Had a fantastic 4 nights at Charts. Owner and staff friendly and helpful, rooms clean and far enough from the bars to be quiet at night but not too far from the beach. This proved to be a great place to Base ourselves for a tour of Bohol.
Booking.com
Agoda.com
Hotels.com
Priceline
Hotels.com
Booking.comBooking.comBooking.com
Vio.com
The rooms are dark. The hotel is next to a main road so there's constant noise from motorbikes, both in the rooms and by the pool. It's a 10-minute, not very pleasant walk to the beach. There are a lot of little things that grate: old, scruffy towels; no free drinking water; no juice included in the breakfast; one tiny piece of soap for three days. We wanted to leave after a couple of days but they insisted we'd have to pay almost the full amount for the time we had booked - yes, this is in the terms and conditions, but it's something to watch out for. Also note that they charge for everything (changing towels for example) and that they have a large mark-up (massages and postcards both cost at least 6 times what they do on the beach, and they offer to refill water bottles for more than it costs to buy a new one in the shop next door.) The pool is small and was closed the first day we were there. For the price, and given the Lonely Planet's description, we expected something a lot better. We've stayed at excellent hotels in the Philippines before and I'm sure there are better options in Alona Beach.
We were here at the low-season when prices are lower. One of the best places to stay at Alona beach. Lovely large rooms, nicely decorated with art. Also the rooms are well maintained (something you don't see that often in the Philippines). The pool is nice and clean and perfect for a morning dip before going to the beach or taking a tour around Bohol.
Staff is very friendly and greets you with a lovely Philippine smile every morning. When it was my birthday they even arranged cake at the breakfast!
Owner, management and staff are all very friendly and can arrange anything you need to make your stay more comfortable.
If we come back we definitely stay here again!
I found this place nice the room was ok for this price it was fairly basic , read the folder when you arrive in the room it explains everything they will charge you for , the staff I found great very friendly and helpful they can organise a driver or tour for you they just found me a driver at a last second idea I wanted to do and he was fantastic , breakfast was ok too very nice , its walking distance to some ok bars and restaurants also
I stayed at ChARTs Resort for 4 nights at the beginning of September.
I really enjoyed my stay here, the rooms are nice and clean and the staff are really friendly.
Prices include breakfast, which is really yummy and filling.
The property is about 5 mins back from the beach.... this doesn't sound far but it is one of the furtherest away from the sea. It's not far though, I even felt safe walking back alone at night, its along the main road so there is always people around.
The peanut butter cookies in the cafe are fab!
I booked this hotel based on the generally favorable reviews here. Bad mistake.
I arranged for airport pick-up but our flight got delayed for three hours. Hell we were even diverted to Cebu for refuelling! They told me I owed them a cancellation fee of 200.00 Pesos because the driver went to the airport but we weren't there. I protested quite strongly about this and they finally agreed not to charge me the fee. But to even suggest such a thing after knowing what we had to go through to get there? Tip: it's actually cheaper to pay one of the cars at the airport to bring you to the hotel.
The food was not good at all. Our first meal was rice and chicken curry and a sandwich. The rice was of poor quality and the chicken curry was mostly potatoes with some bits of chicken breast. The sandwich was hardly better. Total bill = 510.00 Pesos!
Breakfast was included in the room rate but we only ate there once. We had sausages with egg and rice and bangus with egg and rice. The sausages turned out to be the local red colored hot dogs and the fish was the head portion of a small bangus split in half. In effect it was 1/4 of a fish! Anyone who has eaten bangus knows that is the least substantial part of the fish. Again the rice was of poor quality. I would be ashamed to serve rice like that to visitors. That was the last time we ate there.
Staff was generally friendly and nice except for one housekeeping staff member who barged into our room without knocking about twenty minutes after we checked in. Even after seeing us, she just went right in after mumbling an apology. She said she was checking the room safe?! Really now, aren't this people supposed to be trained to ALWAYS knock?
On the last night, the power was interrupted for at least 5 times, maybe more. The night before there was a power interruption already and I thought they had solved the problem the next day. It didn't make for a restful night.
The superior room we got was okay. We slept well except for the last night as stated above. Wifi was too weak to almost non-existent inside. The TV was a small CD-R King flat screen..not what I expected for the price. But hey, we came for the beach so that didn't bother me too much. I had to ask for the remote control and they gave me one without batteries in it. But that was quickly solved at least.
The beach was a good 8-10 minute walk and the road was under construction which made the trek even more difficult. It may seem a short distance but try walking under the full blast of the Philippine tropical sun and the distance seems to really stretch. By the way, the hotel is right beside the road so expect noise from road traffic.
No complimentary water and the price for bottled water they charge is ridiculous. They gave us one bar of soap for our entire stay, no shampoo, lotion, or conditioner.
All in all, I cannot recommend this place. I don't understand why there are so many good reviews here. There are other places nearer the beach which are worth exploring.
