Reef Strand Resort, Sition Caalan, El Nido, Palawan, 5313, PhilippinesView Hotel Details
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El Nido Reef Strand Resort Guest Reviews
3.6/5
46 review
To ensure the authenticity of the displayed ratings, we do not simply calculate an average. Instead, we take into account the review credibility and the date of the guest's stay to determine the final rating.
Verified reviews
Location3.6
Amenities3.6
Service3.6
Cleanliness3.5
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All reviews(46)
Positive reviews(9)
Reviews with photos/video(3)
Negative reviews(10)
Jarold Armea
Deluxe Room
Stayed in May 2024
Couples
3 review
4.5/5
Great
Posted on May 25, 2024
The ocean view from our room was awesome. That alone was worth it. They have free shuttle to the town circle from 7am through 7pm. I wish I knew they can pick up from El Nido airport because our tricycle driver got lost finding the hotel. The owner is awesome! He can be my friend forever. The staff is also warm and hospitable. Very nice people in the area. We rented a motorcycle and booked tours through the hotel which was very convenient. The Filipino breakfast feels like home cooked meal. I wish they had fruits included in the breakfast though. The location feels secluded and peaceful even though it is not that far from town. I recommend this hotel to anyone staying in El Nido.
Guest User
Deluxe Room
Stayed in Feb 2024
Couples
3 review
3.5/5
Posted on Feb 17, 2024
The hotel was well located close to downtown with tricycle service. The staff was very friendly and breakfast made us enjoy and have energy for the island hopping . The hotel needs some renovation, the pillow cases were not washed from previous guests, and the washing stand had a leak causing malodor. The pool was nice and they did have beach access, but it was not proper for swimming.
Elizaveta V
Deluxe Room
Stayed in Mar 2023
Couples
8 review
4.5/5
Great
Posted on Apr 6, 2023
The hotel is located in quite an isolated place - it is very quiet but the road to the hotel is quite tough: only some of the transport can reach the hotel due to the narrow street which connect the beach and El Nido town. So if you want a ride, you need to ask this hotel to pick you up or drop to the beach (it is free at the daytime). By foot it takes around 15 minutes to get to the town.
I loved the view and the pool, the breakfast is tasty (truly loved the tocino), I enjoyed the service. The room is big and clean.
Definitely recommend if you like a quiet and peaceful atmosphere.
SHERJEL
Deluxe Room
Stayed in Feb 2023
Couples
221 review
1.0/5
Posted on Feb 28, 2023
The hotel stuffs and owner was very good but the location is bad and need to ask them for transport dirty and difficult to enter in the room really it was a bad experience and it was expensive walk in guest had more cheaper price
Raul16
Deluxe Room
Stayed in Mar 2024
Family
3 review
4.2/5
Very Good
Posted on Mar 11, 2024
The place is a little difficult to get to by tuk tuk. Walking is not a very long walk, but at night it is quite dark.
But the charm of the hotel is that it is away from the town and the views are magnificent.
As for the breakfast, a little weak and repetitive. The room is quite good. In short, it met my expectations.
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Guest User
Stayed in Dec 2023
Couples
1.0/5
Posted on Dec 5, 2023
Condition, access, unhelpful attitude which appears to have been rubbed off from the owner. Could not understand why suitcases were entered into on more than one occasion,although nothing had gone missing and on the latter the combination lock code was changed.The owner was least interested or concerned. Had to leave a day earlier despite having paid for the stay. Have previously put a review on this but cannot seem to access it. Please stay away to avoid disappointment .
Guest User
Stayed in Aug 2023
Family
1.0/5
Posted on Aug 21, 2023
The El Nido Reef Strand Resort was selected for our family vacation as 4 star accommodation in El Nido Palawan. Our entire family refused to stay there as it was a run down excuse for a hotel and totally misrepresented by our Travel Agent. Lowllights as follows; 1...Goat track to and from Hotel as cars could not travel there. Access was by way of a bike trike with several trips necessary over a bumpy narrow and scary trail. 2...Rooms were mouldy and smelly 3...Rooms were not maintained. loose tap fittings 4...Were were told hotel was popular and fully booked and lucky to stay there. Only unfortunate souls were there the rest of the place was empty 5...Pool was dirty and greenish 6...Beach front was terrible you could not swim there as it was rocky 7...Hotel Staff were a bunch of kids with little or no experience 8...Beds had thin foam mattresses and not appealing 9...We were informed that the hotel was owned by a German national who rarely visited and spent no money to maintain or improve the hotel Give this place a real MISS!!!! We have been trying to get our money back with little or no success by the Travel agent thus far. Travel agent tells us that Hotel is not answering calls or responding to emails.
