September 26, 2009
Arts, Cagayan de Oro City, Hotels, Humor, Mindanaoan Update, Personal, Photos, blogging
Sir George Pension House in Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao is fast becoming one of my favorite budget accommodations in CDO. I think I’ve checked in 3 or 4 times after my very first stay at that cheap hotel in Cagayan de Oro City. I like the accessibility of the place (it’s located at corner Pabayo and Gaerlan streets, just a few blocks away from the heart of Divisoria), the room rates are relatively cheap (single room rate starts at P600.00) and they offer FREE Wi-Fi!
Read more about my review of Sir George Pension House over at the Mindanao Hotels page.
I won’t delve more into the amenities of this CDO pension house, though. What I want to share with you guys are these photos of my funny looking yet pretty darn cute hotel room visitor!
During my most recent stay at Sir George Pension House Cagayan de Oro, I mistakenly left behind my Guess sunglasses. Well, look at who was wearing them as soon as I got back to my room!
Apparently, the room attendant over at Sir George has a knack for creating pretty cool stuff with the mere use of a towel 
It looks like a “towel dog” at first…but I reckon it looks more like a “towel pig” when you look at it from this angle…what do you guys think? LOL
LikeJune 5, 2009
Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Features, Hotels, Mindanaoan Update, Photos, Reviews, Tourism, Travel
Here’s another Mindanao Hotels review. Goodnews Traveller’s Inn is located along Capt. Vicente Roa Street, Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao, Philippines. It’s near the busy Cogon Market and is accessible by public utility vehicles (taxi, jeepney, trisikad and motorela) This lodging house in Cagayan de Oro City is also just a few steps away from the Cagayan de Oro City fire station.
Truth be told, Goodnews Travellers Inn was my last…okay, ONLY choice at the time I was in CDO because all of the other hotels in Cagayan de Oro were fully booked. So with my hopes up, I checked in and got a double room. I paid P950.00 for the double airconditioned room.
My room was at the third floor, which was a major bummer. Apart from the fact that I’m not a fan of using the stairs (Goodnews Travelers Inn does not have an elevator), I also learned that the inn’s wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) facility no longer extends up to the third floor. Wi-Fi internet is NOT FREE at this budget hotel in CDO, take note. You need to buy an internet access card (P100.00 for 3 hours, I think) before you can fully enjoy the Wi-Fi connection.
As you can see from the photos I took, the double room looks pretty decent. There’s a telephone, the room is airconditioned, there’s a TV set (there’s cable connection, by the way) and a small table with two chairs. There’s also a big cabinet by the bed where you can find a few hangers.
Now…the comfort room. Well, as you can see, it has seen better days (just check out the broken mirror by the sink) but at least it’s clean. There’s hot and cold shower and the towels are okay. I highly suggest you bring your own toiletries, though.
Since my room was by the busy street, it was pretty noisy especially during lunch time. In the evenings, empty taxis or motorelas are also difficult to come by so be prepared to walk towards the Cogon Market area and hail a cab from there.
My room didn’t come with free breakfast but there’s a Persimmon bakeshop-restaurant at the first floor so at least I was able to order coffee in the morning (you also have the option to order room service). Persimmon serves reasonably priced food. I suggest you order their pancit guisado or any of their viands.
My overnight stay at Goodnews Travellers’ Inn Cagayan de Oro City was pretty much all right. No fuss, no hassles. Just basic and safe accommodation in the City of Golden Friendship.
April 1, 2009
Announcements, Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Controversial, Events, Features, Headline, Hotels, Leisure, Media, Mindanaoan Update, News, Society, Tourism, Travel, northern mindanao
NORTHERN MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES – Club South Pacific, a luxury property on the beachfront of beautiful Northern Mindanao, has just announced a very special promo wherein the first twenty (20) families and/or first twenty (20) individuals can avail of discounted membership packages/rates!
An individual membership package (lifetime), for instance, will only cost P88,000.00 (regular price is P150,000.00) while the family membership rate will only cost P105,000.00 (regular rate is P180,000.00)
Make your reservations RIGHT NOW! You only need to pay P1,000.00 as reservation fee! (this is even deductible from the full payment) We can also arrange for a free trip to the Club South Pacific site so that you can personally check out the amazing property.
