Booking hotel rooms etc on booking.com

Hi, dont go to booking.com but agoda.com. (same company but cheaper)

The prices in Agoda are usually cheaper than the prices for a walk in.

When you travel to Boracay, find a hotel on the front beach. The back beach is windy at this time of the year.

You might consider one of the Henann hotels. Most are on the beach. (e.g. Henann Regency).

In Bohol I would book a hotel on Alona beach. (They also have a Henann there)

In Cebu, I would go to Mactan (there is nice Moevenpick)

In Manila I would book the Regency suites. (Near the old town, park and shopping)

Make sure you stay one day in Manila between the last island and your return flight. (weather, cancellations, time changes)

Cebu Pacific is the cheapest airline most of the time, then Air Asia and Philippine Airlines.

The free visa is for 30 days and you need to show them your return flight within that period at check-in. (wherever that is)

In case you are in a big city avoid the taxis but install the GRAB app. Load some money and you get your transport at a fixed rate.

Have a nice holiday and if you want, let us know which experiences you have made in the Philippines.

@Andy_1963 In Cebu, I would go to Mactan (there is nice Moevenpick)...In Manila I would book the Regency suites. (Near the old town, park and shopping).

It all depends on your taste. Mactan is a smaller island town not in Cebu and quite a taxi ride away from the places you may want to see. I would stay near IT Park and Ayala Mall, perhaps at the Seda which connects to it. in Manila, perhaps you want to stay in a nicer area as well such as Makati (City Garden Hotel) and/or BGC in Taguig City (very new and Western). Also, have you considered Airbnb? Very reasonable deals in the Philippines.

    Hi, dont go to booking.com but agoda.com. (same company but cheaper)
The prices in Agoda are usually cheaper than the prices for a walk in.
When you travel to Boracay, find a hotel on the front beach. The back beach is windy at this time of the year.
You might consider one of the Henann hotels. Most are on the beach. (e.g. Henann Regency).

In Bohol I would book a hotel on Alona beach. (They also have a Henann there)

In Cebu, I would go to Mactan (there is nice Moevenpick)

In Manila I would book the Regency suites. (Near the old town, park and shopping)

Make sure you stay one day in Manila between the last island and your return flight. (weather, cancellations, time changes)

Cebu Pacific is the cheapest airline most of the time, then Air Asia and Philippine Airlines.

The free visa is for 30 days and you need to show them your return flight within that period at check-in. (wherever that is)
In case you are in a big city avoid the taxis but install the GRAB app. Load some money and you get your transport at a fixed rate.

Have a nice holiday and if you want, let us know which experiences you have made in the Philippines.   

    -@Andy_1963

I agree use Agoda, much better than booking.com.

I agree use Agoda, much better than booking.com.

    -@FindlayMacD

You get cheaper prices, but lose the advantage of direct bookings in the event of a problem.

Also, I would strongly suggest using a debit card you can control the balance of.

I use a virtual card from a local bank. You might well find similar bank accounts in other countries.

I add the appropriate balance for each online transaction, but little more. That means companies I don't trust can get what they should have, but nothing more.

One company took a payment from a card I had deleted from their system the previous month.

They should not have been able to do so, but they did before I had the chance to pay them from the new account.

@expander28

Booking Holdings are the parent company of Priceline, Booking.com, kayak.Com and a few others. Agoda was bought out by them a few years back when they aquired Priceline. Agoda was originally a Singaporean outfit that had superlative customer service. You could call them toll free anywhere in the world. They are consistently, in at least 90% of my searches, the cheapest like for like.

However its still worth checking direct with the the hotel. Many Forum contributors are surprised when they walk in to a hotel off the street why they cannot discount the online price. Simple. They are in contract with the above ‘aggragators’. The vast majority of them owned by the goliath Booking Holdings. BH could remove that hotel from its sites with one click. Can you imagine what that would do for its occupancy rate? The implicit threat is there.

Andy_1963 “When you travel to Boracay, find a hotel on the front beach. The back beach is windy at this time of the year.” Good advice. I recommend the Sea Wind hotel, station 1 and the expat bar hangout Niggy Niggy Noos on station 2.

“In Bohol I would book a hotel on Alona beach. (They also have a Henann there)”

Just got back from there. Would advise staying away from the beach area for your accommodation as it gets noisy. I stayed at a charming French boutique hotel set back from the beach about a 15 minute walk - PM me if you would like the name.

As for the Hennan Beach Resort hotel. Stunning location but large and impersonal filled with camera clicking Koreans. You could be anywhere in the world.

The only decent bar on the beach is the Aluna bar where you will find all the usual expat suspects me included

A tacky and overrated resort with too many tourists. But then when you have been to Senggigi on the Indonesian island of Lombok I guess nothing compares.