Guest User
Stayed in Apr 2023
Other
1.0/5
Posted on Apr 2, 2023
Overview: Please avoid this hotel if you can. I know a lot of people in the review section have shared the same bad experience we have. It's evident that they have not fixed their hotel and attitude and you will likely experience the same - you have been WARNED! Also, I am sure you have noticed the very suspicious distribution of ratings given (lots of very bad and very good reviews). I am pretty sure these have been tampered with, please DO NOT TRUST this... Our Story: Me and my family booked a stay in mid-March 2023 for 5 nights at El Nido Reef Strand Resort. We paid a relatively premium price, comparable to some big hotels like the well-known Lime Resort, and were expecting a similar quality, as you should. This, however, was not a problem for us as we wanted to enjoy our holiday to the fullest - the pictures presented online (agoda.com) looked very nice and there was a beach view which we felt justified the price. Upon arriving at the hotel, we were very disappointed. It was comical, like meeting your Tinder date that looked nothing like the photos - we were catfished... Here are the highlights of our first impressions: - The overall condition of the facilities looked worn out compared to the pictures, not very clean, broken jacuzzi, disappointing beach. - The airconditioner (a very important part of any hotel in the Philippines) in our room was barely functional. It was placed in the most obscure part of the room so that the airflow was non-existent, facing down into the space between the window/door and curtains so that the air was trapped in between unless we exposed ourselves to the outside. - The furniture in our room was covered in mould, the shower pressure was very low, the sink faucet barely hanging onto the sink and a variety of insects (wasps and cockroaches) enjoying our stay with us :) The condition of the facilities alone would have warranted a 2-star review but the interactions with the owner are what really bring it down to a big, fat ZERO. Like anyone, we felt very unhappy with the hotel and proceeded with trying to cancel our stay and obtain a partial refund. Upon the owner hearing about this, he started confronting us, being very rude to my mother and raising her voice at her, and being very adamant that we WILL NOT receive a refund instead of trying to ensure the rest of the stay is compensated for with BASIC, good customer service. Of course, we told him about our reasons for cancelling, but his only response was to GASLIGHT us and try to discredit our genuine complaints. Absolutely ridiculous! Later on in the same evening, we asked for extra pillows just so that my mother could sleep a bit better. Not only could they not provide a simple necessity, but the owner had to add a bit more rudeness to this interaction as well. The very next day, we decided we would leave but before doing so we decided to have a swim in the pool because we had already paid for it. The next thing you know, the owner is pointing his came
Guest User
Stayed in Apr 2023
Other
1.0/5
Posted on Apr 2, 2023
Terrible customer service.. AVOID! For the price paid, you really will not get you stays worth. The photos advertised did not depict our experience during our stay. There were several issues, including a broken faucet, mould on the bed, and the air-conditioned placed in a odd place where it did not cool the room after blasting it on for several hours. If you enjoy cleanness and want to avoid mosquitos and cockroaches, then this is not the hotel for you. Upon raising these issues with the manager to request a partial refund, we were met with a terrible attitude and complete unprofessionalism. He was very confrontational and overall unpleasant to speak to. We were then subjected to being filmed for the rest of our paid stay. What was supposed to be a relaxing experience turned into a nightmare, which is very unfortunate as it was our first time in El Nido and did not expect such treatment. I recommend trying other hotels such as Tandikan, where we had a much more pleasant stay and did not have any of these issues.
Guest User
Stayed in Feb 2023
Couples
1.0/5
Posted on Feb 27, 2023
WHY CANT I GIVE A ZERO!!! DO NOT COME HERE !!! IT IS A TRASH FILLED SEWAGE PIT!!! PLEASE LOOK AT MY PICTURES, First of all I should say the pictures are all absolutely false, and the place looks nothing like advertised. It is totally beyond repai
Guest User
Stayed in Feb 2023
Travel with friends
1.0/5
Posted on Feb 17, 2023
Please book and spend your money somewhere else. I booked the hotel because of the ammenities they advertised online plus the beautiful photos they have on their page. But these photos are old pictures of the hotel because it looked a lot different in reality. Its the complete opposite. The hotel needs a lot updating and has a lot of maintenance issues. The hotel is not accessible at all, unless they take you to the town, its not even beach front as they advertise, the beach next to it is not swimmable at all. Their pool is dirty, you can see tissues/napkins under the water with algae on the ridges of the pool. Their rooms is not updated, some rusting, mold dew, and could use some air freshner. The linens smells like thy were not laundried, no blankets, there is no fridge for your drinks, their free breakfast is same everyday. The whole hotel is not ehat you think it is, their photos ate deceiving, it look very nice online but its the complete opposite. You can stay somewhere way better with the rate they are offering. The ambience of the hotel is not relaxing, its the opposite of it. They will overcharge you for everything, it’s not worth the money. Just an honest review because we don’t want people to experience what we had experience.
