Anilao Awari Bay Resort

Great view and good amenities. Clean rooms and grounds are well kept. Food is barely ok. Service fails miserably. Lack of training is evident. Instructions were not appreciated and we had to remind them repeatedly of our requests. Our mattress was sagging. Underneath the facade, not what it promised to be.

You can enjoy the beaches of Batangas without spending too much for the accommodation. Realized that a bit late, I’ve done poor research. Food is expensive, you have no choice but to buy from them coz bringing food from outside is a no go. We were served with plated breakfast not buffet. CR is below standard considering the price I paid for. They have friendly and accommodating staffs. They offer free use of kayak however, you can’t enjoy swimming on the sea due to unfriendly rocks on it. The pool is enticing.

We visited Anilao after maybe 20 years so we wanted to explore new places to eat - the caretaker of the home we were staying at recommended we go to Awari for dinner on our first night. TLDR, Overall their food was great. But the guest experience in this resort is unusual. Not what I expected stepping into their beautiful property. What happened: 1.) Upon arriving we were asked for identification cards, our personal email and contact number - this was for guests wanting to just to eat at their restaurant, not even checking in (we travel a lot and this is a first for our family to have to register our personal information just to have a bite. Felt a bit intrusive and unnecessary but we complied) 2.) We arrived with no other guest at the restaurant, had maybe 3 or 4 waitstaff in the area but a bit hard to get their attention - they mostly faced the bar talking to each other. Then when we were ordering, we ordered 1 dish and the waitstaff didn’t ask if we were done. Just said thanks and left. We had to call him back and say we were getting more (we literally just ordered soup and he thought that was enough for our table to get? Lol) *also FnB staff inside and outside of the kitchen just kept sneezing so loud!! Hopefully they covered their mouths lol* 3.) While at the resto, my dad’s karabiner broke so he asked if he could borrow a screwdriver- immediate response was they didn’t have one. As a total surprise for a fully functioning resort not to have any tools we had to ask the waitstaff to check with their maintenance team and see if we could use it for just 1 minute to fix it. Quite interesting that the immediate response was not to help, but they eventually helped us out here after “checking” so we appreciate that. 3.) When we asked for the bill, waitstaff said to settle the bill at the reception - interesting again - so we went up to the lobby to pay 4.) At the lobby, while waiting for them to prepare our bill, out of our interest with the resort we were chatting with the ladies at the reception (Lesh and Nica). (I must say the location and the way they built the resort is fantastic - beautiful view, well maintained place, clean) So we asked them how much their room rates was and how many rooms they had (35 rooms only and wow I love that about their resort). unfortunately, the receptionists didn’t seem very knowledgeable about their property. They were scrambling to get answers, not graceful at all. And when we asked, out of curiosity now with how things were going, who was running the place and like if they had other branches, the answer was so unexpected - they didn’t know! The only had one location (ok, understandable) but the only thing they said about who was running the place was “It’s THE corporation” lol. They didn’t know the corporation name, who was running it, etc. Maybe they don’t remember? Maybe it’s a secret? Who knows? 5.) We got our bill and it was pretty messed up. They doubled an item and only applied 10% off, 36 peso

Nice place. Very accommodating and helpful staff. The walk down to the reception and rooms is a steep 250 steps. Dont expect an elevator. Schedule a massage. It was really good! The food has large proportions so worth it.

PROS:room is good, room service is good and place is beautiful and in good condition and maintenance CONS= cockroach in room greeted us, very lousy breakfast service as we had to wait for an hour to be given our meal, the place didnt prepare breakfast buffet nor basic breakfast ! really dumb. They allowed noisy activities in the open area facing the beach so you cannot enjoy much needed serenity . The MANAGER is at fault in all cases.

They give us a wrong room picture upon inquiring, we expected that the bed is the same as the picture that they send to us upon checking in but no. They didn’t take action on it. The food on their restau is just okay but the service is poor and waiting time is 1hr to 1hr and half. From the cost of the room it is not worth it. I will not recommend it and we will not go back to this resort again.