Eskaya Beach Resort and Spa

Despite having an excellent location and concept, the overall management was completely lacking.
There were very few staff members on site, and no proper services were provided.
I believe it is highly problematic to operate such a great facility with poor management while still accepting guests.

I truly believe that this was once THE spot in Panglao. However, we are terribly dissatisfied with our stay.
The contact number they provided was not reachable until the day of our arrival. The van that was supposed to pick-up guests left without the remaining passengers, therefore us. Upon our arrival we were greeted by overgrown grass, dead trees, poorly maintained facade. The main lobby was closed and we were directed to a make shift office in one of the villas. The person who greeted us did not know how to speak English and could not assist us with our inquiry about the resort facilities and spa services. She was not wearing a uniform or a name tag therefore we cannot determine if she was a staff. Finally, another person came in and informed us that check-in is not until 2PM, so we gladly proceeded to the restaurant. From our time of arrival, there was another family that came before us. We ordered lunch but it took an hour and a half for our food to come out. Mentioning again, that there’s only one other family with us. There were no servers on site and if there were they look very unhappy to be working. Check-in time. Although the room is spacious it lacked the vibe. The curtains were heavy and dusty. The ceiling had several watermarks from poor AC piping. The fridge was moldy. An open bottle wine from previous guest. Ugh! I think this entire place was just a missed. It was one issue after another. But there were some serious hazardous things at the resort.

Very run down rats in rooms no pest control bar pool full of birds nest and full of rust no reception no lobby no communication from manager boooed for 7 days checked out after 2 went to another place no refund given no compensation staff were very nice but very little English dodgy as

I had high hopes for Eskaya Beach Resort & Spa, but unfortunately, my experience was nothing short of appalling. What was once likely a beautiful property has clearly been neglected, and the reality was far from the luxurious retreat they promote.

Upon arrival, it became evident that the resort was in disrepair. The facilities were rundown, dirty, and felt completely abandoned. The pool bar was covered in bird droppings, and nearly everything seemed to be broken or half-repaired (including tractors parked on the beach). Despite advertising cable TV, it wasn’t available. The restaurant had limited food options, and when I ordered room service, I was handed a tray and expected to carry it to my room myself.

Cleanliness was a major concern — there were ants crawling on the bread rolls, and much of the food seemed stale or old. The lakes and ponds were murky and polluted, adding to the overall feeling of neglect.

The most unsettling part of my stay was the bizarre and uncomfortable encounter with security. When I attempted to leave the property for a simple walk on the beach, I was aggressively stopped by security guards — accompanied by a vicious German Shepherd. The owner later claimed this was due to a recent murder nearby and that a police surveillance plane was monitoring the area — a highly suspicious and frankly unbelievable excuse.

The whole resort felt deserted, and the staff, rather than being welcoming or helpful, seemed to spend their time staring at guests in an unsettling way.

To top it off, my checkout experience added frustration to an already disappointing stay. I had a two-hour window between the resort’s noon checkout time and when I needed to leave for the airport. Despite the fact that we were clearly the only guests at the property — and no one was checking in that day — I was told a late checkout would cost $40 per hour. It felt petty and exploitative, especially given the overall condition of the resort.

What’s most frustrating is that it’s clear this place was once something special. The property itself has great potential, but it’s obvious that the owners — who conveniently live in the main villa on the beach — have stopped investing in the resort while still profiting from guests. It felt as though we were subsidizing their lifestyle while they neglected the very place that should be their responsibility to maintain.

I would strongly advise anyone considering Eskaya to avoid it. The photos online do not reflect the current reality. This place is in serious decline, and sadly, what could have been a memorable vacation turned into a stressful, uncomfortable experience.

This property has a certain charm, is very atmospheric with pretty gardens, but seems passed its prime. The room we were given smelled strongly of mold, the private pool was too gross to swim in, the small beach was not inviting and everything generally felt decrepit, dirty and in poor condition. After complaining and showing staff our issues with the room, we were eventually moved to another one which was much better. Our experience wasn't great but some may like it and staff was responsive. Seemed very over priced despite private pool.

