Stay, Stray, Play and Feast: Pepperland Hotel Legazpi: Beautiful Hotel Bad Housekeeping

Pepperland Hotel Legazpi
Beautiful Hotel, Bad Housekeeping

We needed a place to stay in Legazpi since my wife

and my young son would be renewing their passports

as we were scheduled to leave for Florida on May.

We booked at the Oriental Hotel Legazpi but

their bigger suite rooms were all occupied and all

they could offer were the smaller standard rooms.

For a family of four, it would be very uncomfortable

staying in a tiny room meant only for two persons.

We decided to book for a hotel with available family rooms and
finally picked Pepperland Hotel as it was located close to the
Department of Foreign Affairs office at the Pacific Mall. When
I googled the hotel, I learned that they had just renovated so we
had a bigger chance of getting a newer and more updated room.

We arrived late in the evening after a two hour drive from

Naga City. Pepperland Hotel was easy to find as it is located

close to the airport and its charming Mediterranean inspired

facade was well lighted and could be spotted from a distance.

The hotel lobby had a pleasing old-world charm,

…which also had a minimalist Mediterranean motif,

…that had a lovely wrought iron grill

veranda overlooking the lobby.

Check- in was easy, and the lady at

the front desk was very courteous,

…and since we were hungry, we decided to dine
at Alfonso’s Café before heading to our room.

We were awed by the grandness of the restaurant
as it appeared like a gallery and a repository of the

owner’s impressive heirloom antique collection.

We were also overwhelmed by the ‘feeling familiar

and feel at home’ emotions as the restaurant had

a striking resemblance with our library at home.

After dinner, we walked to our room and my wife drooled
at the lovely Victorian splendour of the event office,

…and our feeling at home sentiment got stronger

because of its resemblance with our living room

…and my daughter’s bedroom.

We passed by The Patio which an indoor courtyard

that resembled a quaint European rustic piazza,

…that had a superbly restored vintage car on display.

The Patio is a actually a function area that
was made to look like an outdoor theater
as it had a huge movie screen on one end,

…and a rustic fountain on the other end.

The display of opulence on our way to our room served as a

prelude that got us all excited to see how it would look like.

It was located at the rear end of the patio right, at

back of the fountain at the first floor of the hotel.

Stay

We booked on a Family Room and was located at the

first floor, and apparently the hotel’s largest room.

It was a spacious room with contemporary interior

devoid of the Mediterranean opulence at the lobby,

which was quite frustrating as we were expecting

a similar exquisitely European themed room.

It had three beds; one double bed on the middle,
...and two single beds on each side.

All beds were firm and snug an assurance

of a good, peaceful and comfortable sleep.

It also had a living room area and the huge
comfy sofa could be used as an extra bed.

It had one of the biggest flat screen TV that I’ve

seen in any suite rooms that we stayed in the past,

…and had spacious empty closet save

to the electronic safe in one corner.

It had an electric kettle for a

coffee maker at the minibar,

…and a small refrigerator.

It had a beautiful and spacious toilet,
with a nice shower room,

…provided with basic amenities,

….and sufficient toiletries.

Thankfully, this is also one of the few hotels

in the country that had a bidet in the toilet.

The room had huge windows but with no view

except for the wall of the city’s fire department.

A room had only one landline phone at the bedside,

…and there was no in room Wi Fi connection, so we had
to go to the nearby muggy patio to surf the internet.

Stray

The Pepperland Hotel is located at the Albay District, a walking

distance from Legazpi Airport and Aquinas University Hospital,

It was a blessing is disguise that the Oriental Hotel’s

bigger rooms were fully booked that we get to stay in

this hotel as it is a short drive away to the city center,

as we were headed to the DFA for passport renewal.

Source: DFA Legazpi FB

There are also several bars and restaurants in the area.

Play

There is really nothing much to do is Pepperland Hotel

as it lacks amenities like swimming pool, spa or a gym,

…but it served the purpose of giving us a comfortable

overnight accommodation and a safe place for the kids

to stay while we were having our passport renewal.

Feast

Alfonso’s Cafe

The Alfonso’s Cafe is a breathtakingly grand and a very

beautiful restaurant that serves as a grandiose repository

of the owners’ vast and impressive antique collection.

It is where the complimentary breakfast is served,

…and also a good place to dine anytime of the day,

…as they serve affordable contemporary dishes all day.

Wasabisan

Wasabisan is Pepperland’s in- house Japanese restaurant

and we didn’t get to try it as we only stayed overnight.

Sgt. Pepper

Sgt. Pepper is Pepperland’s in- house Restobar

which we also didn’t get to try during our stay.

Coffee and Cupcakes

There is also a quaint coffee shop by the lobby
callled Coffee and Cupcakes, my son wanted to
have a milk cooking dunnking snacks on our last
day at the hotel but they run out of cookies.

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Pepperland Hotel

The Downside

The jaw dropping display of opulence at the lobby

primed us to expect something similar in our room.

So it was disappointing to see a that it was

a contemporary designed family suite room,

and we shrugged off the frustration as it was
large spacious and looked comfortable.

As soon as we settled, we discovered cringe

worthy housekeeping fails in the hotel room.
First: We found the room dusty when we

were looking for a place to put our luggage.

In fact all the room corners are dusty and in need

of sweeping or probably a thorough vacuuming.

Second: The dust were not exclusive on the

floor as the lampshade was also very dusty.

I was even able to write ‘Hi’

on the dusty lampshade base.

Third: The toilet looked okay,

…but on a closer look, the shower room floor and
walls were grimy and needing a good scrubbing.

There were even hair strands stuck on

the wall left by the previous guests.

Fourth: the hallway infront of our room was transformed to
an unsightly open storage area of unused chairs and tables.

The room was also newly renovated but I observed that
the interior decorator did not maximize the spacious
room, as there are lots of unused dead spaces,

and out- of- place, space occupying, huge partitions.