Read more about Club South Pacific HERE. And if you want to avail of this great offer, call us at (+63) 919 238 6575. You can also send an email to asteriskEC@gmail.com or leave a message HERE.
Southwinds Hotel is located along Capt. Vicente Roa Street Extension in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines. It is a hotel known for its very strategic location – it’s just a few meters away from Gaisano Mall Cagayan de Oro (walking distance) and a few blocks away from Robinson’s Mall Cagayan de Oro and Lim Ket Kai Mall CDO (you can just ride one of the local trisikads or padyaks for 5 pesos per person) It’s also in front of the main branch of Graphic All-In-One (a large chain of stores that sells cellular phones, cellphone accessories and the like).
Just this week, my mom, brother and I stayed in Southwinds Hotel. It was my second time to stay there, the first one was during a media tour sponsored by the Department of Agriculture a few years ago (several Mindanaoan media practitioners visited corn farms and milling areas in Baungon, Bukidnon and were briefed on hybrid corn production). My first visit was a pretty good one so I suggested that we spend our three days in Cagayan de Oro (dubbed the City of Golden Friendship) there. Plus we’ve already tried a couple of hotels in CDO and I wanted to blog about my experience this time around 
Apart from its location, another thing that I like about staying in Southwinds Hotel Cagayan de Oro is the fact that its room rates are affordable. For a de luxe room, you only need to pay P1,060.00 (roughly US $25.00). Each deluxe room is good for double occupancy and get this – you also have free breakfast (good for two persons). You can choose whether you want Continental Breakfast, American Style Breakfast or Filipino Breakfast. During our stay, I opted for the Filipino Bangsilog (fried bangus fish seasoned with lots of garlic and pepper, sinangag or fried rice and itlog or egg) meal. Delish. Every breakfast meal comes with brewed or instant coffee.
Now for the room – our deluxe room had two single beds, a dresser, cable TV, cabinets and a small nook where there’s a small table and two cushioned chairs (very convenient especially if you’re on a business trip and you brought a laptop along). There’s hot and cold shower and there’s bedside control for the lights. You will only be provided with a small bar of soap and a sachet of shampoo though so it would be advisable if you could bring toiletries with you. I was also pleased to see that the room had several power outlets (sockets) – that meant that the management didn’t let their guests feel as if they were restricted or something.
One of the “distinct” features of Southwinds Hotel, by the way, is its very ample parking space for clients and guests. In fact, I think Southwinds Hotel is one of the very few remaining hotels in Cagayan de Oro that has that much parking space for guests. Hence, if you’re traveling with family and you brought your vehicle along, you won’t need to worry about safekeeping it.
The one thing that I could probably say I didn’t like during my entire 3-day stay in Southwinds Hotel is the hotel staff members’ lack of courtesy. During our check-in, for instance, one of the female receptionists that I spoke to immediately shifted her attention to another guest, leaving me unattended. That didn’t sit well with me. The other female receptionist, on the other hand, looked gloomy and indifferent and merely recited the “benefits” that come with our room – i.e. free breakfast will be served from 6 to 10 am blah blah. Not once did she and the other receptionist smile or at least looked glad that they had new guests. Also, during breakfast (on our second day there), the waitress, waiters and cooks were all busy watching HBO (”Spiderman 3″ was on and they had this huge TV at Cafe Bea, where the complimentary breakfast was served to hotel guests). So I found it uncomfortable to “interrupt” their HBO-watching session and ask for condiments because they really looked too engrossed watching the movie. The staff members were also busy, loudly chatting about the film which I found uncomfortable as well. I felt that the hotel guests should be given their “privacy” – at least a few minutes of silence during breakfast. I guess they shouldn’t have turned the TV on that day. Instead, soft music will do. Or better yet, they should’ve just switched to a news channel – I’d prefer that over Spiderman 3.
Still, I could probably still see myself staying at Southwinds Hotel Cagayan de Oro sometime soon. The room rates are reasonable, the breakfast meals are hearty and the location’s great. Let’s just hope that their staff members do better next time.
Southwinds Hotel is located along Capt. Vicente Roa Street Extension, Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao, Philippines.