Let me start by saying I regret spending so much money to a place that is run down and broken. This place definitely has seen better days. The ambiance is great till you see a broken lamp or a pool not working.The beach was dirty and was muddy. The toilet was not working at times and the jet from the bubble bath was not working. The husband and I needed to put something in the safe and we called them about and we checked out already and the safe was still not fix. The smell from the rooms are so bad. I have bad asthma and I had to open up the windows but some of the screen from the doors and windows have holes so now you're infested with bugs. Our room had a bunch of little spiders inside the room as well. It was just a horrible and nightmare of a stay. We sprayed the room atleast twice a day with bug repellents. We stayed here for a 10 year anniversary and for a 5 star resort they could not accommodate a special night for us. I've worked hospitality before and this is absolutely a nightmare. They do not change the beddings unless you asked them too. It's like why asked for it to be clean if you're not going to put new sheets? Especially, bc of the bugs I wanted it change but you have to ask. With the money I paid thinking it would be a nice 10 year anniversary villa was absolutely the worst decision I made

Upon Arrival
We arrived early because we took the earliest flight from Manila to Bohol.
We were welcomed by the owner, who rudely asked, “Oh, you’re three people?” Yes, it’s indicated in our booking and then said, “You’re too early to check in.” We explained that we were aware of this and were only there to leave our luggage, as is customary at other hotels. Her staff began asking for our IDs, but the owner interrupted and said, “No, no, no! Later at 2 PM. Check-in is at 2 PM. Just come back.” We responded politely, saying, “Yes, we know. No problem.”

Check-In
When we returned to check in, the staff member assisting us was pleasant, unlike the owner. Our booking was for December 23-26.

Swimming Pool
While swimming, I experienced itchy skin and discovered algae in both the villa and common swimming pools. (See attached photos.)

Sun Bed Foam
The sunbed foam was full of mold and clearly hadn’t been cleaned.( see attached photos)

Housekeeping
On our second day, we placed the “Please make up room” sign outside and also informed the front desk to clean our room. However, no one came. When we returned to our villa at 3 AM, we noticed a housekeeping cart outside our door. We called the front desk to ask why the room hadn’t been cleaned, and they claimed they didn’t have an extra key to enter.

Towels
We used the gym and asked for towels, but they gave us floor mat towels that are meant for feet.

Guards and Cart Drivers
The staff, including guards and cart drivers, were inattentive. Guests are supposed to park in the designated parking area and request a golf cart to the villa, which is fine. However, there were times when it took a long time for the cart to arrive.

Breakfast
It was just okay.
3rd day breakfast we noticed ants all over the ladle for the pumpkin soup. See attached photo

Beach
Tracks of a tractor on the shore? What is this, a construction site?
And also full of algae in the water too

Phone Inquiry
No proper phone etiquette. Even the owner sounds like she’s answering her personal mobile phone. No “Good morning,” “Good day,” or “Good evening.”

Villa Key
Is this what you call luxury??? See photo

And to the owners of this Resort
The lady owner was illogical, rude, lacked emotional intelligence, and clearly did not understand the meaning of "customer service”

The Worst Part: Christmas Day
We went out for a family dinner on Christmas Eve and returned to the hotel at 3 AM. At 7 AM, our phone rang. My husband answered, irritated, and I overheard the conversation. A staff member rudely told us we had to leave because someone else would be checking into our villa. The guy on the other end of the line was very rude, not even apologetic or pleasant to talk to.
We were shocked at how insensitive they were, especially calling so early in the morning. Frustrated, I went to the front desk and confronted them. I asked, “Do you know what time it is? It’s 7 AM on Christmas Day! Is this how you treat your guests?”
After a few minutes, the owner arrived, and instead of apologizing, she was rude. I asked her again, “Do you know what time it is? Is this how you treat your guests?”
She replied, “Yes, because you arrived at 3:30 AM last night, and we don’t allow that in our policy. We have a curfew until 11 PM.”
I was shocked and asked, “What is this, a jail? Why weren’t we informed about this policy from the start?”
The owner replied, “That’s our policy because some people just loiter inside the resort.”
I told her, “That’s not our problem.”
The owner then said, “There are guests checking into your room today.”
I replied, “What guests? We’re booked here until the 26th. That’s not our problem—that’s your problem. Why did you wake us up? Fix your system!”
The owner tried to shift the blame, saying we should’ve contacted Agoda to sort out the booking. I told her, “You’re the resort owner. We don’t know your system. That’s internal—why should we contact Agoda?”

