Heya! Before you dive into this lengthy post with me ranting and raving about our Okada stay... here's a video I uploaded on YouTube about my birthday celebration...
Watch: My Okada & Nobu Birthday Celebration
Soon! Okada Manila Tour - Deluxe King Bay View, The Retreat Spa, In-Room Dining
I turned 31 on Tuesday and Jeckie and I celebrated it by spending the weekend at Okada Manila and having Omakase dinner at Nobu Restaurant. This post is just gonna focus on Okada. We stayed for 2 nights starting November 13, 2021.
First of all, I was never attracted to Okada Manila. Specially with how it looks in photos. With the obnoxiously pink lobby and the amount of drapes covering the wide columns, it's totally unrelaxing and kinda overkill. For me ha. Had they picked red for a motif, then it's a circus. And it's even more stressful in person cos the lobby is actually smaller than it looks in photos. I'm both overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time hahaha.
Nevermind that they placed an enormous Christmas tree at the center, it's all washed out by the glaring pinkness of it all. It's a Casino complex naman daw and not really a hotel per se so every garish design decision at the lobby is probably science-backed to invite as much high rollers as they can.
Alert Level 2 situation yikes
Good thing there are some muted elements and half the room is occupied by the bathoom which has warm marble tones so yes to familiar elegance!
Oh, the hallways are beautiful too and a far cry from the agressive fuschia lobby. The Retreat Spa is also very very relaxing. I wish they designed it more cohesively. But after learning that Okada is patterned after Macau, the arresting lobby suddenly made sense hehe.
Sorry I'm overreacting. But you know, part of me kinda regrets this staycation decision cos we could've booked somewhere quieter, less busy, and cheaper too... but I must admit, the jacuzzi with an ocean view kinda snagged my attention. At least now I can say I've stayed at Okada!
Enough about how I hated the lobby hahaha... let's move on to other things I hated about our stay hahahaha. Actually there's just one thing but this very basic thing affected our entire stay and that is...
✖ Checking in? Wait at least 30 minutes in line...
✖ Request for bay view room? If there's none readily available, prepare to wait for another hour...
✖ Wanna call the operator? Wait at least 5 minutes on queue...
✖ In-room dining? Wait 1 hour for your food...
✖ Want extra pillows? They're complimentary but you gotta wait 5 fucking hours for it. I'm serious.
That's how understaffed they are. I guess.
This is the most expensive place we've stayed at (so far) but the response time beats that of cheaper hotels. I'm entitled to feel this way but I also can't get mad at the people because I know they're just trying to deal with the chaos one guest at a time. And I felt that, cos once it's finally our turn to be attended to we were treated professionally and with empathy naman so it's hard not to simmer down.
They knew their guests are struggling with impatience so I appreciate that they don't rush to get to the next guest and is proactive with meeting our needs. Placing requests is a breeze. But it's the eternal waiting that gets to you talaga hahaha. It's just that they're faced with an overwhelming amount of guests, hello Alert Level 2, and they're pretty darned understaffed. That's the only explanation I see fit, otherwise why would my fucking pillows take 5 hours to get delivered lol.
There's nothing 5 star about having to wait too long for a service but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt because we're still in the middle of suriving a pandemic and every ounce of consideration goes a long way. Plus, they just pretty much reopened after alert levels went down so maybe they haven't fully adjusted yet, what with the sudden surge of overexcited guests (like us haha).
Now that the negative things are out of the way... here are my favorite things about this staycation...
Ay wait may isa pa palang negative but I'm not sure who's to blame. I woke up with a stye on my left eye for some reason so feeling ko may ipis hahaha. I saw a vlog where it showed there's ipis in the room eh so I can't rule it out. Pero kebs naman at least I wasn't awake to face the horror lol and I brought mefenamic so it helped with inflammation. But it ruined my birthday dinner makeup eh so grrr.
1. DigiValet - your in-room ipad control panel
✔ You can control the TV from it and choose from various channels
✔ They have Netflix, Youtube, and you can cast your Android and Apple device too
✔ You can open and close the curtains
✔ You can adjust the lights and AC
✔ You can order food
✔ You can reserve at the spa
✔ You can request for extra pillows, baby stuff, and PWD assistance
✔ You can settle your bill and check-out without having to go to the lobby
2. Jacuzzi facing the sunset
It's really the experience I'm after and it did not disappoint specially with the sunset view! I have a timelapse in my vlog and it's a splendid sight. The way the sun's reflection shimmers on the roof panels of Cove Manila, the slow turning of colors, haaay it's pretty romantic.
3. Drip coffee!
I brought my own coffee grounds and pourover but their coffee is also good :)
4. Built-in bidet at the toilet
I love it but you can't wash with soap and water like a normal person so I brought a tabo with me para sure wahaha.
5. In-room dining
We ordered Buffalo Wings and it came with pineapple slices. It's new but it works perfectly so I hereby declare this as my new favorite buffalo wings.
We also ordered Butter Chicken. We're big Indian food lovers so our eyes literally zoomed in at the sight of a familiar dish. After confirming that it's indeed Indian, we punched in our orders and waited excitedly! Butter Chicken is served with Naan and Biryani but when it came to us the bread is actually Roti, but no biggie. Grabe to ang sarap diiiin! RICH levels Makhanwala sya guys. 100% recommend.
Comes with assorted bread
6. The Spaaaaa
Dear Lord I had the most amazing spa ever. Booked Bespoke Therapy in a couple's room for Jeckie and I and we had an extremely relaxing experience. We had a massive private suite just for the two of us with a steam shower, toilet, jacuzzi, and a spacious dressing area. The massage beds are unlike anything I've ever laid on. It's reclining, heated, and there's an entertainment tablet beneath the face hole. I don't know why anyone would use the tablets though. We mostly slept during the whole session. My husband was drooling haha and I was close to sleep talking. It was that heavenly.
There are other facilities you can enjoy in The Retreat Spa like the pool and lounge which is way better than the hotel pool to be honest haha but the water is shallow like 3ft lang.
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Yeah I guess that's it, despite a lot of waiting, I can say we still generally enjoyed our stay. Grateful for the experience!
Tips in consideration of the current restrictions in place:
✔ Get the Bay View room cos the Fountain is closed and the pool is empty. You can request this upon check-in. Sea view is better than city view for me plus you get to watch the sunset colors shimmering on the roof of Cove Manila! It's beautiful!
✔ Avoid the weekends cos it can get really crowded hehe
✔ Be patient!
✔ There are currently a limited number of guests allowed at the Coral Wing Pool, so you have to line-up before 8am to get ahead.
✔ Sign up for Rewards Circle membership (it's free!) at the Casino to get discount vouchers. We got 30% off vouchers on spa and dining upon signing up. Sadly we registered too late huhu
✔ Complimentary water is capped at 4 bottles per day. But according to front desk, there's unlimited water at the Casino hehe. Actually we ordered 8 more bottles but it didn't reflect in our statement so... thank you? Hehe
If you reached this part, thank you for bearing with me!