Hotel in Quezon City: Maya Residence Inn

Maya Residence Inn is a newly-built hotel around Teacher’s Village in Quezon City. It mainly caters to those who have some personal business to attend to around the area.  Located at Matino St., just a few steps away from Kalayaan Avenue, Maya Residence Inn is an accessible yet quiet place to stay.

Matino St., Kalayaan Avenue, Quezon City

Courtesy of a close friend, I was able to stay at Maya Residence Inn in one of their standard rooms. It costs about P1800 plus a food voucher worth P200 per night. Since it’s a new place, the room smells and looks new too! The room is designed in brown muted tones with an air of simple elegance. It actually feels like a real bedroom in the house- cozy and clean. Space is just enough to move around- not spacious but not cramped either.

Maya Residence Inn's Standard Room

comfy bed with an abstract painting headboard

The standard room has a double bed with a firm mattress. A medium-sized closet with a few hangers is also available at the room. There are two high-backed chairs with a low table. A 24-inch LCD TV is also hanging on the wall across the bed.

sitting place :)

spacious bathroom

The washroom is quite big than the usual. It has hot and cold water and has free toiletries and towels.

Food is available on the ground floor. Maya Residence Inn has an in-house café and a restaurant- M restaurant. Food is of average price and taste.

Service is great and prompt. The reservations agent replies within 24 hours through email.

Maya Residence Inn is near from Trinoma Mall and SM North. It’s also near UP, Katipunan, East Avenue, QC Circle and the Timog Strip. So if planning for a trip around QC area, give Maya Residence Inn a try for an affordable yet restful stay.

Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati: Terribly Luxurious

Location: Dusit Thani Makati is along EDSA just beside SM Makati and near Ayala MRT. It's beside malls and just in the center of about everything. 

Dusit at night
Photo Credit: localyte.com

Thanks to my sister who works at Dusit Thani Hotel Makati, I was able to spend my birthday in their Grand Room. Modesty aside, it is the hotel's third most expensive and expansive room. It is worth a whooping P22,000 a night good for 2 people!

my generous sister posing at Dusit's receiving area

The bathroom that we had was bigger than this but i wasn't  able to take a picture but this is somewhat similar.
Photo Credit: tripadvisor.com.my

The room is about 60 square meters- larger than most studio type condo units. The washroom alone can contain a small kitchen and dining area. It has a tub, a shower area, and  a lengthy wash area. Across the washroom is another washroom minus the tub and bath area. (which I really didn't understand why there's two wash rooms for a room that's good for two). Expectedly, toiletries are available for free including soft fulffy white towels! The only thing missing is a bidet. For some reason, Dusit does not have bidets while hotels with lesser stars have them.

my sisters on the couch at the receiving area

There's also a receiving area with a comfortable couch and a view of the city. During the night, there were 4 people who slept on the carpeted four without being cramped. Added to this, the couch was able to contain 2 people during the night with still some space left. I hope you can imagine how spacious the place is.

my brother and his girlfriend pretending to pose for a stolen shot

The most comfortable part is, of course, the sleeping area. The grand room has two single beds although they also offer a grand room with a queen-sized bed. Actually, even the beds are called single, they're double in size. The sleeping area is more spacious than the receiving area. You can actually dance on the space fronting the bed. Even though it's fronting EDSA and near the MRT, the rooms are sound-proofed with double glass windows.

Other amenities of the room would be the mini bar with goods five times of their prices! There's a mini ref and a water heater. By the way, the only free item in their bar are the coffee, sugar and creamer which really tastes good.

pool area

The hotel has a restaurant offering buffet food. Dinner is offered for about P2000 while breakfast is about P1000. They have a pool which only allows 2 guests per room so we didn't try it anymore. They have valet and shuttle services too.

So I guess, if you;'re really that rich and can spare some cash, it would be nice to spend a night or two in this hotel. As for me, a middle-class worker, I'm just lucky to have a sister connected to the hotel but otherwise, I wouldn't spend my hard-earned money on this hotel. I mean, seriously, there are other hotels which are less pricey with the same luxury. In fairness to Dusit, they really pride themselves of being a luxury hotel that caters mostly to businessmen. 

Dinner Cruise along Manila Bay

For my 26th birthday, my boyfriend treated me to a dinner cruise along Manila Bay. We availed the package offered by Sun Cruises. There's another company offering the same package- Prestige Cruises.

The yachts for the dinner cruise are docked behind the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The easiest way to get there is if you have your own ride. For our part, we hired a cab from SM Manila to CCP Complex. With light traffic, the ride cost P90.00. There are also some jeepneys from Taft that pass through CCP Complex.

docked ship for dinner cruise

Sun Cruises prefer prior reservations but they also welcome walk-ins as long as there are available spaces. It's a good thing that it was a Thursday when we had the cruise. There were less people and we're all in the upper deck. For peak seasons, try to arrive early so you can choose your place. The cost of the cruise is P550 per pax.

The best things about the cruise are the view and the experience itself. For more than an hour, you get a good glimpse of the Manila Bay shores- the buildings, the ships and the sunset. The trip starts from CCP to SM Mall of Asia. 

before the dinner

staring at the sunset

They have daily trips from 4:30 to 10:00 pm. They have three trips. If you're sailing to see the sunset, board the 4:30 trip. But I think the best time to sail is their second trip, 6:30 pm because it's just right for dinner with the darkness and light playing hide and seek. The third one is rather late but best for a romantic ambiance scheduled at 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm.

view from the deck

sunset view from the deck

There's also live entertainment.

As for the food, it's a big disappointment. We were served with a salty watery bowl of soup, a plate with a cold cup of rice and two dishes. There was also a small serving of gulaman dessert. The worst thing is, drinks are not included. WTH! When is a dinner served without drinks?

The seamen aboard the cruise were friendly and helpful. Ironically, the waiters were not so friendly. They did not offer a welcoming smile. While eating, we also heard them talking about the guests aboard the ship. Tsk, tsk bad manners!

So in conclusion, it was a good experience for a first-timer with a few downsides that did not necessarily spoil the fun!

taking a shot on the open deck