Iloilo Midtown Hotel

Where not to stay

Iloilo Midtown hotel is a cheap place to stay (950 Pesos per night upwards) but if comfort is a requirement, look elsewhere.

Good points
- Cheap
- Middle of city
- Friendly staff, especially security guards/doormen
- Room service food is of reasonable quality and price

Bad points
- Staff have great difficulty understanding English, especially room service
- Cleanliness could be better (a few bugs in the room, including a couple of cockroaches)
- Housekeeping made up my room on average only once a week
- Room keys are actual keys, not cards which are easily replaceable (large fee for lost keys)
- Windows are not double-glazed/soundproof. If your room is on the front side of the building, traffic noise will make it hard to get to sleep sometimes
- No bar fridges in rooms. Can rent one for about $4 a night, but it's an OLD, DIRTY glass display fridge obviously resurrected from a previously life in a cafe or bar. It had plastic coated metal wire shelving, with the plastic decayed and the shelves rusty. Very unhygenic.
- Aircon is old (square box units mounted in wall, old, smelly, noisy)
- Cigarette smoke at all hours of the day can fill your room without warning (I don't smoke and have asthma, so this is bad for me)
- Not much interesting to do in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. Very dirty streets, and if you aren't asian, locals look at you like an alien, and depnding where you walk, you'll encounter some beggars.

TIP!
Do not stay in this hotel during the "Dinagyang" festival. Big stages are erected close to the hotel, and for a week beforehand, performers practice beating massive drums and playing music all night just a block away from your room. During the actual festival, it is impossible to drive to or from the hotel. It took me 4 hours to make a 20 minutes trip. The city officials in their infinite "wisdom" block EVERY street surrounding the hotel, so a simple 5 minute drive takes an hour worth of detours, and that's with a guide sitting in the car who knows the city.

Unique Quality: Cheap.