Travelbook.ph shoulders the 12% VAT on your hotel bookings!

Travelbook.ph, the leading online travel agency (OTA) in the Philippines, launches a very generous offer that everyone will surely love!


Starting July 18, 2017, all hotel bookings made through Travelbook.ph will be free of VAT as it will be subsidized by the OTA to all participating customers.


“We understand that all people in the Philippines are really burdened with high VAT as it is present in almost all commodities that they need. We feel that we can help more. That’s why we’ve come up with this campaign: We will shoulder the VAT cost for every booking made with us,” according to Takumi Nakazawa, General Manager of Travelbook.ph.

As customers proceed with their hotel bookings with TravelBook.ph, the VAT will be automatically paid by the company and will be deducted from the total cost. Furthermore, discounts from promos and insider deals may be added on top of 12% discount. Customers may enjoy this offer by booking with any of the 3,300 affiliated hotels and resorts of TravelBook.ph nationwide.

This offer from Travelbook.ph also aims to help travelers have stress-free and budget-friendly transactions when planning their trips.

“This is our way to let people know that we care. We want to appease their burden and give them the best deals and opportunities to travel,” Mr. Nakazawa continues.

VAT-free means more money for your trip! Book now with Travelbook.ph to get the best pocket-friendly deals on hotels and resorts in the Philippines! Avail of our Pay-at-Hotel No Credit Card Needed payment option for easier and convenient booking!

This campaign will run for a limited time only. Campaign period may end without prior notice.

Willy's Beach Club Hotel: Revisited

We're back again in Boracay last July 2016 with my husband and we've decided to stay again in Willy's Beach Club Hotel.  I've posted in my previous blog about affordable beach front hotels in station 1 which become very useful to me since my husband and I always prefers to stay in station 1, beach front, near Willy's Rock.  From the list, we've already stayed in Blue Lilly Villa.  You can read my reviews of this hotel here. We were supposed to try Boracay Plaza Resort but my husband would like to stay again in Willy's Beach Club Hotel.

Willy's Beach Club Hotel is also quite an affordable hotel.  It's not listed in my affordable beach front hotels in station 1 as this post was more of affordable hotels below Php 3,000 per night price.  Depending on the season, you can book Willy's Beach Club Hotel for a little over Php 3,000 per night.  During my first visit in this hotel last 2013 (see my blog post about it here), the accommodation rates then was below Php 3,000 for a deluxe room on an off peak season.  Since our trip was July 2016, considered as an off peak season, we were able to still get an affordable room rate.  We booked the Super Deluxe Room that has a bath tub and location is nearer to the beach.  For 3 nights stay, the price we got was Php 9,531 through My Boracay Guide website.  I also used My Boracay Guide when we booked our first stay at Willy's Beach Club Hotel last 2013.  Our booking comes with free airport pick up for 2, which saves us about Php 800.  You can read my review on their free transport service here.

The Super Deluxe Room is quite smaller than the Deluxe Room we booked before.  The room we had is still located at the 2nd floor.  View from the veranda is facing the restaurant but view of the beach is nearer (right side view) than our previous room. Other differences are super deluxe room have bath tub, mini ref, facial tissue, and own veranda.  Having our own veranda is perfect since my husband smokes.  Our previous room also has veranda but it seemed shared to the other room perpendicular from us.

Super Deluxe Room

Mini Ref

Another view of the room with small vanity dresser

Veranda and view

Welcome fruits were also provided in our room.  However, some fruits tasted old already that's why we didn't consume it all.

Welcome Fruits

Again welcome drinks were provided upon arrival in the hotel.  There's no more seashell necklaces given to us upon arrival unlike before.

The room is quite old but does not smell one.  I say old as we had a little difficulty in opening and closing/locking our door.  Linens and pillows are clean and smells nice. Bathroom is clean with ample water supply, hot and cold shower, towels and toiletries.

Bath tub beside the Toilet

Toiletries with facial tissue and hair dryer

The bath tub

Our stay still comes with free buffet breakfast.  Again, they served combination of Filipino and American dishes.  The choices were sufficient with breads, drinks and dessert.  They are also offering grilled buffet dinner.  I can't recall how much it cost but I think its not that expensive.  We tried it one time since it was rainy the whole day on our 1st day.  The choices were mostly meat and a few cuts of fish, shrimp and squid with pasta, rice and soup.  For us, its quite enough already but for some, it may not be as inviting since the cut or the portions of the food were quite small.  But anyway, it's buffet, you can get another one without a limit.  What's also good about this buffet dinner is that you can have a freshly grilled meat as there is a standby griller who can grill for you at the corner of the buffet.  Their food still tastes good.  Some servings of their ala carte foods were quite a lot.

Beef with mushroom

Similar to our last stay at Willy's Beach Club last 2012, we did not experience any problems during our stay.  Willy's Beach Club Hotel may not be a fancy and luxurious hotel but it is one of the affordable hotels in station 1 worth staying as it can be relaxing and enjoyable since it is beach front and away from the crowd.  If I'll be visiting Boracay again next time, I wouldn't have second thoughts of staying in here.

