HOTEL REVIEWS – Paragon Suites Cebu City is located along Juana Osmena Street, Cebu. Roughly a 10-minute walk away from bustling Mango Avenue (where there’s a lot of videoke places, bars, restaurants, coffee shops and Internet cafe stations), Paragon Suites is ideal for people who want cheap accommodations in Cebu City. One can classify Paragon Suites Cebu as a budget hotel, a budget pension house or a cheap inn with the basic amenities.
I stayed at Paragon Suites Cebu City just a few days ago. I stayed for a total of 3 days and truth be told, I didn’t quite enjoy my stay and therefore will never find myself staying at Paragon Suites Cebu ever again.
But more on that after the jump. Here’s a look at my superior room (rate was P1,380.00 per night):
My room was fully carpeted and fully airconditioned. It had a small refrigerator, a work desk and a chair, two single beds, a television set (not an LCD one, unfortunately) and a bathroom with hot and cold shower. I was provided with two bath towels, two soaps and two sachets of shampoo. There were also two pairs of slippers near the television set but I didn’t bother using them, lest that I catch a foot disease or something. There wasn’t any indication that the slippers were sanitized.
Here’s a look at another part of the room:
LikeMy first night in Iloilo City was spent in Highway 21. Classified as a pension house, I actually thought that this nice place located right in the heart of Iloilo City was more of a hotel. The perfect choice for budget conscious tourists, Highway 21 Iloilo City is located along the busy General Luna Street.
Highway 21 is actually right beside the Sarrabia Manor, a well-known hotel in Iloilo. Compared to Sarrabia, though, Highway 21’s rates are way cheaper.
I stayed at the new wing of Highway 21. The rooms found at the new wing are slightly higher than those found on the annex area but I thought the added expense was worth it. The new wing had an elevator while the annex didn’t have one. Plus all the rooms at the new wing had free, fast wireless Internet connection. That was important.
The room that I got was fully air-conditioned, equipped with cable TV, hot and cold shower, private bath and telephone. I actually didn’t expect a good looking room since I only paid P850.00 for my stay (single occupancy) but I got a pretty neat one. My room also had a good view of the bustling city.
Yes, I had wireless web connection so I was able to work for a bit before I hit the sack that night.
The staff members were friendly and helpful. The lobby, albeit small, was nicely decorated. The small cafe in the lobby area (where guests can also have heavy meals) was okay. The restaurant staff members were courteous and even helped me decide what to eat for dinner. They recommended these – calamares and grilled porkchop. Yum!
Now for photos of my room, check them out after the jump.
February 8, 2010
Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Consumer, Features, Food, Mindanaoan Update, Musings, Personal, Reviews, Society, Style, Tourism, northern mindanao
Mexican themed restaurant Mooon Cafe is one of my favorite eating places in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao. Apart from the yummy food, the prices are reasonable and the ambience is pretty laid back. Whenever there’s a chance, I also see to it that I bring my mom and brothers to the said restaurant in CDO and we all share fun, family bonding over hearty meals at Mooon Cafe CDO.
Mooon Cafe (yes, it has three “O’s”!) Cagayan de Oro branch, located at the first floor of Robinsons CDO, is the establishment’s first franchised branch outside of Cebu City where they have outlets in I.T. Park and Ayala Terraces, among others.
What I usually order (and what I can therefore recommend to all of you) are: for starters – quesadilla uno, campesinos (see the photo in this entry – these are good!), campesino jalapeno (for those who love the chilli version) and chicken flautas.
You may also want to try their signature beef taco and burrito pescado.
For barkadas or families, you can share the nacho de salsa or nacho spinners.
For the main course, I like the house specialty Mooon steak and the fish mozarella melt. When my brothers and I are really hungry though and are therefore in the mood to eat, we order the super delish Mexican baby back ribs or tenderloin steak. Really, really good!
And all of these meals are relatively cheap! The baby back ribs meal, for instance, is priced below P200.00 Not bad, right?
Mooon Cafe also has fish meals — blue marlin tangigue steak (my mom’s fave), tuna belly and breaded fish fillet.
Here’s a photo I took of the blue marlin tangigue steak:
February 7, 2010
Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Hotels, Mindanaoan Update, Reviews, Tourism, Travel, misamis oriental
Hello fellow Mindanawans! Planning a trip to CDO soon? Here’s a budget hotel in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao that you might be interested in.
Lamar Inn, located at the corner of JR Borja and Velez Streets (just a few blocks away from Divisoria, the heart of the city), is a downtown hotel that offers value for money. Conveniently located at the central business district of the City of Golden Friendship and owned and operated by VIP Hotel (which is located just right across the street), Lamar Inn CDO offers reasonably priced rooms and good amenities.
They have 14 tourist type rooms (P750.00 per night), 8 business type rooms (P850.00 per night) and two suites (P1,300.00 per night).
The business type room that we stayed in recently was air conditioned, had cable television, had a telephone and a hot beverage utility set.
Hence, it was easy for us to prepare coffee even in the middle of the night and early in the morning.
Our room also had hot and cold shower and a clean bathroom. We had clean towels and two bars of soap. No free shampoo but you can easily buy sachets from the reception desk. Bottled mineral water can also be bought at the reception area, by the way.
What I also liked about the business type room was the FREE wireless internet connection! On our first night of stay in Lamar Inn Cagayan de Oro, my wi-fi capable phone caught two wifi signals – Lamar’s and CGC (I reckon this stands for Canoy Group of Companies, the owners of Lamar Inn and yes, of VIP Hotel). I just asked for the security keys from the front desk and I was browsing the web in no time.
The hotel staff members were friendly, by the way, and they made sure that they kept our luggage safe (we had to leave our things for a few hours).
During Mindanaoan’s weeklong Cebu trip, I was fortunate to have had the chance to stay overnight at a Cebu resort that’s widely said to be Cebu Provincial Governor Gwen Garcia’s favorite. Lubi Resort is located at Santander, Cebu Province, a 5th class municipality included in the second district of Cebu.
And it’s not difficult to understand why Gov. Gwen loves Lubi Resort. It’s a homey, quaint refuge at the southernmost part of Cebu.
To reach the resort is a bit difficult to do so unless you have a private vehicle. Actually, I think the resort’s “exclusivity” is one of its main strengths. For people who just want to get away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life and just want to enjoy their “me” time, then Lubi Resort in Santander, Cebu is the answer.
Lubi Resort, as its name suggests, is a beachfront property located amid lots of palm and coconut trees. White sand. Ideally located near great dive spots such as Apo Island, Balicasag, Pescador Island, Sumilon and Siquijor.
The resort, I noticed, only had 6 rooms. But boy…were the rooms huge and absolutely beautiful! Check out the photos I took below. As for the rates…an overnight stay would cost you roughly US $100.00 or nearly P5,000.00 per night.
I learned that the resort is owned by a Japanese. That bit of information was further proven when my supposedly Filipino breakfast composed of scrambled eggs, corned beef, rice and coffee had a good serving of salad on the side. Someone told me that Japanese people liked having salads for breakfast.
Here are some of the photos I took inside my beautiful, spacious room:
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