Salagdoong Resort was the worst place I stayed in the Visayas.
A selection of the problems I encountered during our stay:
- my friend had to move rooms after the first night because the air-con in his room leaked into a big puddle on the floor
- The shower in my room broke several times. I had to get a guy from reception to fix it by turning the screw with a knife.
- Although there was a shower heater unit in my friends room it was purely decorative - no hot water.
- The twin rooms were so small that the bed prevented the wardrobe doors from opening fully.
- ALL of the windows leaked into small puddles on the floor when it rained
- No food is actually cooked in the restaurant... just heated up. The menu was very limited, and there was nothing that we could take out for lunch as we were diving each day. We ended up ordering extra breakfasts and making bacon and egg sandwiches. The only nice meal was the chicken curry.
- The restaurant RAN OUT OF FOOD, twice! We came to order dinner and were informed the only thing left was sweet and sour pork or breakfast. The next day there weren't enough breakfasts for both of us to eat. We were informed that more food would be bought that day, but we decided not to risk it and hired a motorbike to go into Larena for dinner that evening. The next night there was no food again - the waitress told us that the guests had eaten all the food!! The hotel was almost fully booked already... it was not like they had a sudden rush of people. Guests eating food is to be expected! Note - although there is a small restaurant by the beach that serves food in the evening, otherwise Salagdoong is remote - there are no other options to buy food or even snacks unless you have transport.
- The walls are THIN. You could hear everyone walking up and down, the TV from the landing and the music from the beach every night.
- The staff sleep in a room downstairs next to the restaurant. We would usually be served breakfast by a topless guy or a girl still in her nightdress. Not especially professional! In general the staff definitely didn't seem to care that the service was poor. They weren't rude, but weren't very helpful or apologetic when things went wrong. It seems to be a government owned place where the staff have no vested interest in the place doing well.
Most of the other guests were locals. I guess the hotel style appeals to them more than tourists, who think the native cottage style resorts are nicer. However the place is poorly built and appears to be falling apart already.
Note - we had to stay here because I was working on the coast on this side f the island, and there are no other accommodation options in Maria. If there were, we would have moved after one night. I have NO IDEA why anyone else would stay here, given that there are much better and cheaper options on the island.  |