Change The Way You See Happiness

What makes a person happy?  I'm sure the most common reply that you will hear is that being with their loved ones, family and friends makes them happy.  Or maybe for some, you will hear materialistic responses like chocolates, flowers, shoes, bags among others were the things that will make them happy.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Anything that will make them feel good inside or anybody who can make them smile can be factors that makes a person happy.  But happiness is not limited to the material things that you like nor the people that surrounds and loves you.  There are little things that can bring happiness into your life.  Those things that will make you change the way you see happiness.

I'd like to share some of the few shallow things that makes me happy.  

Sunset - I just love sunsets.  Whenever there's a chance, I try to take a picture of it whether on the streets, on the beach or even when I'm inside the car.  I get a little frustrated when I am not able to capture the beauty of the sunset as seen by my naked eyes.  But nevertheless, I get fascinated on the outcome of my pictures even just using a mobile phone.  This is happiness.

Boracay Sunset

Sunset in Thailand

Sunset in Bolinao, Pangasinan

Capturing sunset in a moving car

Nasugbu, Batangas Sunset

BGC, Taguig Sunset

Sunset in Bantayan Island, Cebu

Capturing sunset again while inside the car

Photography - No, I am not into photography but I love taking pictures!  I do not have plans of making or shifting a career out of photography though.  I do, however, do a little research on how to take nice shot or what cameras (or even mobile phones) can best suite my personality and love for photography.  I took mostly nature shots and night shots. I know my pictures are just basic but when I get some compliments on it, it already makes me feel happy.  This is happiness.

Tinuy-an Falls

Siquijor

Apo Island

Malaysia

Enchanted River

Event in Circuit Makati

Nemo in Moalboal, Cebu

Batangas restaurant

Instax taken in Mactan, Cebu

My cute niece

Artwork in a restaurant in Boracay

Golden fields in Mariveles, Bataan

Fireworks show

Fireworks show

Kabiang Tunnel

Instax capture of our wedding

BGC street at night

Boracay Sail

Blogging - Eversince high school, I already love to write.  I even tried to take up Journalism in college but I ended up in an Engineering course.  My passion for writing has not ended until I put up this blog last January 2011 just to share to the world my thoughts and experiences mostly about my travels.  It really makes me happy when people find my blog useful.  This is happiness.

You see, there are really more than just family, friends, love ones, and material things that can make a person happy.  With our fast-paced and stressful life to some, one can discover various things that can change the way they see happiness.  Even the smallest things can change the way you see everything.  Just like Huawei's new mobile phone, the Huawei P9.  With its cool camera features, it will feel like you have a camera with a smartphone attached.  This will change the way you see mobile photography.  Huawei P9's camera is co-engineered with Leica, one of the world's most respected names in the photography industry.  It has dual lenses at the back where one lens shoots exclusively black and white while when both lenses are used, a DSLR-style shallow depth of field can be produced.  This can definitely change the way you see mobile photography.  It is a mobile phone but with features similar to DSLR when taking photos.  With its 2 lens camera, you can set the depth of field of your shots which has the same effect as changing aperture of a DSLR.  Result, photos will be high quality and users will be able to take amazing monochrome, slo-mo, colored, light painting photos among others.

Living in this world could take you to a lot of challenges and experiences.  But seeing life in a different perspective can make living worth it, so enjoy every bit of it.  Live life to the fullest!

Review: My Boracay Guide's Transport Service

I have been using My Boracay Guide website the past years I've been to Boracay.  Recently, I booked again through their website when my husband and I decided to stay in Willy's Beach Hotel again for the second time.  I also booked through them the first time we visited this hotel (you may read about my review on Willy's Beach Hotel here).  Their rates were quite lower than other booking sites such as Agoda and Booking.com.

Upon booking, there was a notification that my booking comes with free airport pick up.  This is My Boracay Guide's way of gratitude to their customers who chose to book with them.  Based from their website, they have various kinds of transport vehicle depending on your budget.  Price is also dependent on the number of persons.  Since ours is free, the kind of vehicle given to us is their economy transfer.  This usually cost Php 400 per person for 2 pax, one way, inclusive of boat fee.  However, terminal and environmental fee is not yet included.  In their other transport service, all of these are included in their fee.

Once booked, My Boracay Guide will send an email to confirm your booking.  The free transport service was not included in their email to me so I confirmed it further to them.  Once confirmed, I gave them details of our flight and arrival.  We will be coming from Caticlan airport.  I believe My Boracay Guide's transport service can either be in Caticlan or Kalibo airport.  They were able to acknowledge my email on our flight details. I thought that was it.

Upon arriving in Caticlan airport, there was a My Boracay Guide staff waiting outside.  We approached her but unfortunately our names were not included in her list.  I showed her the acknowleged email when she was asking a voucher from me.  She made a few calls and thankfully I heard that we were indeed part of their transport service.  

