Wednesday 16 November 2011

Club Balai Isabel, Talisay Batangas

This is an honest account of our Club Balai Isabel Experience.







Booking:

I am on a Long Distance Relationship and every time I see my fiance, we go on holidays.  He normally pays but I make sure that I treat him to anything when he visits.  I subscribed to groupon and when I saw a Club Balai Isabel deal for 3D/2N for PHP 5,912, I immediately booked without researching as a friend had been.  The booking to make the story short was difficult.  I rang them several times a day and noone picked up.  It was only when I sent them facebook messages that they responded.  They are not lenient with dates too.  I tried booking for the dates that I desired and I was told that as a groupon buyer, they only have few dates available for me.  Pushy as I am, I asked for another date, 17-19 which falls on a Fri-Sat.  It wasn't available, so I moved to 16-18 and I got the booking.  I asked for a confirmation voucher and they gave me a wrong one after 6 days of booking so I had to ask for the right vouchers again.  It was such a horror!!!

TIP:  Send them emails, facebook messages, ring their numbers to get the booking.  You have to be very aggressive with them as being nice won't get you anywhere.


The Room:



The room was massive.  The problem is, they have 2 large beds.  Not good especially when you are on a Romantic Holiday.  There is nothing romantic than 2 separate beds.  When our attendant dropped us off, he said, ring us if you need anything.  There weren't any phones.  He said he's gonna check with the concierge and we never heard from him again.  The groupon promised a lakeside suite but instead, we got a room with a shit view.  I can only see palm tree blocking view.  The bathroom is very small too.  They provided 2 small bars of soap and 2 small jars of shampoo and conditioner but that's about it.  They had no extra tissue paper in case it runs out.  2 bottled water and 2 instant coffee.  When I asked for a hairdryer, we were told that they don't have any available and when we asked if they can bring some tom, we heard the "I'll double check" answer which is an actual "no".  On our second day, the room smelt too.


The Food:

We ordered kare-kare, sizzling sisig, 2 cups of rice, 1 buko juice and 1 softdrinks and the bill came a little less than 1000PHP.  It was expensive for what it was considering the portion and taste of the food.  There were nothing special about it.  The sisig was nice but burnt.  The staffs are very friendly though especially Alfie.  He was all smiles the whole night and was trying to speak in English with Luke.

The complimentary breakfast was a joke.  The rice portion is very small.  Refrain from ordering beef tapa and longganisa to avoid disappointment.  Even Luke was disappointed with longganisa and was happy that he didn't get beef tapa.


If you want cheap food and massive portion, please ask the trike driver to go to Milan's.  It's 5-10 minutes away from Club Balai Isabel.
 We had 1/4 kilo of Sinigang na Maliputo, 1 order of Beef Tapa, 1 cup plain rice, 1 cup garlic rice and 2 drinks for PHP 555 and the food was nice.


Amenities:

You have to pay for almost everything that you do in Club Balai Isabel apart from the 2 swimming pool.  I'm so shocked how much you need to spend to actually have fun in the place.  I'm willing to pay for the Taal boating and horse back riding but I draw the line in Mobideep pool.  It looked so dirty.  I'm happy that we got free Butterflies Foot Reflexology and Dr. Fish Spa.  This must be the highlight of our trip.  The experience left us totally relaxed.  :)

Other amenities include basketball court, kayaking.  The rates are available in the front desk.










Review:

All in all, Luke and I were very much disappointed with our Club Balai Isabel experience.  The guests were very noisy although there were few groups that were checked-in.  I've expected more from the reviews that I've read.  The Taal view was superb though.  The food was expensive for what it was.  The staffs are friendly and all smiles.  I didn't like the lady at the front desk though.  She wasn't able to help us with our needs.  She didn't orient us with any of the Balai Isabel's facilities.  I didn't hear the usual " our check-in time is ____ and our check-out time is ____ and breakfast is served between ____ and _____.  She didn't tell us how to avail our reflexology nor our dr. fish spa.  Nothing.  I've expected more and experienced less.  I won't go back if I need to pay again.


How to go to Club Balai Isabel?

I'm a fan of the public transportation as I don't drive.  
You can either take the Tanauan Batangas bus from Cubao or from Buendia.  Ask the driver to drop you at Tanauan City.  From Tanauan, take a trike and ask the driver to drop you to the Talisay jeepney terminal.  Ask the driver to drop you near the Cathedral and take another trike to Club Balai Isabel.

2 comments:

Nava K said...

Its a beautiful place with lovely sceneries all the more the great food you both had.

Unknown said...

I have to agree, fantastic scenery and very good for photos but the room and food is nothing special.

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