This condo is located halfway down a side street away from the main business area, yet provides convenient access to much of it. Within a 5 minute walk, you'll find Speed King's excellent laundry service (29P/kg for machine w&d clothes not mixed with others), Soft Water's cheap drinking water (40P/5gal + 250 jug deposit with free delivery), 2 internet cafes with printing capability, and a number of massage shops. A 10-20 minute walk accesses many of the Fields Ave restaurants, bars, stores, and ATM machines, as well as the SM mall with its Hypermarket grocery.
The 8 story building is clean, modern, attractive, and well serviced by 2 elevators and a decent sized outdoor pool. It also has a well equipped gym available for 1000P/mo. The building has a 24/7 security door guard and a daytime office staff, including Mel who helps owner Rick a bit with the rent logistics. It was helpful having her on-site for certain questions and issues, but my booking comms with Rick were excellent and remained so during my 2 month stay. Check-in with Mel was quick and easy with no paperwork, as was checkout.
The 4th floor condo unit has a small balcony facing east, offering an open city/green tree view - decent, but not impressively mountainous as with higher floors. It was clean, (mostly) roach free, modern, well sized, and furnished with a firm bed, sitting area, work desk, clothes closet, storage cabinets, full kitchen (minus microwave), appliances, and a modern bath with separate shower. The wifi was mostly reliable and fast enough to stream Youtube videos. The TV had numerous english channels, including 5 movie channels, Nat Geo, Discovery, History, and news. There's also a DVD system which I didn't try.
There are negative points that need to be included for a thorough assessment:
First and formost, is the noise. This place is plagued with being streetfront where loud 2-stroke trikes frequently ply - accentuated by the speed bumps out front. It's also the playground for many screaming kids that come out most evenings. Across the street too, is a private park that hosts parties. During my stay, I had to endure 5 days of the most loud, horrible kareoke singing and bingo announcing imaginable. And, being election season, I had to also endure dozens of passes per day of unbelievably loud truck mobile PA systems playing obnoxious music with their announcements. My 13 horrible days of this won't affect most others, but be warned that this is not a good location for peace and quiet. Unfortunately, I found myself rarely enjoying the balcony and all too often having to close the doors and windows just to endure the noisy environment.
Second, I found the room unprofessionally prepared for my arrival, with used bath, kitchen, and other unsanitary items left behind by the guests and maid. Further, there were no clean towels laid out; rather, an entire closet full of piles and bags of disorganized towels and bedding - some in poor condition and none certain for being clean.
Third, the AC broke and flooded, remaining so for 3 days until it could be fixed. An inspection of it showed a disgusting mess of clogged filters - a sign of extended negligence since, after being completely removed and thoroughly cleaned, they remained looking that way during the rest of my 2 month stay.
Fourth, the shower's hot water heater was beyond tempermental; it either pushed out hot or cold water, with comfortably warm water never an option.
Fifth, the bathroom had poor lighting, an obtrusive shelf above the sink replacing a helpful vanity, and a half shower door design that allowed the bath floor to get wet.
Sixth, the furniture and bedding were cheap and the rimmed trash cans were the most stupidly designed, maddening recepticles I've ever had to use.
Seventh, there was no hair dryer, workable iron, or board, and the manual combination safe was too inconvenient to bother using.
Eighth, there was a persistent supply of mosquitoes entering the room from the hallway that kept my ankles severely bitten for most of my stay. The only solution, which I discovered late, was to keep the door closed and sacrifice the desired air flow.
In summary, this should and could be a 4 star rated unit, but its noise and problems knock it down a bit in my view. If you're noise sensitive like me, you'll suffer here somewhat. If you're out and about more or not bothered by noise, then I'd recommend this unit as an attractive option for a good price. Just recognize the flaws and maybe some of them will be corrected for the future.
Toutes les réservations sont effectuées directement auprès du propriétaire 