Are you an owner of a hotel or inn? Do you own a restaurant or any type of business? Do you provide a certain kind of service? Whether your establishment is in Mindanao or in Visayas or Luzon, Mindanaoan can write an honest review about your place or service. Let the people here in Mindanao, Philippines read all about it! Mindanaoan can even write a review about your establishment for FREE! Check this page out or contact me. Should the contact form fail, you may send an email to mindanaoan (at) gmail (dot) com
I’ve been staying in a lot of various hotels in Cagayan de Oro City as of late. One of my favorites so far is the Mallberry Suites Business Hotel, which is located right along Florentino Street. It’s right behind the Robinson’s Mall near the Lim Ket Kai Center in downtown Cagayan de Oro City.
Mallberry Suites is a relatively new hotel in Cagayan de Oro, which is dubbed the “City of Golden Friendship.” It’s perfect for traveling businessmen who need a place where “everything’s within reach” and for someone who may need to conduct their meetings at the same hotel where they’re billeted in.
I stayed in one of their De Luxe Rooms (P2,400.00 per night). Now, compared to the Superior Room (P2,200.00 per night), the De Luxe Room has bigger space and has a refrigerator (which I like because you know how expensive drinks at a hotel can be — hence, during my stay in Mallberry, I purchased several bottles of mineral water, my favorite shandy and juices from the nearby Robinson’s Mall grocery department).
The hotel’s other room types include Standard Room (P1,980.00), Junior Suite (P3,300.00), the Mallberry Suite, the Superior Executive (P2,780.00), De Luxe Executive (2,980.00), Junior Executive (P3,700.00) and Presidential Suite (P7,500.00) The rates I cited here are inclusive of the mandatory 12% government tax. The said rates apply to both single and double occupancies and include buffet breakfast good for two. If you need an extra bed or if there’s an additional person in your room, you will be charged P490.00 per extra bed or person and should that person also have breakfast the next day, the charge is extra P220.00. Mallberry Suites hotel’s rates are expensive based on CDO standards, yes. However, the hotel is relatively new, it’s just a few steps away from Lim Ket Kai (the largest mall in the city) and it does have beautiful interiors and luxurious amenities. 
Businessmen will find their conference/meeting rooms adequate and events organizers will also like their ballroom. Apart from the ref and the bigger space, two other things that I liked about my room were the bathtub and the huge mirror window. As much as possible, I avoid rooms that do not have any windows at all. Not that I’m claustrophobic but I like to see and feel the sun’s rays in the morning. And yes, any hotel room that has a clean bathtub gets plus points from me.
The buffet breakfast is served at the 7th floor, specifically at the Tangerine Room. I particularly enjoyed breakfast! I’m really not a breakfast eater but the sumptuous array of delish food was really difficult to pass up. During my stay, they served the typical Filipino breakfast – sinangag (fried rice), creamy scrambled eggs, your choice of tapa, tocino, fried bangus, vegetables etc. There was a mini bread and cereal station for the light eaters and of course, coffee for caffeine addicts like myself, orange juice and hot chocolate for the kids.
On
the other hand, there were also certain things that I didn’t like, though. For a laptop-carrying entrepreneur like myself, I was somehow expecting that they’d offer free Wi-Fi service. While the hotel is a Wi-Fi zone, such service doesn’t come for free. I had to buy a Wi-Fi card. I think it was P100.00 good for 3-5 hours or something. Also, too bad that the hotel doesn’t have a swimming pool. It would have been great to have taken a few laps in the pool before I retired off to sleep. I guess the management didn’t see the need for it (yet) since presumably they want to stick to the “business hotel” image first.
Good thing the hotel is at the downtown area so it’s easy for one to just take a cab and check out the bars along nearby Corrales Street. Alternative nightcap.
All in all, my stay in Mallberry Suites, Cagayan de Oro City was a good one. I’d go back and recommend the hotel to others.
Are you an owner of a hotel or inn? Do you own a restaurant or any type of business? Do you provide a certain kind of service? Whether your establishment is in Mindanao or in Visayas or Luzon, Mindanaoan can write an honest review about your place or service. Let the people here in Mindanao, Philippines read all about it! Mindanaoan can even write a review about your establishment for FREE! Check this page out or contact me. Should the contact form fail, you may send an email to mindanaoan (at) gmail (dot) com
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