Aboard the shuttle/van service, we were with other passengers who I believed booked through Southwest tours since that was the name written on the van as well as on the driver's shirt.  For proper identification, we were given sticker of My Boracay Guide. This is I guess to separate and identify us from those who booked through Southwest tours.

From the airport, the van took us to Tabon port.  This is an alternate port going to Boracay.  The travel time is quite far, about 8 minutes.  The port is not as orderly as in Jetty port thus the fee were minimal.  Environmental and terminal fee is only Php 100 per pax while the boat ride is only 25 per pax.  From Tabon port, the boat will lead you to Tambisaan port.  Similar to Jetty-Cagban port route, travel time from Tabon to Tambisaan port is less than 10 minutes away.

Upon arriving at Tabon port, we had to find the My Boracay Guide staff to assist us.  It seems that we were the only one who used My Boracay Guide's transport service.  Well that's a plus since we are the only one who they would take care of.  Anyway, it took us a while before the staff from My Boracay Guide assist us.  We were asked to pay for the terminal and environmental fee then the staff told us that another staff will be assisting us on our way to the hotel upon alighting at the Tambisaan port.

Tambisaan port is near Crystal Cove as we can see it from afar.  There were tricycles also waiting for passengers to take them to their resort.  But it seems that most of the tourist there were guided by various transport service.  Not the usual DIY traveller.

Since our service was free, we rode the E-trike, the economy transfer service of My Boracay Guide.  Travel time is about 20 minutes from the port to Station 1 where our hotel is.  That's quite far since i'm used to the very short travel from Cagban port to hotels in Station 1.  Another reason why the travel time took a while is because we were riding an e-trike.  It's a battery operated tricycle which travels about 20-30 kph at maximum.  Quite slow.  I heard that the e-trike fee is 180 pesos one way.

We took the same route on our way back to the Caticlan airport on our last day in Boracay.  Similar to Cagban port, vans are available should your flight be in Kalibo.  As for us, since our airport is in Caticlan, we just paid Php 25  boat ride and Php 30 terminal fee.  I noticed that some did not buy tickets for the terminal fee.  Also, there were locals and pinoy tourists who simply go straight to the ticket counter without even bothering to fall in line when there is one.  Pinoy nga naman. Well, maybe one reason is that the line were not so organized.  Even after paying for the boat ticket, there was no organized line in the waiting area of the boat.

This new or alternate route is new to us.  The e-trike driver told us that this is the usual route when the water is not calm or when there are waves during Habagat season.  Well, there was indeed strong waves as if you were in a surfing beach.  This is the reason why we were not able to go to Ariel's Point... Again *sigh*.

Anyway, My Boracay Guide's transport service is quite acceptable.  Though it wasn't perfect and organized and there was a little waiting time, I would still recommend it for convenience.  But for budget travellers, you can still do DIY as it is not really difficult to reach Boracay.

Review: Raffles Hotel, Makati

The excerpt of this review came from my TripAdvisor account.

My boyfriend and I got to celebrate our 2nd year anniversary here and they provided us with an anniversary cake! We enjoyed every detail this hotel has to offer: lovely room, courteous and helpful staff, responsive butler, personal touches, food inclusions (not only buffet breakfast but also afternoon tea and evening cocktails).

We felt very relaxed and at home during our short stay. Though butlers were very responsive, they sometimes did not meet our expectation on some of our requests but its not really a big deal. We still felt well taken care of with their personal touches. I think the only cons we experience was when we ask for their assistance in hailing a cab for us. Though its common here in the Philippines for cab drivers to choose passengers or even ask for additional fee other than the metered rate, I just hope the management will do something about this and how to address this concern. They took quite a while to get us a cab.

Overall, we still enjoyed our stay and would want to come back if time permits. I would also recommend this to friends for their relaxing staycation.

Stayed May 2014, traveled as a couple

Sharing below are the pictures of our stay.

Hotel Room - All rooms are called Suites.  We stayed in the Junior Suite  

Small Living Room with mini ref, electric kettle, snacks, utensils underneath the TV cabinet

Small Dining Area with coffee machine and tea service

Big bedroom view from the living room

Bedroom with city view

Big bathroom with bath tub, separate shower and toilet and 2 sink

Other view of bathroom

Some toiletries

Coffee maker and tea service

Alcoholic drinks area

Glasses and other utensils storage

Snack storage

Electric kettle

Other refreshments

Pool area

Panoramic View

Nice Lounges

Afternoon Tea at the Writer's Bar

Writer's Bar

Canapes, sweets and breads

My (ex) boyfriend (now my husband) and I enjoying the afternoon tea

Wall painting at Writer's Bar

    

My Tea

Bread and spread

Pastries

Yum!

                          

Evening Cocktails at Writer's Bar - cocktails and some food we ordered.

Cocktail with pica pica

Finger food

Cocktail

                                      

Pita bread with bacon

Closer pic

Small bottles of mayo and ketchup

Chicken wings

This hotel is highly recommended.  A truly relaxed staycation.

Should you wish to have your staycation here, you may book and check the rates from this link.