El Nido hotels

Pros: Our stay here was the highlight of our trip to Palawan. Booked t at the last minute and so glad we did! The staff is incredible and so accommodating. Our server most of the time was Deo, he was a very well spoken, kind and very friendly young man. He was so helpful and made sure our trip was over and above excellent. The boat tour we booked through The resort was much more expensive than the ones from El Nido, however, it was so worth it. Our guide, Elmer was so great and his support staff was so wonderful as well. The trip was personalized and catered to our group very well. We took kayaks out for fun and saw beautiful sights. The snorkeling in front of the resort was great if you swim out a bit. We were so impressed with our suite as well. Advertised as a "partial ocean view" but we weren't missing much!! We saw it all and witnessed some incredible sunrises from our balcony. Room was clean, cozy and so luxurious. Every need was met. I could go on for days...it is truly heaven on earth at Matinloc Resort.

Pros: The views from the property and the pool/beach are great. The staff is very friendly.

Cons: This place needs a serious review by management. At $170 USD/night, I was expecting a LOT more. Aside from the pool, beach and views...I would never recommend this place. I understand this is an island and expect the occasional bugs/lizards, but our room was crawling with insects. I brought a pizza home and placed it on our table in our room, within 15 minutes it was completely covered in ants. The toilet/sink were stained a dark color from the water. When we first got to the room, I actually thought someone had urinated in the bathroom and not flushed the toilet because of the discolored water. Not pleasant. There was visible mold throughout the bathroom and all throughout the shower door fix Located 20+ minutes from the restaurants in town, the resort should have appropriate food options for those who don't wish to go into town for every meal. For 3 out of 4 of our days here, the majority of the menu was unavailable. How can there be no fresh fish on an island resort? The resort also ran out of bottled water twice during our stay. One day I asked for a grilled cheese sandwich, after waiting 45 minutes I was given two pieces of uncooked bread and cheese and tomato slices. Nothing heated/grilled. My room was cleaned and no fresh towels were provided. I had to wait 2 hours for clean towels to be delivered to the room so we could shower. While the staff was very pleasant throughout our stay, it was an extremely poor experience and I'd like my stay to be reviewed by management as I believe this feedback is echoed by MANY of the guests I interacted with over the course of our stay.

Pros: Location is great. That is the only upside to this hotel.

Cons: I would barely even call this a hotel. It's more like a cheap motel. There was not even warm water in the shower the first night. The staff acts like you are bothering them every time you ask them anything, which was odd considering it looked like their most important work was on Facebook. Not only is there no wi-fi in the room, but when I tried to use the wi-fi in the lobby, which is where they told me the only connection was, it turned out that they had already used all of their available data. I have never heard that from a hotel before. When I asked how long it would be until they reloaded their account, I was informed it might be a day, maybe two; no one had any idea. The place literally felt like it was run by children.