Hotel Elizabeth in Baguio was p-r-e-t-t-y

Hotel Elizabeth Baguio facade.

We arrived in dark and chilly Baguio City at night, and when we saw the bright, elegantly-lit facade of the Hotel Elizabeth, Mr. Z knew we simply had to be there.
..truth is, we had to be anywhere BUT our first stop – I would’ve settled for a port-o-john with a locking door, after that – Mr. Z
We must admit we judged a book by its cover on this one, and we were not disappointed. The cover, or the facade, we mean. Hotel Elizabeth happens to be the summer capital’s newest hotel – barely two years old. Going to the lobby, I was immediately attracted to the interiors, done in colorful fashion by society lady Tessa Prieto. This hotel has many lovely Mediterranean touches all over which reminds me of my family’s favorite hotel in Alabang, the Vivere Suites.

DSC00693.

In the landscaped gardens and picturesque setting are a couple of gaily-painted outdoor gazebos where the kids happily posed.

Hotel Elizabeth gazebo.

We stayed in the hotel’s Executive Suite which was equipped with microwave in the kitchen (..umm, microwave and sink equals kitchen? – Z.) and a decent-sized living room with sofa bed to expand the accommodation. We found their room categories to be lacking in choices. We could have settled for the two-bedroom Penthouse Suite but this had no bathtub and the spiral staircase going to the loft looked like it wouldn’t be suitable for kids.
..no storage space in the upper loft meant traipsing all over creation for the basics, or tripping over our own possessions. One bathroom for five just wouldn’t do, either. – Mr Z.
Food didn’t disappoint, and all room levels offered free breakfast. We just wish they would improve their service. It seemed all wait staff were busy preparing for lunch (..yes, it was a LATE breakfast! – Z.) there was literally no one to refill the coffee or attend to our needs after our order was placed. Good thing the dining room was right next to the front desk. If you can’t find a waiter, find a concierge! – Z.

The free wi-fi was also one of the reasons we checked in. This meant that I could surf endlessly on my new iPod Touch in the comfort of our room..on the bed, to be exact. 😛
Overall, I will stay in Hotel Elizabeth once again, if only they had the people skills to match the pretty facade and interiors. Hmmm, I wonder what Mr. Z has to say about this? After all, the hotel laundry staff stained his precious polo (ahem..”guapo”) shirt? 😛

I greatly appreciated the hotel staff’s efforts, but as Ajay points out, any service out of the hotel’s hands could go awry. We had staff devote fully thirty minutes to making sure their five late arrivals found the room that best suited our needs..then their wait staff made us feel invisible the next morning. The hotel was responsive to nearly all of our needs, turning up everything we asked for, from toothbrushes to transformers, then used an outside laundry that nearly ruined my new Christmas present and shrunk another! From “Guapo” to “Male Halter Top”, in one excruciating step! Wi-Fi quality was spotty, as well – when the MacBook Pro doesn’t connect, but the iPod Touch does? What the hey? All the same, I can recommend the Hotel Elizabeth, and would be willing to stay with them again – other than the laundry, the staff worked to correct every issue we brought to them. Breakfast on the second day of our stay found a veritable army(!) of waiters in attendance, think we averaged 1.5 waiters to each member of our party – Z. 😉

Address:

1 J. Felipe St. , corner Gibraltar Street , Baguio City
Tel. No. 074 619 0367