June 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.
LikeSouthwinds 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
Back in college, the Ateneo Glee Club had a joint concert with the Xavier University (Ateneo de Cagayan University) Glee Club. (Don’t laugh but I was one of the Sopranos of the Ateneo Glee Club 
) Anyways, all of us had to stay with either foster families or in lodging houses in Cagayan de Oro City. Casa Crystalla, a budget hotel in the City of Golden Friendship, was one of the concert’s sponsors and they offered several rooms for my co-club members. (I stayed with the lovely Yap family)
Fast forward a few years later, Casa Crystalla is now one of the CDO inns I stay in whenever I’m in town. There are a couple of reasons why I like staying there – for one, the rates are very affordable (I usually get the deluxe room with ref, table and chairs – like a mini sala set of sorts – and bath tub worth P900.00 per night), secondly, the rooms are clean and thirdly, Casa Crystalla is located right in the heart of the city — just a block away from Xavier University and a few steps away from the Divisoria area where the Night Cafe is held every Friday and Saturday. It’s also very easy to take the jeep or a cab from the inn.
The inn’s room service is actually from Mom’s Corner, a food joint beside Casa Crystalla. You’d need to fork out service charge for every order, though. If you want to dine out, however, you have lots of choices! Casa Crystalla is near fastfood joints (Chowking, McDonald’s, Jollibee are all just a few blocks away), restaurants like Max’s and even local favorites like Annabel’s (where I always have my fill of their killer palabok!) Mom’s Corner is closed on Sundays, though, so if you need to have breakfast or lunch on a Sunday, you’d need to go out of the inn. SM Cagayan de Oro City is just a jeepney ride away (or if you want to take a cab, prepare roughly P80.00) as well as LimKetKai Mall.
Every room in Casa Crystalla has cable TV. What I just don’t like sometimes is the buggy cable receiver and remote control. Sometimes I need to get up to adjust the volume or to change channels.
The bed sheets are clean and I think the management just recently changed the comforters and pillow cases.
There’s also a large closet for your clothes, some hangers and a space for your bags. No in-house slippers are offered so you need to bring your own pair. Oh yeah, before I forget, one of the things I like is the fact that there’s a seat the foot of the bed. Not exactly a seat SEAT but at least a space where you can place your bag while you sort through your things or where you can sit on while putting on your shoes. It’s nothing big, I know, but for a frequent traveler like myself, I find it nice that a small lodging place in Cagayan de Oro City took the time out to put something like that. I often only find seats like that at the foot of the bed in larger hotels.
Guests are provided with towels and soap. If you forgot to bring shampoo and other toiletries, you can buy some from the front desk. The bathrooms are clean – the bathtub is clean and there’s hot and cold shower.
By the way, just in case your room has a couple of coffee, sugar and cream packs near the vanity table, do note that those aren’t for free. I think we ended up paying P15.00 for every serving – still affordable, IMHO. And yes, the room we usually get has an electric water heater. So just in case you want to drink coffee early in the morning, you can just do so right in your own room.
So there you go – if you’re looking for a budget hotel or budget inn in Cagayan de Oro City, why not try staying in Casa Crystalla? I’m sure you’ll like the place as much as I do!
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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