Hotels Near Star Beach in EL Nido

I understand why reviews of this hotel are so mixed. I first stayed in the newer part - a beautiful room on the 3rd floor, overlooking the beach. The room was clean, new and sparkling. There was a modern key card lock system, a fabulous bathroom and great views. Then, I was transferred to a room in the older section. Here, the bathroom had only a hand held shower head, the grout was discolored and the water didn't drain well, leaving me standing in a puddle while using the sink. The wood furniture and floor was scuffed and worn. The door lock used a key and was a bit flimsy. That said, it had a balcony overlooking the beach that offered the same great views. Avoid the first floor, as others have said, because people walk by on the way to breakfast and there is little privacy. El Nido beach is very busy, with walkers, vendors, even motorcycles, so be sure to get a higher floor.

I have been here before and I am happy to be back! The day to day maintenance was impeccable. Shared bathrooms were always clean. Angelo from the front desk was very helpful. He recommended attractions we can go to and helped us with our inquiries. The breakfast was good. This place is also near the area with many restaurants and quaint cafes.

El nido, Palawan is one of the tourist spots visited in the Philippines. With that being said my Family decided to go on a vacation in this place. The moment we arrived in Puerto Princesa airport it was exhilarating imagining what more there is when we arrive in El Nido. From there we had a roundtrip airport shuttle provided for a surcharge which is available upon request. We stayed in El Nido Garden Resort hotel for four nights and we had the best experience. The place was spacious and immaculate, the staff were accommodating, the food was amazing and the view was breathtaking. Outside you can take a stroll and or swim even at night since they have a swimming pool. You can do recreational activities there and wrap it up with a drink at their mini lounge/bar. Their location is very accessible to many Beaches if you wanted to visit some such as Lio and Nacpan. At night you can also come to restaurants around the area but I assure you the foods in this hotel are enough to satisfy your tongue. They are open at 7-9 AM, your hunger will surely be gone. They have big air-conditioned rooms with flat-screen televisions each. Every room has private balconies and you can even hang your damp clothes there! Private bathrooms have showers complimented with toiletries and hair dryers. You can make yourself at home there and relax while taking some time off.

We had a wonderful stay at the funny lion! The entire property is clean and beautifully designed. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The private beach is lovely. The only minor suggestions are to put more storage on the room. Another luggage stand and some wall hooks would make it easier to stay organized.

It's quite a distance from the city. When checking in, you can take a tuk-tuk to the big fork intersection of the asphalt road (next to El Nido Beach Hotel), inform the hotel staff, and they will drive a tuk-tuk to pick you up. It takes about 5 minutes to drive to the hotel; When you get out of the hotel and go to the city, you will take a tuk-tuk to the beach intersection, and then walk to the city for about 15-20 minutes. The hotel has beautiful scenery, good service, a beautiful swimming pool, and affordable prices. It is very suitable for vacation and relaxation, but the restaurant fees are not cheap.

A real mixed bag here, the location is good and the rooms are large, clean, beds comfortable and the ac works well. The staff are friendly. Those are the positives. The food, breakfast in particular is atrocious for a hotel in this price range the restaurant staff idle about playing on their phones. The rooms were cleaned very late in the day on several occasions. The internet is weak from the rooms.Whilst the front desk staff are friendly they are pretty clueless and on wanting to escalate certain issues I am told that the management are based in Puerto Princessa. With good management and a complete overhaul of the menu and some internet boosters this could be a great hotel.

We left on a bad note and so our review will start on a bad note! All this place cares about is soaking you for every cent your worth without regard to your happiness. Billing meals and drinks uses a system devised in the 17th century utilizing carbon paper, a pen, and pad. No computers. How could things go wrong? On our final day we received a call from the front desk confirming our early morning transport to the airport which we had already arranged and confirmed twice. We were quoted $44 for private transport to the airport at 5 am which was already way too much for the 15-minute 4.3-mile journey. Our flight left at 7 am so I was a little confused why the resort wanted to leave so early. To add to the confusion, we were quoted $26 for a private airport transfer earlier that week. So, during the phone call we confirmed the price which now was quoted at $61! I balked at this and was requoted at $53 than again at $61. I now proceeded to the front desk to find out what is going on and talked to the manager. She showed me the pricing and indeed, if you had private transport to the airport before 5 am the cost was $61. At 5 am and after, the price was $53. However, my transport was at 5 am so it should be $53. She did not agree. So I arranged for 5:15 am and she reluctantly charged us our original quote of $44. Ok, all is well now. However, I believe that the resort wanted us to leave early for the airport in order to charge us more money. We ate dinner and we had two bottles of water. We settled our tab at 8 pm due to our early departure the next day. During the settlement, I pointed out that the restaurant had not billed us for the two bottles of water, however the desk person said that they were included and pointed them out on the tab. Great all is well! At 10:30 pm while sleeping our phone rings and the same desk person says “I know your sleeping but could you come down and pay for two bottles of water which were not billed?” ***! I said no (I was so mad I actually cursed on the phone) and said I would pay the driver in the morning. Again, I was so mad I could not get back to sleep! I cannot believe a resort would wake someone for $5 which I tried to pay earlier, particularly after spending over $2,800 on our stay. Just let it go! But the money was more important than the guest’s happiness. Our room and balcony were noisy from the main highway below and was really hot and unusable in the afternoon because the sad little AC could not keep up with the direct sunlight from the balcony even with the curtains closed. No shade at the pool. The resort is super steep so if you have any mobility issues, don’t stay here. Can’t walk to town because of how steep the road is. Housekeeping locked us out twice and confiscated our key. We had to ask for coffee in our room every morning. The hardest bed ever (ouch). Some positives: the view from our balcony was amazing, the infinity pool and view from restaurant was also amazing. The room decor was impress

The facility itself is nice but for the my version of a 5 star rating the resort would need to meet the standard of Peninsula Tokyo or the Park Hyatt in Kyoto. Unfortunately the facility doesn’t not meet that standard. What will make up for the lack of the amenities, cleanliness and attention to detail is the service provider. From the front desk to the waiter and waitress, to the cleaning Male/ladies, the service staff will go above and beyond to meet your needs. Last draw back is the sand flies (nik nik as the locals refer to them) are pesky little suckers….literally which makes one hesitant to enjoy the beautiful beach on the resort…which then leads to you missing the beautiful sunrise and sunset that one would expect in paradise. Over all, yes i would gladly return to this facility. It is probably the best on the island but I cannot on good conscience say the this is a 5star resort.