HOTEL THE MIR

Doors don’t lock. I constantly had staff just open my door and walk in so I finally put the little refrigerator in front of the door. They use suicide showers for hot water and the ground was not hooked up and the electrical tape was unraveling from the moisture from the leaking sink drain pipe. No tv. The swimming pool is nasty. The bed is very hard like even for Philippines standards it was like sleeping on a flat board.

The room was in good condition, and the bed was large and clean. There’s a 2.6 m deep pool, which was great for diving practice, and a dryer made things convenient. A lane to the beach is at the back, so access to the seaside was good. Panaksama Road dining area was also an easy walk.

Pros Convenient location near amenities, friendly staff, small but well-kept pool Cons Water pressure. Intermittent instant water heater, cleaning I checked in at 3 a.m. I got the room next to the family room. I was alone so the room size was perfect, but it would have felt cramped for two. When I went to shower in the middle of the night, the water would only come out either hot or cold — never a steady warm temperature. I asked the staff to check it the next day but there didn’t seem to be a clear fix. Even when staff were around the water sometimes came out fine and other times it was scalding. I’ve seen similar comments in other reviews, so I don’t think it was just me. I thought it would have helped if there had been a bucket and scoop available. Other than that the room was clean and there weren’t many mosquitoes. During the day I could hear noise from an academy next door that was having events, but it was quiet at night. There was some noise between floors during the day, but it was okay at night (maybe because the kids next door go to bed early). I hung the “please clean” sign on the door on the second day before going out, but when I came back it hadn’t been cleaned. When I asked, they told me I had to request cleaning directly at the counter. I went three days without housekeeping. I just asked the staff for trash bags, water, toilet paper and towels and they provided them. I went out without realizing the door didn’t automatically lock... But nothing was stolen, haha. It feels safe, though I might have just been lucky — be sure to lock the door when you go out. (It’s not auto-locking; you have to lock it with the key.) There’s a sari-sari store and a fruit stand right in front, and plenty of Korean restaurants nearby. At night there are BBQ stalls nearby. You can walk to Jollibee, McDonald’s and SaveMore. For tours I used The Mir for pickup and then went to JPark to stay at a resort — Grab was easy to get and worked well. There’s also The Mir massage on the second floor; they do good massages, reasonably priced for a Korean-run place, and guests get a discount so it’s worth trying. I didn’t try the Korean food there, but people say it’s good, so breakfast might be worth it. One more thing... The entrance to the rooms at the back of the lobby is a smoking area, so non-smokers might find it unpleasant to pass through.

Nice room, clean and spacious.

Frequent power outages in the Philippines. We were playing at JPark and, because the reviews were good, booked half a night here. Around 3 or 4 PM there was a long power cut, then the power came back and went out again around evening, which was really tough. They said something in the electrical system was damaged and power was out by zones. Maybe we had bad luck — it was so hot I almost died. So we just went to the airport around 8 PM. The pool water was very cloudy. We enjoyed it because our family could play privately, but... I was sitting alone drinking because I was too hot when a staff member started sprinkling something in the pool. Some debris was floating around... I heard the owner changed recently, so I hope they improve this area. The location was excellent and the Mir Massage next door is fantastic, but the power outages were disappointing.

The staff at the accommodation are not unfriendly, and the hygiene of the room is not bad, but it is inconvenient that I have to go to the first floor to pick up towels. The swimming pool seems a bit dirty, so I haven't used it at all. Other than that, there were no inconveniences.

Booking this last-minute 0.5-night stay because it was right next door and based on a blog review was a mistake. I should have checked Agoda reviews. The staff are friendly. It’s like a rural guesthouse back home... but the place smelled strongly of sewage and made me want to run away. They changed our room because of a cockroach problem, but we just put towels down and slept briefly — it wasn’t worth even ten dollars. I wouldn’t pay to stay here again.

The room key was hard to lock! The fittings connecting the door to the wall were crumbling and the wall was leaning! At night I could hear loud booming noise from next door through a gap around the air conditioner! The staff were good! It was also nice that there was a massage shop in the same building!