Hotels near Lio Beach, 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.

The hostel staff is great, very accommodating, helpful, smiling and always greets us. This is the best hostel I have experienced so far. We stayed for 3 nights and the room is very clean. They always clean it every day and when we were gone doing a tour outside, our room was already clean with new towels. I love the nice design of the hotel as well as the breakfast, which is good. I enjoyed their unlimited pasta for dinner. Lastly, it's very near the town proper, within walking distance. We only have issues with the door lock, but the staff was very fast to fix it, which is excellent. Highly recommended!

This place went above and beyond for my family when we stayed at El Nido - The Funny Lion (June 26 - July 3). The staff are very friendly and professional. Their Customer service is 10/10. When you ask for something, they give it right away. The Manager was really kind and helpful especially to my 2 yr old daughter, Valerie. I am thankful and grateful for the team at El Nido - The Funny Lion. There are a few suggestions for improvements I would like to add: Better drainage system for shower. It always seems like the water would go out of the shower especially when it’s raining outside. Also, an elevator would be great for the guest and especially for the staff when carrying heavy luggages. The wifi spotty and could also be improved especially inside the breakfast area. A better mosquito control on the outside near the pool/restaurant area would be nice too. The people on the backyard would burn their trashes and the smoke would fill the whole air of the hotel area and would not be healthy to breathe in (I wish they wouldn’t burn right next to the hotel). This is probably nitpicking but sometimes the music that plays at the bar/restaurant area is not family friendly and uses profanity. The rooms could use a bit of feng shui or something to make it feel more spacious. The room lighting could also be improved (it always seems a little dark even with all the lights turned on).

The rooms are advertised as 50 sq meters but they are not even close. Roughly half the size of that (see photos). The hotel is also old and noisy (Doors and windows are thin, we were awoken constantly from inside and outside the hotel). Our room had ants everywhere. We told the front desk, and they didn't care. Also the curtains fell off the wall and they put them back up but we couldn't open them. They said they'd come repair, but never did. Breakfast has a lovely view, but the food was a poor assortment of bad tasting items. Sadly the room has a lovely view of the mountains, but also has a view of trash (see photos). Finally, they have the most annoying policies, asking for deposits for a 2nd keycard to get into your room or for towels. That's right, they will give you the first key card without requiring a deposit. But if you are 2 people and want another, they are worried about you losing it and want a deposit. What happens if I lose the first one? No fee? Trying to explain anything to the front desk people is a waste of time. All nods and smiles but no comprehension. I even asked a supervisor to contact me so I could discuss their policies but of course no one reached out during all the 3 days I was there. On a positive note the place is in the perfect location and the staff is at least friendly. They offer offer free water on each floor. And they provided a free shuttle to and from the airport which was a nice touch. It is for these three things I upped them from one to two stars. You'd be better off staying across the street at their brand new sister property (same owner).

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.

Good wstay overall, a few hiccups here and there but staff were doing their best to deliver quality services, no major issues. We stayed at the ocean view room which is fantastic to wake up with morning view or sunset view. They could have done better to make sure the room is ready at check in time. Restaurant food was actually really tasty and well done, highly recommend to spend at least a lunch and dinner at the hotel. Airport transfer was also comfortable and staff didn’t mind stopping us at the locations on the way. I also booked island tours at the hotel which was made easy and quick, no hassle looking for one outside.

I have picked resort for its location and for experience to stay at the beach hut. And it was truly amazing time chilling on your veranda’s comfy chair surrounded by palm trees and the sound of crashing waves. As for the overall experience, the resort is definitely not a 5* star resort. Amenities are pretty basic, over-washed beach towels, cheap cutlery, unexciting breakfast, the core infrastructure a bit rundown down, food is average and overpriced. Staff is friendly and ready to attend to every need of yours, but are the some time not there when you need them. Had stayed at lagoon hut #14 and had a constant traffic of passing stuff or guests. So not so much privacy as you would think. Caution. Only lagoon huts facing the beach (first row) get to use the beach sun loungers. The rest of the guests need ti use swimming pool lounges.

It's not a good idea to travel alone. You pay a deposit first, and the necessary expenses are paid from it, so you don't have to pay anything during your stay.Also, you can generally be satisfied with the activities included in the hotel plan, so there is no need to make reservations. You can truly forget about the world. Please note that transportation must be booked up to three days in advance, and activities must be booked up to the day before. It seems that the marine plants and animals on the beach in front of the hotel are being carefully protected and nurtured, and there are signs of regeneration. Even now, there are various plants and animals in that narrow cove, which can be seen from the pier, and is a great place to snorkel or dive. It is very fun. The air conditioning is so comfortable that you almost forget you're in the Philippines. There is also hot water in the bathroom. Above all, the staff are very hardworking and I would like to hear about what kind of employee training they do. The activities are also very interesting. Meals change daily. I think it's delicious for the Philippines. (In general, the food is better in Thai-Vietnamese food. I have the ingredients, so why not?) I wanted to get back the frying pan and make the omelet myself. If I give you the recipe for dessert, will you make it for me? )g The only thing is that the drainage system is weak, and there is an ammonia smell in the shower room. This is a common problem throughout the Philippines, and may be a fundamental problem with the piping system or construction technology.

The first words of the staff is “welcome to paradise” and we can only say it was truly experiencing paradise. From the first second at lounge arrival to the last second of departure there was an amazing, friendly and personalized customer care! The hotel environment , the room, the food, the complementary boat trips all was excellent and gave us an incredible experience to never forget and … to return back to☺️

The resort is in a great location with a small but quiet beach and a nice house reef outside. Beware that some units require walking up a lot of steps and the ones set away from the beach have a lot of mosquitoes around. The staff are super friendly and nice although the service of the hotel could be more attentive i.e when lying on the beach you don’t get asked if you want drinks. Room cleaning was only done once in our 7 day stay and only because we asked for it. Towels are not automatically offered to beach goers all the time. The restaurant is pretty slow with almost an hour for food to arrive sometimes. The food itself can be nice depending on what you order. Some is pretty good actually…others a bit average. Pricewise, this isn’t a cheap hotel and I feel that if you compare the price to resorts in other tropical beach locations around the world, you get much better service in other places like Sheratons, Marriotts and Hiltons etc. that said, overall I would still recommend Matinloc for the great beach and reef.