La Corona Hotel

While in the Philippines we stayed at La Corona Hotel--affiliated with the best western network. The hotel itself was great. The staff were friendly enough and the room was clean, the bathroom was nice, and the AC unit was working. They also provided 3 bottles of water per day, which we enjoyed.

In other reviews, I saw there were issues of construction and the elevator. We heard no construction noises and the elevator worked; however, it was a bit slow. It is one of the old school ones with the metal doors and the outer door pulls open like a room door. I agree with the location complaint. It was fairly near the historical area; however, it was almost 10 blocks from the metro and the area has both housing and businesses on the same street. While Manila is almost all poor and dirty, there are a few better areas to stay in. Most of the shopping/entertainment locations are on the east side of the city.

When you get to the airport--do not use the hotel car!!! It is about 3 or 4 times what you would pay a taxi. (Just remember to ask the taxi driver to start his meter) Every time you walk out the hotel, they offer you a ride. Now, I am a Lonely Planet fan and like to do things on the cheap so take that into consideration. I did get worn out from the taxi drivers trying to get more money than the standard fare--they always wanted "meter plus 30" or 30 pesos over the meter reading. We would always tip, but were not that generous. Still it was ALWAYS cheaper to use the local taxi.

The breakfast buffet was perhaps the most bizarre array of food--at least for an American. There were things like Teriyaki chicken, rice, beef tips with some bread and butter. They did have Corn Flakes. So while most of the food was what I would be looking for in a dinner, the Filipino eats for breakfast. They did have an 'egg station' that would cook you eggs, so I stuck to that and toast. There was no juice--but there was all the Tang you could drink!