Panja Resort Palawan — Hotel in Puerto Princesa

to anyone looking for a place to stay in Puerto Princesa this is your place! we just recently stayed at Panja Resort (8/17/23-8/20/23) Room 209 ;) & LOVED EVERYTHING about it! We landed on the night of the 17th, the resort doesn’t have a shuttle to take you there but they can send a taxi for you for 500pesos which was really nice because we came right out and our taxi was there. It was a nice little drive from the airport to the resort. As soon as we arrived you already feel how peaceful and quiet it was there. We were greeted and told to leave our bags behind and they’ll take it to the room & sat down for a welcome drink and ate dinner which the service at the restaurant and food was seriously 5 STAR!!! We got to our room & they had a “Happy Birthday Babe” in flowers and a heart on the bed. It was super nice and cute of them to do my husbands request. Room was nice! Had a nice greenery view on the balcony. Bed was comfortable. The only thing that you might find odd is that the shower is left open but that wasn’t a problem for us. They have free breakfast with many side options as well besides which main course you’d pick, 5 STAR as well. They also have a beach and a free shuttle there&back. The beach was nice and so was the drive. The only thing I would of done differently is be prepared with snacks because if your someone like us who loves to snack, get you snacks to go! We went last minute and decided to go the day of. Your able to order food/drinks at the hotel and they pack it up for you & also provide a cooler + ice for your drinks. If your main concern is transportation and staying close to town, they offer free shuttle rides to & from Robinsons at specific times which you can get at the front desk. Robinsons is pretty close to town & everything once you get there is walkable. Our stay included a free back+foot massage which was really nice! The views, pool & scenery…was AMAZING! They have a rooftop bar which was nice as well with a killer view. We don’t drink but we were able to order from the restaurant and they brought our food upstairs. I can go on and on about this place because they deserve the recognition! Seriously met our EVERY NEED! VERY ACCOMMODATING! Always had a solution for everything. There was never no language barrier & excellent at communicating. What I loved most is they always answer quick to you. Whenever we called, they answered. They really care for you here & I recommend it 100% to anyone looking for a place to stay! Thank you for hosting us Panja Resort! I had the best birthday staying here! KUDOS to ALL the employees here, they deserve a raise! Keep on smiling, you guys are doing an awesome job. We will for sure be coming back to stay here again! I attached some pictures I...

Overall I had a good stay in this hotel. I stayed for a total of 4 nights during my trip to Palawan.

The hotel offers a great view on top of a beautiful hill overlooking the sea and the mountains around. It’s green and it’s stunning. Highly recommended for those looking for a good rest and relaxing time. The food at the restaurant was varied and good. Their free breakfast buffet was great as well. There is fast WiFi all around the hotel and it was working just fine based on my experience. Very convenient !

However in my opinion, the hotel needs some improvements in different areas : The staff is generally very friendly, devoted and professional. But they lack coordination at times. I remember booking a motor the day I arrived for the next morning at 10am but the following day nothing was ready and if I didn’t follow up nothing would have happened simply because the staff from the evening shift didn’t coordinate properly with the staff of the morning shift. So there are a few issues with coordination and you need to follow up and double check when you make a request. Also when I had a massage at their spa, I availed a 90mins massage that turned out to be actually 70mins. I remember it well because I checked my watch when I arrived at the SPA. Of course the masseuse was good, kind and nice. But once again, she didn’t fully provide the service that was advertised for a 90 mins massage. It’s very common here because people usually won’t complain, say anything and will let it pass. But that makes a difference. That’s what the staff should know. Being careful and rigorous towards the services offered by the hotel make it stand out from the rest of the hotels. About the amenities :The garden is well kept, the swimming pool is nice overlooking the sea but the water of the pool is quite dirty. I was swimming many times with my googles and I could barely see anything under water because it’s not filtered properly. I know that the maintenance of amenities is a challenge in the Philippines but once again, it’s advertised as a 3 stars hotel so they must strive to step up a little bit. About the rooms: rooms were very large and globally pleasant. But they were quite outdated. They badly need to be updated. The paint was old, there were some scratches on the walls, the bathroom was old, there was barely any hot water (on and off all the time), the balcony was full of cracks and the chairs inside the room was about to fall apart so for safety I informed the staff the replace it since another guest might sit and fall.

So overall, it’s a good hotel that I would recommend. But in my opinion, there is a room for improvements in some areas if they want to stand out as a 3...

We stayed here this weekend, hoping for a quiet place to relax, only to find out that there would be a MASS GATHERING/company team building of a group of more than 20 people also checked in on the same day. We can't blame them for being loud and having fun, but they basically occupied most of the facilities, to the detriment of other guests. They were shouting in the pool and in the hallways as late as 11pm. We don't know if any of the hotel staff told them to be quiet. But it was hard to sleep with all that noise.

The hotel did not inform us that there would be a large group there, even if we made a reservation just the night before. We sent them a message today but all they can say was "We mean to tell you during check in but didn't have a chance," which does not make any sense. It's not that we wanted to have the entire hotel to ourselves. But it's one thing to have a fully booked hotel with people who don't know each other, compared to one BIG group who all arrived together. The hotel could have suggested a different date for us. I doubt it that this huge group arrived without prior reservation as well.

Even for the discounted price, it's not worth staying here.

The restaurant staff were very nice, which is the only redeeming factor.

But here are other mild annoyances, which wouldn't have been a big deal, but it is if you add them up.

-the aircon remote was in Korean. So we had to search for translations just to get the AC to work properly. -Food delivery is not allowed. But their restaurant is only open during limited hours. So if you go hungry, you need to wait or go out to town. -When we arrived at the gate, they asked each of us in the car to fill out a log in form. So we were stuck in the car just filling out the forms, when we could've done this during check in. -The bed is too hard. Woke up...