Eastwood Richmonde Hotel

We booked the Eastwood Richmonde Hotel through AsiaTravel's Crazy Rate for my last night in Manila. It was a new hotel and we wanted to try it out.

I arrived at the hotel at around 3:30 in the afternoon and was immediately impressed with the lobby. It looked new and the lounge was elegant.

When I tried to check in, I was informed that the room was not yet ready which surprised me cause it was already quite late and since I was the only guest in the lobby, it didn't seem busy. I was made to wait for about 10 minutes. 

When the front desk staff finally handed me my keys, I was told that I have a free welcome drink. Um...you should have given me that drink while I was waiting for the room to be ready.

I asked about wifi and I was told that I have to pay for it (500pesos a day). This was a major deal breaker because at this day and age, when even McDonald's has free wifi, to simply charge exorbitant fees for it is unacceptable. Also, the website is quite misleading, if you check below, only the ones with the asterisk are chargeable and Wired and Wi-Fi Access are not included. 

Lastly, you can only use the wifi on one device, either your phone or your laptop and the worse thing about it is that it's spotty and slow.

Anyway, when I went up to the 37th floor, I asked the concierge about the lower floors and was told that they are residential floors. The elevator opened up to a mirrored lobby.



The reason for the mirrors is the very narrow hallway that also smelled a bit funky.



I was given the farthest room possible where signal is a problem. Since I was waiting for my friend whose coming to the hotel from work and didn't know where Eastwood was, I had to wait in the hallway just to be able to send and receive messages.

I asked to be transferred to another room since it was really quite a hassle and was told that they'll call me back. I never heard back from them.

The room itself was okay.









I especially liked that even the cheaper priced rooms have an iPod dock.



I also liked the bedside lamps.

I did have to ask for an ironing board and I found it weird that the water glasses are placed on the bottom drawer by the floor. Also, the airconditioner blows directly to your head even if you adjust the aircon flaps.



The bathroom was simple. The tub has a large bath mat which would deter anyone from using it as a tub.





The towels while fluffy is short. My towels at home are larger.



On to the rest of the hotel, they have a fitness center which I didn't get to try and a roof top pool which looked inviting.







As for breakfast, I'll save the pictures for another entry save for this one:



I asked for coffee and was given one with a fly swimming in it. I showed it to the staff who took it without any apology. He picked up the same coffee pot and asked me if I still wanted one. I guess they're used to things like this happening often.

Checking out of the hotel was quite troublesome as well. They charged me for airport transfers which I didn't use. The front desk manager did apologize for the inconvenience which made me happy. It was the first time I heard someone apologize for all the hassle that they put me through.

Overall, I wouldn't be staying at that hotel unless it's free. Unless you have business at Eastwood, the location is not really accessible. You'd be better off at other hotels in Ortigas.