Residencia du Basco

This is a nice hotel on Batan Island in Batanes Province in the Philippines. Batan Island has limited facilities and Residencia de Basco is a very good hotel for Batan. The workers are as nice as can be and do as good a job as they know how. The pool was wonderful and the hotel was within walking distance from the beach. The AC was very effective but the hallways are open air. The dining hall was moderately Airconditioned. The room was adequately stocked with shampoo and soap with a shaving kit and make-up kit as well as two toothbrush kits supplied. The door lock did not work when we checked in but was repaired as soon as we brought it to the hotel's notice. However, for the traveler, this hotel left a lot to be desired. The room was clean but never serviced in the three days we stayed. The restaurant, important as there are limited eating facilities within walking distance, was not reliably opened. The selection of drinks was very strange, with multiple types of beer but no club soda available. When requesting room service, the meal was brought up on a tray and the tray was taken. Since they did not collect the dishes even when left in the hallway outside, it necessitated balancing multiple dishes to bring them back down to the Kitchen. In defense of the staff, as soon as they saw us carrying the dishes (on the next day of course) they ran to take them from us. When we went to settle the bill the night before (20:00) leaving as we needed to leave at 05:45 AM, we were told only cash was accepted. When we paid cash we were told there was no change available and we could pick up change in the morning. When morning came, still no change. Wifi was nice when it worked but they use one-time vouchers which needed to be renewed every time the device lost the wifi signal. About 40% of the vouchers did not work and we requested vouchers multiple times a day for only two devices using perhaps 30 different vouchers in only three days. Since there is no cell phone coverage at the hotel, wifi was the only way to stay in touch. All in all it was a nice stay but with very little effort and training it could have been much better.

PROS Newly built hotel, clean-looking (rooms and facilities), picturesque fascade Super friendly and helpful staff Rooms are cleaned/made-up every day. Towels are replaced daily. Water dispensers are available on every floor. Pitcher for water are available for every room. CONS Very limited to no signal (for call and text) for Philippine mobile carriers No signal (for mobile data) for Philippine mobile carriers Breakfast is not consistent (quality degrades/diminishes from day to day). No espresso machine Not all Cable TV channels are available all throughout our stay. Foreign channels (HBO, FOX, etc) were available on our first day but were no longer available the next day onwards. Internet connection over wifi is not good, almost unusable at times. Daily need to go the the lobby to ask for voucher to access internet.

The hotel is beautiful and the rooms are nice as is the pool. The building is not complete. The upstairs bar was not available. The menu is tiny and the food portions tiny. It is chronically understaffed. The breakfast was poor. We would not eat dinner there and bought more breakfast elsewhere. Coffee was rubbish. The wifi was hopeless to connect. Every day go to the office for a new code. Sometimes twice a day. No mention of cash only till departure checkout! No warning at all! Only one person working in the afternoon. To get a drink you have to go the office and wait for her to come to the bar. The tv was not working when we arrived and again the last night. We had no tv the last night. To get tea or coffee you have to go to the dinning room and find it yourself then take it to your room. First day a blocked drain and a flooded bathroom. I would not ever go back there. Never an apology for anything.