Unfortunately the Filipino mentality always goes for the ‘oversell’. Subtlety is not in their vocabulary. Many of these resorts resemble a Butlins holiday camp with beaches, palm trees and a warm climate thrown in. Everyone to their own I guess.

As for Danfinn’s recommendation regarding a stay in Cebu City. The Seda hotel has an excellent location next to the Ayala Mall - semi covered walkway if its pissing down with rain. But as alluded to in a previous post I had a big falling out with the management there. If you go to the review site TripAdvisor November reviews you will understand why.

Enjoy your trip.

I used Agoda for many years here, but got tired of their web pages always warning me of the ”last room” and flashing deals.. it’s simply too busy, imho. As a result, I have moved toward using Booking.com more frequently and prefer the more straightforward and clean site, price summarized for all nights, etc. I also trust the reviews better as more users from the west.  Also they have a much better presence in North America.

For our upcoming South Vietnam trip I compared the two for Saigon and Dalat and prices were virtually identical.

    I used Agoda for many years here, but got tired of their web pages always warning me of the ”last room” and flashing deals.. it’s simply too busy, imho. As a result, I have moved toward using Booking.com more frequently and prefer the more straightforward and clean site, price summarized for all nights, etc. I also trust the reviews better as more users from the west.  Also they have a much better presence in North America.
For our upcoming South Vietnam trip I compared the two for Saigon and Dalat and prices were virtually identical.
   

    -@pnwcyclist

I just did a quick Airbnb check on Saigon at end of Jan. Most expensive was $20 reduced to $17, a condo in District 1 with beautiful view of the city and great reviews.

https colon slash slash air.tl/qA7gcNdI

Holy cow! Thats a killer deal. Most of our time is in Dalat so will look at AirBnb there too.

Thanks Dan!

            Does anyone in Ho Chi Min City get upset if you call it Saigon?  Made it a point not to call it anything when I was there.  Made it a point to never call Istanbul Constantinople especial near the religious sites.  Never heard anyone call New York New Amsterdam.

Well I’ve never been there (only to Hanoi and the north) but always knew it as Saigon since when my dad had his office there during the Vietnam war.  I like that name, but your point is well taken and I imagine the locals prefer the name of their hero be used.  Although the name Saigon is still in use, for example the Hotel Continental Saigon..

                Does anyone in Ho Chi Min City get upset if you call it Saigon?  Made it a point not to call it anything when I was there.  Made it a point to never call Istanbul Constantinople especial near the religious sites.  Never heard anyone call New York New Amsterdam.

Good question. I read from Nat Geo that "...

... The river still remains Saigon. Buses still flash "Saigon" as their destination. The largest state run tourist company is Saigon Tourist. The three-letter airport code is SGN. In fact, the city's District 1 officially remains Saigon. So go ahead and say it.'

I saw the stage musical Miss Saigon in London a few years back. Miss Ho Chi Min just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it.

How many readers on this site think that it's the capital city?

    I saw the stage musical Miss Saigon in London a few years back. Miss Ho Chi Min just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it.How many readers on this site think that it's the capital city? -@Lotus Eate

Did you see Lea Salonga (of Miss Saigon) perform there? Saigon was the capital of the Republic of South Vietnam before the reunification. I still remember those days in college (UW Madison) with the masses of anti-war protesters chanting 'Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh, NLF is gonna win" and they did.

    I saw the stage musical Miss Saigon in London a few years back. Miss Ho Chi Min just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it.
How many readers on this site think that it's the capital city? -@Lotus Eater

Not me but have been to HCMC but not Hanoi yet. Thinking of maybe going to Vietnam again.

   
    I saw the stage musical Miss Saigon in London a few years back. Miss Ho Chi Min just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it.How many readers on this site think that it's the capital city? -@Lotus Eate
Did you see Lea Salonga (of Miss Saigon) perform there? Saigon was the capital of the Republic of South Vietnam before the reunification. I still remember those days in college (UW Madison) with the masses of anti-war protesters chanting 'Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh, NLF is gonna win" and they did.
   

    -@danfinn

I cannot recall any of the cast names but thoroughly enjoyed the production.

@Andy_1963 why thank you Andy for your reply I'm not sure if that was meant for me because I'm not going to Bohol , I will check out the other website, if there is a major difference I still have time to cancel and and go ahead and reorder my biggest concern is getting there having a place to stay only going to be in three or four days in each City till I get to El Nido I'm going to be there for 7 days.

I really appreciate the tips I'll be there in February 1st till February 26th I'm landing in Cebu I got a couple of apartments booked in Cebu for 5 days and then I'm going to p a n g a s d a beach for 5 days, 3 days in dumaguete, 4 days sjirol then booked a plane to Puerto princessa, 2 Days  Last 7 days nacpan beach and elnido,

I do have a question for you I'm flying out of dumaguete on the 17th to Porto princesa do you think I need to get to dumaguete on the 16th ,?

