Prince John Resort — Hotel in Roxas

Disappointing Stay: A Few Pros, Many Cons

My stay at this resort was ultimately underwhelming. While there were no major disasters, I wouldn't recommend it or returning. 🇵🇭 Service Issues: The "manager" who communicated via WhatsApp was abrupt and dismissive upon arrival. His communication style felt more like he was addressing staff, not guests. He also seemed to dictate our activities, which was off-putting. 🇵🇭 The owner's behavior was equally concerning, as they primarily sat and issued orders. This created an uncomfortable atmosphere for me personally, someone who also worked in customer service and F&B industry.

🇵🇭 While the servers were polite and helpful, they lacked genuine warmth and smiles. It seemed clear that the overall management style discouraged a positive and welcoming atmosphere.

🇵🇭 Practical Problems: 👎🏼 The water situation was terrible. Frequent water outages and yellow, discolored water made showering unpleasant and concerning.

👎🏼 Getting around was difficult and expensive 1000peso/ day?!? The bike rental price was exorbitant, making it feel like we were trapped at the resort.

👎🏼 The food was average at best, with the only highlight being the fresh grilled fish. Otherwise, the flavors were meh, even french fries wasnt right.

👎🏼 The extra fees were excessive. A 20% surcharge (12% VAT and 8% service charge) felt unjustified for the level of service and amenities provided.

🇵🇭 The Only Positive: The island hopping excursion was enjoyable.

— In summary: While the island hopping was a nice experience, the poor service, water issues, high prices, and average food made this a disappointing stay. I expected much more, and I felt that the value for money...

A real shame to have encountered such an awful man as ‘Prince’ John. We were taken to our room which we promptly told John was not what we had booked, however he brushed us off and said it was what we were getting. We looked up the room to see we had been given the budget double room after booking the Family Bungalow. Seeking out John to tell him this, he immediately became defensive, taking 10 minutes to admit he had double booked our room by giving our room to a walk in who had arrived earlier. After pushing for a resolution, he offered us ‘compensation’ of the price difference of the 2 rooms. This is of course not compensation but simply a refund of the money we were owed. He was aggressive and spoke over us when we expressed our discontent and his only solution was that we cancel the booking and find elsewhere to sleep. This suggestion was at 7pm after a 20 minute boat ride to the accommodation as the road was too poor to take us via land. He did not care we were far from Port Barton and would rather us leave than offer us a solution to his mistake. We have never experienced such rudeness or awful customer service before and cannot believe how dismissive he was of our very valid concerns. Although the accommodation is nice, I would not recommend Prince John to anyone as he clearly does not care about his guests only about getting as much...

Road to the resort is absolutely awful!

So, we haven't had those terrible stories you read in the reviews (but having spent 5 days there I can believe every single one of them). Our stay there was pretty okay - the beach is beautiful, the dogs are cool, the shower is a nice touch.

But what I want to emphasise in this review is the road to get there. You wouldn't believe how bad it is! It's a warzone road, I'm not kidding. If you think you can understand - you cannot.

Only choose this resort if you are okay with just sitting at the same place for the duration of your stay. If you like to openly explore on your own, find interesting places on the map and checking them out - this resort is not for you.

We were first picked up after sundown with a pickup truck. 15minutes into the dirtroad I was banging my head in pretty much every object in the car. I was hoping we were being kidnapped so that I wouldn't have to drive this road each day to the town. We weren't being kidnapped :(

Each time you go to town, or come back, you have to take 25min of intense rocking in a tuktuk or a truck. You can also take a motorbike, whick is least rocking option. But beware! The road is very trecherous and make sure your scooter driving skills are appropriate. There are plenty of mud spots, whick are very slipery. It's easy to slip. Worst roads for...