense.|7. Pool is 4 feet deep everywhere, which is too deep for kids if less than approx. ten years old. But then again, this is a casino, not a hotel.||Overall, owners and senior management needs to seriously rework this hotel concept. In particular, in relation to building maintenance, room quality, ambience strategy, and business ethics when...

I travel frequently all over the world and only stay at high end hotels, so my expectations are accurate. Let's start with the good. The rooms and their decor and beautiful. The bedding and pillows (a must) are wonderful.

Nobu restaurant in a private room for a business meeting was nice, nothing "extra" and the food was top notch with a few missteps. The highlights were the black miso cod (the type of seaweed was something I had not experienced and loved!), the dessert, vanilla bean ice cream with candied pecans, miso cream and cappuccino foam was spectacular. Shashimi salad with Matshushisa dressing was good. The beef tenderloin yakimono terriyaki with wasabi pepper and anticuchho could have been a hit except it was well done. Beef should be cooked medium rare and they didn't even ask. Miso soup I skipped because it was too salty. Even room service food was very good and the highlight was the breakfast Okonomiyaki egg pancake.

The biggest problem is the service. There were two big issues during my short stay. First, I ordered the wagyu burger and I can't tell you if it was good because I never ate it. I asked for ketchup and tabasco sauce, my "go to" burger items. Getting neither, I called room service (another issue because you can't order online) and 40 min later called again because nothing came. Ten minutes later I was called back and they told me the hotel does not have tabasco. I have never been to a hotel that does not have tabasco it's known and popular everywhere. You couldn't tell me this when I asked? 50 minutes later I have an ice cold burger without the condiments I requested AND got an apology with no offer to bring me a replacement dinner. Completely unacceptable. My schedule being tight and mostly being confined to the hotel, I needed room cleaning one day at a very specific time, 2PM. Returning at 3:30PM, the room had not been cleaned and I was told they would come after they finished another room. What's the point of making a request if you can't honor it and not considering it a priority when you didn't do what you promised.

Overall, I felt sad that I couldn't rate this hotel a "5" even though the room view was a freeway and the airport (other side is pool and grounds which are far better) because it could be, but service is missing attention to detail and the staff probably needs better training. That said, it's still a good...