Imperial Palace Suites — Hotel in Quezon City

(Be advised that this review was written in 2015.)

Upon entering, you see a lobby that provides a decent illusion of class. There is a piano near the elevators that patrons are encouraged to play (and it’s even in tune; I checked), an attached Starbucks that, unfortunately, opens later than most weary travelers suffering from jet lag would appreciate and the ladies behind the reception desk are cheerful, professional and courteous.

Then you step into the elevator and notice for the first time that this hotel may not meet the levels of elegance you had anticipated. While most of the hotel appears to have been refurbished recently, the management evidently hasn’t gotten around to replacing the 80-year-old rust bucket elevators the original building planners had seemingly stolen from a nearby demolition site. If your room is near the top of the eleven-story building, you may utter a prayer or two on your way up.

The hotel has a pool. They don’t talk about it very much, and once you see it you’ll know why. Though small, the pool is amoeboid-shaped (meaning shapeless), is very nicely landscaped, has a waterfall off to one side and is so filthy you can only see halfway to the bottom. We didn’t see any swimmers during our stay. As for the view from the roof, it is one of the best of Metro Manila that I have seen. The only problem is that the tiny restaurant/bar on the roof is apparently never open, so if you get hungry or thirsty, you better have packed a picnic basket.

The room will probably surprise you with its size. As large as many suites, the spacious rooms feature not only a love seat but also a reasonably comfortable easy chair (no, it doesn’t recline I’m sorry to say). You will find a heated carafe for your morning coffee, but you might not find any coffee, creamer or sugar. The big screen TV works, even if the reception is less than optimal, and every room has its own private balcony.

The balcony sounds like a selling point, especially considering the price asked for the rooms (around $65/night American); however, if you go onto the balcony, be sure to wear boots or shoes you don’t mind getting filthy, because the floor of the balconies are black with some substance best not pondered that your shoes will track into the room. That is if you can get onto the balcony, because the sliding glass doors don’t exactly slide; they grind. I’m a reasonably large man, and it took an effort for me to open the door; my wife couldn’t do it at all.

The small bathroom was adequately supplied, clean and mostly new, which leads me to believe that they maybe should have used a better contractor for the refurbishment because the showers leak, creating shallow ponds on the bathroom floor. One such puddle claimed a precious roll of toilet paper when, unaware of the pond encircling the toilet upon which I sat, my act of twirling the tissue to unfurl some paper caused the roll to fly from its inadequate perch and splash into the pond. I’ll say this much: the hotel uses very absorbent toilet paper.

I also discovered over time that housekeeping had slacked off in many areas. The floor was grimy in places, we had no coffee, creamer or sugar (not to mention stirrers or napkins), no clean drinking glasses (but a few dirty ones) and the place was in need of sweeping.

I had a conversation with the receptionist who informed me that the two male housekeepers I had encountered earlier—who were very polite and apologetic—constituted the hotel’s entire housekeeping staff.

The Imperial Palace has real potential. The rooms are nice, very large and present guests with a fine view of Manila. Proper management—and an adequate housekeeping staff about 20 times the size of what they have currently—could turn this establishment around overnight. But as it stands now, if you spend more than one night here I strongly recommend that you bring cleaning supplies, extra pillows and your own toiletries (and especially tissue!), and don’t count on housekeeping for anything. They’re doing the best that they can, but it’s just too big a job...

Worst experience ever!!! I constantly travel and have stayed in a lot of hotels in the Philippines and abroad. I never blogged or write or even say ill of anyone but this was over the top and I have to at least share our horrendous experience to warn other people. Last Saturday, July 8, 2017, I stayed in the Imperial Palace Suites with my sister and my 4-year old niece. Got to the place around 6pm and to our surprise - the hotel was in a total power black out! They were the only one that didn't have electricity in the area. The hotel main door was closed and the staff and the guards did not allow us to come in, even with a little child. We had to look for places to stay and wait until they'd get the power back on. My poor niece was already falling asleep in the convenience store where we stopped to wait. After almost three hours, and a number of walks back and forth to check if power was back, finally we were able to go inside the hotel. Once inside, we still had to wait a while because they said their systems were still down and they couldn't give us any key card. Then after a while again we were able to finally go to our room only to find out that we got hoaxed by them advertising for 2 queen sized beds but the beds were actually just 2 double sized beds!! And it didn't end there, electrical sparks were coming out of the light switch so we had to satisfy ourselves with a poorly lit room. And wait there's more! The room obviously was not checked and prepared coz it didn't even have towels and slippers! And still it didn't end there, the toilet flush was not working properly!!! Called the front desk to express our discontent and asked if they had the decency to at least recover for the inconvenience they have caused us - the staff could only say sorry and could not decide on anything because the manager was not even around!!! Finally we could not bear to stay long and decided to check out early. It was the worst hotel I have ever seen and experienced in my entire life and that is without exaggeration! Do not be fooled by the nice photos...

The security was too focused on asking if you already have a room and wouldnt allow you to reach the front desk first.||Only 1 dilapidated elevator was working.||The hallway was poorly lit and smelled like old wood. ||The room was ill kept. Stains on bedsheets and sofa sets like an old sweaty guy stayed there overnight. Disgusting.||No complimentary water. ||Tv was too small and far away from the beds. It too was worn out.||No water heater.||Bathroom ceiling is full of stains.||Trash cans had no linings. ||Employees were complaining of poor management and were sharing thoughts of quitting their jobs to guests.||No hotel supervisor / manager present during daytime.||No housekeeping present during night time.||Pool was tiny. Far cry from pictures advertised. Pool area had a bar area that was falling apart and even the shower room was not functional.||Wifi was zilch.||This hotel should be condemned. You're better off with clean motels in the area. Not your money's worth.||Attached pics of stains on ceilings, walls,...