Hotel Review: Hotel Centro

When we finally arrived in Puerto Princesa we were slightly overwhelmed, we'd flown from Singapore to Manila, sprinted through the airport, and only just made it onto our second flight of the day to Puerto Princesa, which was then delayed, and then had to endure an hour of turbulence. 

When we exited Puerto Princesa airport, lots of tricycle drivers called to us asking if we wanted a ride. We were tired and after the day we had, trying to haggle with a bunch of tricycle drivers for the first time would have been a bit much.



Luckily Hotel Centro were there to save the day, one of there drivers was there with a sign to take us straight to the hotel.

Our driver turned out to be one of the loveliest, sweetest people we'd ever met, he chatted to us on the way to the hotel and gave us lots of hot tips on where to go and what to see in Palawan. He made sure that our first impression of the Filipinos agreed with what everyone else had told us about Filipinos: they are lovely. 

We received a very nice welcome when we got to Hotel Centro. We were greeted, had our hands shaken, photos taken, were served drinks - and there was even a 'Welcome Travelling Weasels' sign! 

Our room


Our room was large and came with two comfy beds (one queen, one single). There was also a large bathroom with lots of excellent toiletries. 



Pool


Hotel Centro's pool was excellent. The length and depth were perfect and there was even a jacuzzi! It also makes for great Instagram photos :)  



Location
As the name suggests, Hotel Centro is very centrally located, with Robinson's Mall to the north, and downtown to the south. 

Robinson's Mall has everything you could need, including a cinema complex and super-market.



Downtown has some excellent restaurants, our personal favourite was Ka Inato which we recommend. 

Breakfast


Hotel Centro serves a great breakfast, with Filipino options (rice, meat):





Western options (eggs, bread):



and fruit and cereals! The coffee in particular was excellent and we loved the view:



Staff
But by far our favourite thing about Hotel Centro was its staff. They truly went above and beyond our expectations and firmly confirmed what we'd suspected: Filipinos are the nicest people in the world!
We ran into a couple of money problems in Puerto Princesa: firstly there was a limit on the amount of money we were allowed to get out per day, which was a big problem for us as we'd assumed we would be able to get all our Pesos for the month here.



The second problem we had was my (Laura's) card got denied. The bank said the only way to unblock the card would be to ring them.

This led to the third problem: my phone just wouldn't work in the Philippines! Still not sure why... 

Anyway, Hotel Centro were 100% sympathetic and did everything they could to try and help. They gave us addresses of different banks, offered us their phones to use instead, helped us research everything on the internet.. They didn't stop until my card had been sorted. It would have been almost impossible to sort without them, but they made sure everything was solved quickly and smoothly.

When you're tired, in a new country, your card gets blocked and your phone doesn't work, it can be easy to get stressed and home sick. But with Hotel Centro we were at home, they were so kind to us and I can't stress how grateful we are.

Conclusion
When you come to the Philippines (not if, when, because you must come to Palawan),  you must stay at Hotel Centro. Their staff go above and beyond and made our stay perfect.

To book your stay, head over to their website: www.hotelcentro.ph, Agoda page or Tripadvisor. Be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter too. 

And to keep up with our own adventures, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and on our vlog.

Disclaimer: Travelling Weasels were invited as guests of Hotel Centro, but as always all opinions are our own. 

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