Guest User
Stayed in Feb 2023
Other
5.0/5
Outstanding
Posted on Feb 9, 2023
We were delighted with our trip to El Nido! Rose and Ulli (hotel owners) made us feel most welcome and right at home. It was quite remarkable to wake up to the spectacular views that the room offers. Our son truly enjoyed the wonderful pool, and again... the views that it offers. It is true that the beach is rocky, but provides a cool opportunity to look for critters. When coming to El Nido, we knew what to expect, so our main goal was to explore the nearby islands and locations. Rose organized our private tours and we had a spectacular time. Be sure to go to the small lagoon if you are there - this was our favorite part of the tour! To top it off, Rose is a great chef, and we got to enjoy wonderful meals while there. She was most kind to accomodate our vegetarian requests and we never went hungry. After our departure we discovered my husband left his phone in the room. The owner personally raced to the airport and got it to us just in time as we were walking to the plane. It's like I told you, they treat you like family. We loved our trip to El Nido and happy that our hotel selection resulted in us meeting such lovely family.
Guest User
Stayed in Dec 2022
Other
1.0/5
Posted on Dec 27, 2022
Pictures are at least 10 years old, add 10 years of neglect to get an accurate image. Paint is faded and peeling, air conditioning did not work, curtains and bedding were sun bleached and threadbare, bathrooms showed soap scum and mildew in the grout. This hotel is in the middle of nowhere and the only access to restaurants/shopping is a 15 minute walk on a dark/secluded beach. Roads a virtually non-existent. Management was argumentive and refused a refund.
Guest User
Stayed in Oct 2022
Couples
5.0/5
Outstanding
Posted on Oct 4, 2022
I have enjoyed my stay here it's not your 5 star resort but the crew and owners make it feel like a 5 star resort it very clean me personally I will be back and stay here it the type of place were it makes you appreciate the Philippines what I really like is they don't look at your color
Guest User
Stayed in Aug 2022
Couples
3.0/5
Posted on Aug 2, 2022
I'm in-between on this hotel. It really depends on what you're looking for. We enjoyed our brief stay here but not sure we'd be quick to recommend it to others. The location is probably it's biggest deterant. As others have mentioned it is outside of town, about a 20 minute walk. If low tide you can walk it along the beach or at any time you can walk along the path/road. But beware only parts of it are paved, which made for a very muddy trek during our rainy season stay. They also offer a driver to take you by tuk-tuk which is free if charge until 7pm when it gets dark. After that it's 100 php until midnight and beyond midnight costs a little more. Note that most other motor-tricycles will not be able to take you to the hotel because they do not fit through the narrow passage. The motor-tricycle rides are not for the faint of heart. They're fun for the experience but to have to do it each time they are very bumpy rides. (We were told there's been approval to pave the road fully but no set plan yet as to when that will happen.) The pros of the location though are definitely the stunning views and peace and quiet at night. The room itself was comfortable. Air con worked well, bed was fine, stunning views, working safe and hair dryer, large water and coffee/tea packets provided, and relatively clean. We did notice ants in the room but was nothing severe and chalked it up to being on the 1st floor during rainy season. When we mentioned them to the staff they right away offered to spray bug be gone. Another con of the room was the shower. The temperature was nice and can be controlled through the heater but the pressure was almost non-existent making it very difficult to wash the soap out of my long hair. It also flooded over the small lip of the shower area. The place seems a little aged and like it could use an update. There were a few occasional brown outs as well but they did not last long at all. The homey feel of the hotel space though is what I loved most. The owners were so welcoming and kind. They got to know you by name and even remembered how I take my coffee. They were eager to arrange any tours or transports for us and did so with ease at fair prices. The staff is lovely and make sure to cater to your needs. The included breakfast was delicious and came out quickly. We also ordered lunch from the restaurant once and enjoyed it. The pool is magnificent! Clean and refreshing. We did not use the jacuzzi but it looked nice as well. The beach however was not an option. Overall, it depends on what you're looking for. I can't imagine older folks being okay on the rough tuktuk rides or doing the walk to and from. But the peace and quiet and sounds of the waves at night were very nice.