If you’ve been following me on Facebook or Instagram, you might have noticed that my family loves staying in hotels. Apart from this article, I actually have 4 more hotel reviews which I haven’t written yet but hopefully, I will before the year ends.
Our Hotel H2O stay in Manila happened last September, it was where we spent our 3rd night (1st night was in Shangri-la at The Fort, 2nd night – still to be written). It was a memorable short stay because it was where we celebrated hubby Fred’s birthday while enjoying at the Manila Ocean Park.
Why Book at Hotel H2O
To experience Manila Ocean Park with kids is fun but trust me, it’s very much tiring. If you have the budget, you certainly need to have a room in the same area. Hotel H2O is just within the Manila Ocean Park Complex, so it’s the most convenient place. I booked their Aqua Room 2 days before our scheduled arrival. The price was around Php9000+ including my mother-in-law (3 adults and 2 children). However, since they acknowledge Senior Citizen Discount, we only paid Php7300, including breakfast for all of us.
So why Aqua Room? We’ve been to many hotels but none has a large aquarium inside the room, I guess that’s enough reason, right? It’s the hotel’s signature room as well so we wouldn’t want to miss it!
Upon entering the room, the ambiance really took our breath away. Our Louise was surprised to see the big aquarium with all the fishes, even Martina was amazed.
Aside from the aquarium which contains 35 different species of fishes, the room also has a nice bathtub which my daughters really loved. Due to our very hectic schedule, we weren’t able to check their swimming pool. So having a bathtub inside our room with a nice view of the aquarium was certainly a relief because my daughters want to have a dip in the water everytime we’re staying in hotels.
Our only concern though was the bathroom area. The doors had no locks which was not good especially with young children in the room. Also, the glass wall was semi-transparent which was a bit odd. I really won’t mind it if I stayed there with Fred and kids only but my mother-in-law was also there. Using the bathroom and toilet gave me that uncomfortable feeling.
During check-in, I mentioned to the staff at the front desk that it was Fred’s birthday. Hotel H2O was very kind to provide us a complimentary birthday cake which we really appreciated because we weren’t able to drop by a cake shop that day.
The place wasn’t busy when we stayed there, probably because it wasn’t weekend. It was actually scary for me when I strolled alone in the middle of the night, after my Hot Bed Treatment (given as a free complimentary service from Zenyu Eco Spa). Don’t worry, I haven’t seen any ghost, haha! Below were some of the photos I took when I passed by their lobby and hallway.
The free breakfast buffet was at the Makan Makan Asian Food Village. The buffet didn’t offer a wide variety of food but is enough to make our tummy full. All tasted very delicious as well.
Overall Rating: Very Good
Staff were polite and courteous. The checking-in and checking-out processes were fast and smooth, overall we had a fantastic experience. However, I can’t rate it as Excellent because in the morning, there was water dripping from the ceiling of our room. We did not bother telling the staff though as we were about to check out anyway. We’re not sure if that issue was already present before we check-in. Nevertheless, we’ll still go back there as the place is really nice, giving a relaxing ambiance with a homey feeling.
Wow hotel looks quite luxurious. I loved ved your pictures and the way you described your stay in that hotel.
Thank you!