Hey guys I have a question...

Could I have your opinion about choosing between the royal amsterdam and central park?

Thanks

I will be traveling early June.

RA-- no contest unless you ask pork or MX that is.

Whichever has a free bed is the best choice.

I've never seen the cheap rooms at Royal Amsterdam, but the 34+ dollar rooms are nicer for the money than the rooms at Central Park.

HRA had a bad reputation awhile back, though, for charging for ANY sort of sullying of their towels and sheets, reservation must be pre-guaranteed by credit card and they will supposedly charge you a rather large penalty if you cut your reservation short, for any reason. Not sure what they've done about the noise problem from the videokes (there are 10x as many shacks right behind them now as there were 2 years ago) or whether their cheesey carpets have seen any improvement or whether they've managed to solve the mosquito problems on the lower floors.

Other than all THAT crap, DM's probably right!

I've stayed at HRA, Wild Orchid and the Orange Lion. Out of those three, HRA is the best and the best value. Great location and service. However, Porker is right about a couple of the gripes. There are rooms in the back that face a number of very loud videokes. Make sure when you reserve that you tell them you DON'T want those rooms.

Regarding sheets and towels, I've never been charged for anything like that, but maybe it's because I always take care of the chamber maids. Never had a problem with mosquitos. And yes, if you end up checking out early, they charge you with a 10% cancellation fee (10% of the charge for remaining days). Given that they are always full, I don't blame them and don't consider that penalty onerous.

If I reserve a room at a hotel for two weeks and then check out after two nights because I don't like the water pressure, or something, or maybe because the noise from the videoke places becomes unbearable, I don't think I'd like it very much if the hotel decides to help themselves to a deposit charged to my credit card. No reason to put up with that when no other AC hotel (to my knowledge) has such a policy, and last time I checked, most of THEM were pretty damned full too.

If I'm in the middle of a stay and I decide I want to go to Subic for a few days or WHATEVER, last thing I want to worry about is what the hotel's reaction is going to be. It's NICE to give them a day or two NOTICE, but that's why all AC hotels have waiting lists. The hotel's occupancy rate is NOT YOUR concern.

Thank you gentlemen....I have a reservation at the RA already for the $40 room....


Rob

Porker,

You definitely have a point if there is something wrong with your room or the amenities. But I disagree if you just want ot bail out early. This is especially true if they tell you ahead of time that that is their policy. Is that REALLY "helping themselves" to your credit card?

We can agree to disagree, but as I said above, 10% penalty doesn't sound onerous to me. If you bail out 10 days early, that's still only one day's room rate (somewhere between $30 and $60).

In comparison, if you give virtually ANY hotel ANYWHERE your credit card number to guarantee your reservation and fail to show up on your arrival date, you will also forfeit one day's room rate.

Porker, at $35 a night, a 10% penalty for checking out 2 days early is a whopping $7. Unless they get a walk-up, that room is likely to go empty for at least one of those days, so I can understand the charge even if other hotels don't do it.

Charging you 10% of TWO days reservation may be reasonable, sure. Charging that for two WEEKS, though, is unconscionable (though, again, this hasn't happened to ME, just remember some other guy complaining about it). But, like I said, when you don't get hassled by the whole thing in ANY way in other hotels, I'd rather not open that whole can of worms. Up to you.

More important, does anybody know if there has been any impact on paying hotel bills after the new law was passed a few weeks back that instituted heavy fines for hotels that tacked on a surcharge for using credit cards? That would save almost every guest 5-7% off their bills, as I think ALL AC hotels were tacking that on.

(Message edited by porker on December 13, 2006)

Don't know when the law took affect, but as of Nov. 27th, those that were charging the surcharge were still charging them. I hadn't read about that law until very recently, so I didn't ask them.

Never did understand that surcharge rationale. Sure, virtually everyone in AC had them, but I never got hit with it in Manila hotels.

>new law was passed a few weeks back that instituted heavy fines for hotels that tacked on a surcharge for using credit cards

They did? Hadn't heard of that. I don't mind paying a slight surcharge to allow them to recoup what Visa or Mastercard charge them, but 5% plus was milking it.

I doubt it makes any difference. The contract any business signs with Visa or Mastercard expressly forbids them from adding surcharges over cash prices. That does not stop them. If Visa or MC got enough complaints they would revoke their right to use the system. I thought about complaining to Visa but figured all that would do is eliminate the use of credit cards in the future. Sort of like shooting yourself in the foot.

With the new law - who are you going to complain to ?? The "tourist police" ? They're a bigger joke in AC than they are in Bangkok.