It was a long weekend. Together with my maternal cousins had come up with an idea of booking a nearby hotel where we can have an interlocking. It was also a good chance for my father who is in the country now same with my one of our uncles who also happens to be in the country, to see each other after so many years. We booked for a two-room suite at Astoria Plaza Ortigas. However, since we have only booked one big room for us, we foresee it to be not that spacious for everyone to have an overnight. Astoria Plaza Ortigas was already fully booked that weekend so, my other cousins decided to do a booking from a nearby hotel instead, which is the Discovery Suites.
We arrived at Astoria Plaza Ortigas at around 1am and we're expecting to have an early check-in unfortunately the hotel was fully booked that day and we still need to wait for 2pm before we can actually check-in. There is no available room yet and some rooms were still being cleaned. The front desk told us to wait until 2pm. Past 2pm came until it's already 2:45pm and we're not yet checked in! I still have to go to the front desk to do a follow-up. I believe the staff overlooked on us but he said sorry and eventually gave us our room key card. It was disappointing that we waited that long to think that I have a very impatient toddler with me. Moreover, the receiving area of the hotel is very narrow to accommodate many guests.
On the contrary, the two-room suite at Astoria Plaza Ortigas is very big & spacious especially for big-numbered groups. It is also clean. Staff service was okay. I also like the separation of the kitchen from the living room. I find it very organized and tidy. We were able to bring some foods and drinks that we can share. Among the foods that were brought are pizzas, palabok, chips, roast chicken, and ice cream. It was touching for our Tita Emma to bring a whole bilao of palabok though she wasn’t able to join us for the gathering due to work commitment. She had always been thoughtful in buying us with palabok ever since.
Our stay was fun-filled as we tell many stories and updates with each other. The men in the family really enjoyed having a few bottles of light alcohol drinks and of course the lively “kwentuhan”. While the women in the family enjoyed catching up in stories of life endlessly. Of course, the kids are the highlight of the gathering as they playfully roam and run around the room. Overall, the gathering was not only intimate but also filled of laughter and reminiscing.
My other cousins left Astoria Plaza Ortigas at around 2AM as they transferred to the nearby Discovery Suites Hotel to stay. It’s really sad that we need to part ways again this time and wait for some time again to see each other. Well that’s the perks of living our lives in different directions but one thing remains to be intact that is our roots.
In Astoria Plaza Ortigas, we had a good night sleep though I find the single bed very small (compared to other hotels I had stayed in with single bed size). The aircon is very cold as expected and I’m pretty sure that my family especially my siblings and pamangkins had a very comfortable night.
That morning, we already had plans of swimming in the outdoor pool of Astoria Plaza Hotel. My father and brother went out of the hotel to buy some breakfast foods from nearby food chain. We did not avail the breakfast buffet since we don’t find it very practical with the large headcount that we have. After breakfast, we now prepare for the swimming. The kids were excited and we expect the outdoor to be very big as in the photos from the online.
When we arrive at the door entrance of the pool area, a security officer had blocked us to get our room number, guest names, and number of people who will swim because they can only allow 6 people in the pool including already the kids. It’s like I’m “what???!! Is that you policy???” As far as I can recall, this is the only hotel that give limits to guests who can swim in the pool. I’ve been in many hotels in my life but this is the only hotel that had such policies. It was very disappointing for the kids especially to my father who really look forward in having a swim that morning. The size of the pool was very deceiving from the online photos. We only stayed like 30 minutes in the pool area until we all agreed to transfer to the nearby Ace Water Spa Hotel where we can actually swim and have a massage therapy for 4 hours. We packed our bags and proceed.
Overall, the stay at Astoria Plaza Ortigas was good. I will definitely come back to the hotel but swimming will no longer be an option for me unless of course if the pool area will not be as crowded as our recent stay. Maybe, the experiences were just one of those dilemmas of long busy weekends.
Overall, the stay at Astoria Plaza Ortigas was good. I will definitely come back to the hotel but swimming will no longer be an option for me unless of course if the pool area will not be as crowded as our recent stay. Maybe, the experiences were just one of those dilemmas of long busy weekends.