My Horrible Experience in Finding an Accommodation for our Iloilo Trip

Have you tried traveling and the accommodation you booked is not the way you expected? What are your reactions? How did you handle the situation?

Most of us, when we travel especially if it is a new place we make researches ahead for accommodation options. If we are travelling on a budget, of course we will be looking for an affordable accommodation.

Before the pandemic, me and husband usually travel for both work and leisure. Every time I will attend a seminar or conference which is usually set on October, we see to it that we travel together because one of us is availing the travel for free. It was my task to always find an accommodation for our travel. During conferences the organizers would list some hotels, hostels and inns that we could contact. It was in October 2018 that I experienced the most horrible accommodation in my many years of traveling.

The said travel was in Estancia, Iloilo. I really do not have an idea about the place, it was my first time also to travel in Iloilo. The organizers gave us a list of suggested accommodations and I search for them one by one and I chose the one that was affordable and seems comfortable to us. I booked for an accommodation through phone and it was confirmed. We booked for an airconditioned room.

On the date our travel, we had the travel from Davao to Iloilo City through plane and then Iloilo City to Estancia through bus. We had a companion, my colleague from the school. We arrived in Estancia early in the evening and we really would like to rest. We asked the tricyle driver to ferry us to the Inn. When we arrived there, a lady asked about our booking and we tell them the details, only to find out that they did not reserved us to an airconditioned room. I don't know what happened, maybe that lady was just receiving bookings and keep on saying "ok" when in reality they have no available rooms. They said the available that time was a non-airconditioned room.

I insisted that we booked an airconditioned room and even show the messages we had. That lady has said many things, I don't know if due to age only or what. Then, she said she will accompany to another Inn near them, we go there, but because of the event, almost all of the Inns were fully booked. So, we seem to have no option but to take that non airconditioned room. We pay for only one night, because in our minds, we were really thinking to find a new accommodation.

When we entered the room, all I can smell was odor of cigarettes. The bedsheets seemed not to be cleaned. The room was big but the cob webs were there. I was imagining a room I see in "horror movies". And that was really horrible, we really had the hard time to sleep and we really said to ourselves that we will find a new one. Another reason that I also did not like about the place was that lady, whom I think was the owner has a loud voice and keep on talking that all of the people in the inn would really hear. Parang ang sakit talaga sa tenga. I prayed to God that we will really find a new place to stay because that inn was not really good for a 3 day accommodation.

Early in the morning, my colleague tried to find another Inn, the one that is known in the place. He said that the rooms were ok even though they do not have an available airconditioned room because most of the attendees were also booked there. So as early as 7 a.m. we packed our things and checked out, good thing the "lady owner" was not there and she will no longer bother asking us. It's really a good decision that we did not pay for 3 days.

So we transferred to Paon Beach Club.

The Beach Club was just very near the venue, actually I have asked also for the room availability here and we were looking for airconditioned accommodation that time, of which they were already fully booked. The said place has a restaurant and it is overlooking in the sea. Such a nice view! We had our breakfast there and the food was delicious. We just reserved a room since the check-in time is at noon 2:00PM. We also left our things in the reception area. Me and my colleague attended the opening of the event and my husband was left in the inn waiting for the check-in time. I did not go there in the lunch time since my presentation was in the early afternoon.

After our session was finished, I went back to the hotel and checked the room. Thanks God, it was really better than the one we had the last time. Although, it was a Fan Room with beds like in a dormitory but me and my husband were the only people in the room and my colleague was also solo in his room. They have a common Comfort Room, but there were lots of CRs. The place was quite and nice to stay.

The next days were peaceful for us. In the night, the hotel had a "music band" serenading the guests eating in the restaurant. In the morning, we had a walk in the seashore and a view of the calm seas. The hotel also have plants and animals that are very nice to look upon.

Closing thoughts

Travels may have uncertainties such as delay in flights, unpredictable weather conditions and even problems in the accommodation. But it should not hinder us from seeing the beauty of every travel opportunity. It is on the way we react and handle things. We may not have the accommodation that we look forward to, but we were guided by the Lord for a better one.

Lesson learned from this travel-don't expect to much to the booked accommodations except if you had a previous experience or someone recommended it to you. Choose also inns or hotels that have a nice feedback from the other customers.

So that's all for today. Keep safe everyone! If you have experiences that you would like to share. Please share it here.

Lead Image: Woman photo created by tirachardz - www.freepik.com

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