Hotel Essencia

Hotel seem to be nice quality but while cleaning the room they throw out personal belongings from the desk. Bfk had very limited continental options and no tea. Juice only from powder. One lift was not working so it took forever to get to your floor. When we tried ordering room service during lunch time it was temporarily not available...

The room was fine. Beds are comfortable, but only one small pillow.. Had difficulties with the use of a shower and to show us the correct way, took them 2 days;) AC okay, just loud, plus for a small fridge. Kettle in room, but without any tea or coffee. No any water refiller on alleyways, only one elevator was working what was disaster when you want to go in/out of your floor. Very crowded during breakfast- just not sufficient space for all guests. For breakfast everyday same - for continental only boiled egg and too salty scrambled eggs.. Also, i didn't expect that 3* hotel will have juice from the powder for breakfast.. what a shame.. You can take this place if there is no other options, but for 1-2 nights only.

Was hoping for a decent place to stay during our first visit to Dumaguete. Many issues to list with this place. Due to flight delays and schedule changes, we found ourselves arriving about 4 hours earlier than planned. I emailed the hotel to request early check-in, but did not receive a response. Apparently, the reservation manager does not read email details and is very slow to respond, as she finally answered several days after we were checked in by stating the fee for early check-in. Following the check-in process, but before entering our room, we were informed the reservation manager had made an error and assigned us the incorrect classification of room. So, we had to wait in the lobby for about 10 more minutes for this error to be sorted and corrected. One day following room cleaning, we found one of our bath towels to be dirty. It had clearly been dropped on the floor and stepped on with a soiled shoe, and still placed in our room for use. The balcony door in our room would not fully close, allowing noise, warm air, and insects to pass freely. Although the hotel is old, there is no excuse for being dirty. Soap scum is living large on the shower hardware and walls. One of the two elevators was out of service during the entirety of our five day stay. There were events held several days causing significant delays in elevator availability. Most of the event guests were riding only from the lobby up one floor and the staff could have requested those guests please use the stairs if possible. Better yet....repair the elevator! We ate dinner twice here and my Filipina wife really enjoyed the food. It was tasty, plentiful, and reasonable pricing. I enjoyed the pork sisig the most. Very tasty! All direct contact with hotel staff was very enjoyable. Everyone was so friendly, attentive, and helpful. Miss Joy in the lobby helped us arrange ferry rides and drivers. The drivers were safe and professional in their duties. It is nice to have this service available to guests.

All that's missing is bars on the windows. Hotel Essencia has all the outward appearances of a serious hotel — a concierge, a restaurant, and a front desk. But that's where it ends. Where most hotels aspire to silence, Essencia takes a different approach. The elevator chimes loudly as if you are inside a church bell. The walls, windows and mattress are all paper thin so you feel like you're right outside on the street below. In case that wasn't enough they make sure the TV is preset to blaring on your arrival. All of that could have been excused, I suppose. While I understand there will be occasional oversights, the sound of the door hinges were completely out of line with the sounds one expects to hear from a door. I can’t understand how they could not have noticed, and if they did, why they didn’t even attempt to spray something, anything on the hinge. But perhaps most bizarre of all were the pillows. The room comes equipped with two decorative sized pillows with there being no extras in the closet. That’s fine, we asked at the front desk for extras. We were sharply reprimanded: only one pillow per guest. Being scolded like a kindergarten student was one experience I hadn't included on my Filipino trip bingo card. The hotel restaurant has a free breakfast, for some reason a weight policy on food left behind. After looking over the buffet I decided not to risk it. Overall I think if none of the above bothers you then hotel essencia is a fine place to stay but as I've been repeatedly told in the Philippines, "set your expectations.”

Pd extra fee for 4th person even if reservation is for 4 and family room. Breakfast is also additional for 4th person. Sheets were dirty upon check in on first day. Immediately replaced by the staff although had to change the comforter twice since he brought one with a stain. My consolations were Staff are courteous and pleasant, first day breakfast was very good. A little warning, keep a close eye for the cancelation date on travel site you booked since the property has no cancellation policy.

The staff are helpful and attentive. The hotel itself is dated and could use significant renovation. The room itself, a deluxe, smelled heavily of bleach throughout our stay. The air conditioning could not be controlled so either we left it off in the humid heat or froze. The location is convenient but there's lots of traffic going by all the time so it is very noisy throughout the night. We had a problem with our door entry and the key card or door failed several times which was frustrating and wasted time. The breakfast was reasonably good and they made special efforts for us as we are vegetarian.