Thanks again , oh one more thing the exchange rate at the exchange places what kind of interest or fees do they charge these days I'll be landing and see boo I believe my bank has got a pretty decent deal here in the US but I cannot find anything to tell me the commissions and the fees that they charge you in the Philippines to exchange the US dollar.

All your help would be appreciated.

           At Two Brothers Market and Department Store in Vigan they exchange for the going rate up to three one hundred dollar bills.  Thursday the rate was 55.90 pesos per dollar no fees, better than the local banks.  Seems most cities have a similar place, you just have to ask around.  Make sure your bills have no flaws, my wife has a 200 Euro note and no one will exchange it because it has a very small notch in one side

I never thought about taking my mother with me to wipe my derriere. Perhaps some need that?

As mugteck correctly states if you are exchanging US bucks with a money changer make sure they are perfect and freshly ironed. Be aware of the exchange rate.

Withdrawing from an ATM with a Debit/Credit card it used to be P 200 but now 250 and most limit you to PHP 10K per transaction unless HSBC which is P 40K. So the fees are there and again watch the exchange rate.

Changing the topic? I spent 5 days in El Nido 10 years ago and that was 2 days too long, perhaps things have change and you can advise once you land in PP and take the bus to get there, 10 years ago there were no ATM machines, hotels wanted cash, no credit cards and exchanging US bucks had to be perfect. El Nido a beautiful part of the Philippines with the limestone outcrops and caves but available in plenty of other countries. Cam Sur in Luzon offers similar as I'm sure plenty of other locales, small country that needs to be well explored and not fixating on the crap on the net selling to the unwary,,,,, so many undocumented places in the Philippines that are undiscovered in the digital world and one simply needs to explore/adlib.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

                Does anyone in Ho Chi Min City get upset if you call it Saigon?  Made it a point not to call it anything when I was there. ...       -@mugteck

No. Not in the least. In fact, locals in both the North and the South switch back-and-forth between both names, sometimes mid-sentence. Even the local and int'l mail will be delivered when addressed to "Saigon".

All the ancient stories, folk songs, poetry refer to it as "Saigon". That said, there's no aversion to the use of the name "Ho Chi Minh City", either.

I've been here 7 years, and almost always call it Saigon (in spite of my expat.com moniker), even when dealing with VN officialdom. No problemo.

@bigpearl

Withdrawing from an ATM with a Debit/Credit card it used to be P 200 but now 250 and most limit you to PHP 10K per transaction unless HSBC which is P 40K. So the fees are there and again watch the exchange rate.

Expander 28 is a US citizen so could apply for the Charles Schwab Debit card (although for this trip a little late in the day) Not only do you get the best exchange rate with a Debit card used at an ATM but CS rebate the ATM fees. I called CS in London but as yet this facility is not available to Brits but soon will.

One note of caution to anyone using a debit card at an ATM in the Philippines. Philippine banks are now using (and I quote) Dynamic Currency Conversion with the option to be converted in your own currency rather than the local currency there and then. Its a con. Many restaurants in Europe are doing this. You will get a far better rate sticking with the local PHP conversion.

  I have been to HCMC but not Hanoi yet. Thinking of maybe going to Vietnam again.        -@Cherryann01

We really enjoyed the north - spent a few days in the old quarter of Hanoi, including Hua Lo prison and the War Museum. Then it was up to Sa Pa, near the border, where we did some trekking with a hill tribe, then over to the coast and spent a few days each in Hoi An and Da Nang. Had shirts made in Hoi An. It was a wonderful trip with great food and cultural experiences.

@Lotus Eater stated: One note of caution to anyone using a debit card at an ATM in the Philippines. Philippine banks are now using (and I quote) Dynamic Currency Conversion with the option to be converted in your own currency rather than the local currency there and then. Its a con. Many restaurants in Europe are doing this. You will get a far better rate sticking with the local PHP conversion.

I have been using ATMs here for several years. Certainly, DCC has been an option when making transactions with foreign debit and credit cards. The merchant will ask "do you want to charge in pesos or dollars?". Of course we choose pesos to get the best conversion rate. Now, when using ATMs to withdraw pesos with my foreign debit card, the ATM provider gives the normal bank rate. I have never seen an ATM give me the option of using dollars or pesos, it just takes my US dollars from my account based on whatever conversion rate they use, always pretty good. I have been to one strange ATM in a tourist area where it converted dollars to euros and then to pesos giving me a terrible rate but it told me what it was doing and asked if I wanted to continue. I agreed and got a terrible rate, converting dollars to euros and then euros to pesos. That is the type of ATM that has an ATM sign in blue and gold. I took this as a fluke, maybe associated with some euro bank primarily serving euro tourists but I never used an ATM like that again.

