Cala Laiya — Hotel in San Juan

For people going/planning to go to the resort I listed all the detailed pros & cons I noted. For reference we booked a 2-bedroom bungalow wherein 6 people stayed. We paid 17,000 php plus for 1 night which is a discounted rate because we bought this at the expo (PTAA) and 2 extra persons are senior citizens. :)

Pros: Resort is near the snorkeling spot of Laiya. Just rent a balsa. La Mensa food (Italian restaurant) is 💯. They have 2 restaurants in the resort and tried both. It is a bit on the expensive side but worth every penny except the Singaporean menu. Staff in archery, La Mensa, & beach dinner server are accommodating. The inclusive activities in the rate are kayaking, archery, board games, & they have 2 swimming pools. Room is really spacious. Whole vibe of the resort is really peaceful & calming. Although they offer complimentary plated breakfast you won’t feel bad that it is not buffet because it is really filling, has a lot of options to choose from, & really good. We forgot our bag full of snacks, it’s a good proactive side on the front desk team for calling us and informing us about the snacks.

Con Side: They need to improve the cleanliness of the room. Room is dusty upon arriving. Beach is super low tide in the afternoon and no longer swimmable/all water activities is no longer possible. Furniture in the room is made of cheap material with damages. Materials are not intended for resort hotel, when you’re wet you cannot seat to any of the furnitures inside. Room we stayed is good for 4 pax but sofa & dining table is only for 3 people. They also have no TV in the living room. No toothbrush & slipper set up in the room. You need to request all these. No life guard always on duty. Pool closes at 7:00 PM. Hope they can adjust this one because it’s early considering it’s super low tide in the afternoon and the only dip you can enjoy is the pool. No complimentary juice/tea/coffee in the breakfast. This is the first time I encountered this for a “luxury”/kinda on the expensive side resort. Front desk team needs to improve their communications skills especially with respect to time.

-When we were trying to pre-book a balsa f2f we’ve been informed that this is a first come first served basis which starts at 9 am. Then when we tried to book again through chat this time it can be pre-booked but earliest is already at 10 am. Now it confuses us what really is their standard.

-When we’re scheduling archery & balsa activity for the next day we’ve been informed they can schedule us both at 10:00 am. Hence there’s a big question mark on my face on how are we supposed to do archery and balsa at the same time? Then I clarified to schedule us fitting both the activities. This was resolved scheduling us 8am for archery & 10am for balsa but still confusing because they initially stated that the earliest activity for archery is 10am.

-When we’re trying to rent a jetski we’ve been informed it is available and we can rent it at 1:00 PM. This is weird to offer to us because we’re already checked-out at that time.

Note: We raise this concern to the front desk, they admitted that there were missing details that should have been communicated better to us for us to fully understand.

The steps on the trail need to be renovated. When you step on the side part you are prone to falling/accident since majority are already broken. Singaporean menu needs improvement especially the laksa. Poor wifi/internet. Not recommended if you wanted to work at the resort.

To conclude, for me what we paid for is not worth it. We already stayed to a lot of other resort hotels in the Philippines some are even at a lower price range but exceeded our expectation. But not closing the door in coming come back because we’re a believer that everything can be better especially resort vibe itself is already good just needs improvement considering...

i have so much to say about my experience here, it was so nice in photos and i was very excited based on what they’ve listed online in terms of activities and amenities, bur here’s what i actually experienced.

food - starting off good, there were only 2 options in the resort, an italian place and asian (filipino) resto. italian was good but kitchen opens later, asian selections were decent and the food was just okay. italian resto also had a selection of cocktails available. had to order breakfast in advance (the night before) as we were a big group of 17, yet we had to wait up to 1h for some of our meals.

activities - THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO IN THIS RESORT!!!!! for free there was only kayaking at a specific time from 2-3pm, otherwise swimming in any of their 3 alleged warm pools (all were freezing cold). water sports like sea wagon and jetski are actually never available because of the low tide, banana boat is broken so also not able to do that. we tried their banca which was 6.1k for 6pax which we felt was expensive but since there was nothing to do, might as well. we paid additional per person up to 10pax, so for 17 pax we had 2 boats and were promised water, snorkeling gear, towels, and bread for fish feeding. our bottled water wasn’t enough, our snorkeling gear was not enough, broken, and dirty, one boat didnt have towels or bread.

there was an archery range for 2 people at the end of their cala trail, which was super slippery and not well maintained either (see the pic)

location was okay, a bit too far inside and confusing to go to but just follow the small signs and itll be okay. its going to be bumpy with no clear roads but oh well. there were not many stores or restaurants nearby so youre stuck with whatevers in the resort. the souvenir store in the resort was so sad, unmaintained and dusty too.

rooms - we stayed in the 3BR casita, it was spacious and comfy. the floors were rough so okay for sand but not comfy if youre barefoot. only had showers in the downstairs bathrooms, so the ensuite upstairs only has a toilet. the bathrooms were SO smelly when we arrived, and it just generally looked a bit dirty. we requested it to be cleaned and it was slightly better but still stinky. the heater in one of the rooms didn’t work, and the fridge was also not working in the other room.

i dont think id come back again, but i strongly feel that the hotel should be more honest with what they offer instead of all the false...

Extremely Disappointing Wedding Experience

I booked this resort for my wedding and chose their expensive all-in package, which included two villas for my family, full event styling, and five coordinators. For the price we paid, I expected a smooth, professional, and beautiful event, but the reality was incredibly frustrating and disappointing.

First, I paid for a fresh flower ceremony backdrop exactly like the one in the first photo I provided them soft, elegant, and romantic. But what they set up was completely different (photo 2) and clearly not the option I paid for. There was also no cake table styling at all, even though it was clearly listed in the quotation.

The coordinator service was also a letdown. Out of the five coordinators I paid for, only three showed up, and two of them told me it was their first time ever working a wedding. That is absolutely unacceptable for a paid professional team. I was in the villa getting my makeup done and only saw the setup when I walked to the ceremony, by then, it was too late to do anything. No one informed me of the changes or issues beforehand, and no one apologized.

As for the food we paid ₱3,000 per guest for a buffet, but they didn’t even provide tables and chairs. I had to rent those myself from another supplier. Then, during the reception, the food ran out so fast that some of my guests didn’t even get to eat. It was supposed to be buffet style, how can you run out of food that early? I make an ocular for food tasting and some of them i asked for little adjustment, example deserst was too sweet too much sugar i just ask for less sweet they wrote note on paper but they didnt adjust anything

The worst part came the next day. I tried to speak with the manager and the coordinator, but they ignored my calls. Only the cashier was present and she pressured me to pay the remaining balance in full, without addressing a single concern. They even told the guards not to allow any of my family’s cars to leave the premises unless I finished the payment. It was humiliating and deeply upsetting.

For the amount of money we paid, this resort failed to deliver the basic professionalism and service that any couple deserves on their wedding day. No accountability, no communication, no care. I genuinely feel scammed. I do not recommend this place to anyone considering it for a wedding.

the only thing i enjoy is the waiter and other staffs was very...