A Taste of Opulence at the Heritage Hotel

I've wanted to stay at the Heritage Hotel during my visits to Metro Manila, just to see what it's like. The place seems to be an icon, after all. During a quick trip last month, I was finally able to do so.

It was perfect timing. I'd known only two days prior that I had to make the trip, and upon perusing Agoda, found out that the Heritage Hotel was having a last minute sale. I jumped at the opportunity, especially because my destination was the Japanese Embassy, just two buildings away from the Heritage. It was still more expensive than average, but it was 25% less than their regular rate.

My first impression of the hotel was that it's old. The hotel makes me think of a book with frayed edges. I was assigned a twin room, and although it had all the little things I needed (toiletries, slippers, robes, a well-stocked mini bar, etc.), the room was just okay, and my TV was old... it was a CRT! I've definitely been to better and cheaper hotel rooms.

My disappointment did not end there. The hotel does not have a lot of items on their room service menu. Is it because they have a casino, and they'd rather people went there than hang out in their rooms? Food in general at the hotel was okay, but was nothing special. What I found incredulous was the P300 per hour internet connectivity. In this day and age, that just feels to me like an abomination, even in a 5-star hotel!

The one good thing about Heritage Hotel: it's location. Other than that, there's really nothing special about it at all. No wonder it's not that highly rated on Agoda. If you want that real taste of opulence, you might want to look somewhere else.