Agree about always specifying "local currency", or in our case pesos. I have been using my Chase IHG credit card a lot more lately and it gives me an excellent conversion rate with no "foreign transaction fee". I figure it's cheaper than taking money out of the ATM, with all those fees. Plus I'm getting points.

@pnwcyclist

oh have all this to learn when i come over to live

@renegadesric529

LOL.

Learn what you can here on expat sites from those that have been there and do it every day, it's easy to ask/learn.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

just starting visa process in uk

    @bigpearl
just starting visa process in uk
   

    -@renegadesric529

Visa process? Just come here and you get 30 days, extend once here, easy.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

im applying for srrv

@renegadesric529

need medical also police check

    @renegadesric529need medical also police check        -@renegadesric529

I did my SRRV in Manila using a free PRA marketer. It is the best way but you need to start with him/her before applying yourself; if you first apply by yourself, you are no longer able to use the free PRA marketer who is paid by PRA. So we flew from Dumaguete to Manila and with guidance of marketer developed a 4 day itinerary, first going to BDO Makati (deposit account), PRA Makati at Citibank building, (application, pay fee plus deposit), NBI (Philippines police check), DFA red ribboning, US Embassy (notarizing), PRA auth medical clinic (physical), then back to PRA to submit all documents...only 2 agencies per day due to traffic. PRA marketer guided us all the way, even got us in front of lines...it turned out to be enjoyable, actually, spending a week at City Garden Makati. Not once to visit BI. Returned 5 weeks later to pick up stamped passport and SRRV card at PRA Makati. Took oath, got pictures taken. I had to order, from USA home, an official marriage certificate from City Clerk in Delray Beach FL and my daughter picked up my police record from Raleigh NC, both later notarized at US embassy Manila and red ribboned at DFA (no apostille here in 2018 but you will need to do that). I suspect, however you do your SRRV, you will complete the process in Manila or Cebu. Good luck and welcome to the Phils.

Understand now rene.

Get all your ducks in a row as required in your home country and the rest has to be accomplished here with the PRA. So you will be here in a visitor visa for a minimum of 2 months or they won't process your application.

Medical can be done here and your marketeer will help you there as well as bank accounts and drivers license conversion. Have you talked with the PRA yet?

Cheers, Steve.

   
  I have been to HCMC but not Hanoi yet. Thinking of maybe going to Vietnam again.        -@Cherryann01
We really enjoyed the north - spent a few days in the old quarter of Hanoi, including Hua Lo prison and the War Museum. Then it was up to Sa Pa, near the border, where we did some trekking with a hill tribe, then over to the coast and spent a few days each in Hoi An and Da Nang. Had shirts made in Hoi An. It was a wonderful trip with great food and cultural experiences.
   

    -@pnwcyclist

I said it on another thread but I will mention it again. I went back to Vietnam last year and stayed 10 nights in Da Nang and it is the only city in Asia that I can imagine retiring in up to now. Loved it there with so much to see in and around the city and so so cheap and Hoi An is less than an hour away. Beautiful beaches also and really enjoyed walking along by the beach and seeing all the fish food restaurants.

@bigpearl

i have not contacted marketeer so maybe get a 3 month visa and come over

@danfinn

what visa do i need to enter country to start

    @danfinn
what visa do i need to enter country to start
   

    -@renegadesric529

I can only tell you what I did. I entered the country with my ex-Filipina wife so I received a 1 year 9A visa with Balikbayan stamp. PRA accepted that. I assume you are not married to a Filipina so this is not available to you. I have heard that special visas for SRRV can be issued, otherwise how would most visitors come here and legally apply? This is out of my area but perhaps somebody who knows, such as an owner of a PRA consulting firm that participates here, could provide you with advice. By separate DM I can give you my contact info for the PRA consultant we used.

@danfinn

spending a week at City Garden Makati

Great rooftop restaurant with views down Makati Avenue. Shame about the elevator wait

@danfinn

• that would be much appreciated pal

    Agree about always specifying "local currency", or in our case pesos. I have been using my Chase IHG credit card a lot more lately and it gives me an excellent conversion rate with no "foreign transaction fee". I figure it's cheaper than taking money out of the ATM, with all those fees. Plus I'm getting points.
   

    -@pnwcyclist

I'm using the UK Chase App Debit card which is ftf free but I don't get points or airmiles. If I use my HSBC credit card I get the airmiles but get clobbered on the transaction fee. Same with Amex abroad. I get cashback with Amex - this last year I got £183 ($232) cashback rebate albeit there is the annual card fee of £25.

    @pnwcyclist
oh have all this to learn when i come over to live
   

    -@renegadesric529

Wait until you encounter the women.