She was telling us that we shouldn’t be talking to the front desk because the front desk is not the one who processes the check-in, but Agora Online? They’ve been in the hospitality industry for so long, and they’re telling us that? Come on! That’s standard protocol.

She continued to talk nonsense. My husband told her, “If you had informed us about these policies from the start, we wouldn’t have stayed here.” The owner replied then don’t book here again. Wow! The audacity!

The owner then offered to transfer us to a “very nice villa.” My husband said, “We don’t need an upgrade. It’s fine if we transfer to another villa of the same rate.”

Later, the front desk called and said we could stay in our villa while the other guests would be accommodated elsewhere. What a joke! They completely ruined our Christmas Day, which was supposed to be a relaxing holiday. Their rude behavior and poor service were unacceptable, especially on Christmas Day.
This is not the luxury villa they claim to be. Wake up, Eskaya! You are far from being a luxury resort in Panglao. We’ve been traveling here every year since 2019 and have stayed at various resorts, but this was by far the worst experience. Don’t waste your money on Eskaya. We paid premium amount and this is what we got. A complete joke. Sell it to professional corporations and leave it to the experts. The view has potential, or better yet, you might as well close down.

- Staff Attitude: The staff was not accommodating and often refused to assist with requests.

- Room Maintenance: The rooms were not well-maintained. I noticed issues such as [bedit, some showers are not functioning, and hair strands on the bed].

- The quality of the service and accommodation, I felt that the experience did not justify the price.

- The food provided was not satisfactory. The meals were bland and not up to standard.

Definitely NOT recommending this resort to anyone. We feel pitty for the staff who have not been supervised and managed well because they receive all the complaints and frustrations from guests.

The facilities were not maintained, showers, bidet, and restrooms don't give you such comfort. Another terrible experience was when we were told we can order in-room dining, but later, another staff refused to grant our request because we can only eat in the dinner buffet where the options are not our preference. So we had to ride a toktok (public transpo in bohol) to go to the city and buy food. Breakfast food were so-so. Few options. Even had a small strand of hair on the egg, told the staff, but no action was made.

Staff do not coordinate with guests requests.

Unless the management does something to improve the facilities and services, train their staff on how to handle guest requests, I don't think this resort will stand another year.

We came for a honeymoon, 3 nights private pool villa. The property area full of trash, room stinks of old wood smell, no hot water in shower. Ants cobwebs and the top - frog and snake inside the room. Staff are rude and unhelpful, didn’t try for a moment to make us feel better and enjoy the vacation. We had to leave after one night and asked for refund for the rest 2 nights and the hotel answer was they don’t have refund in there exists policies! no money refund. Run away.

We payed 2300 Euro for 6 nights and left the hotel after 2 nights. It was horrible! Don’t go there. And no refund of the money!

This resort is in poor condition, with dilapidated facilities and non-existent service. The check in counter looks like an immigration office. It might have been a luxury hotel once upon a time in its heyday, but today it is a wreck of a resort. We got bitten by mosquitoes at night, which was extremely unpleasant. Then we got food poisoning from the dinner and decided to move to a new resort, forfeiting our remaining prepaid nights. The only surprisingly good thing was the evening singer, who temporarily distracted us from the whole experience. This resort is unacceptable, we do not recommend others to come here.

What can I say. Of all the luxury (and non luxury) hotels I’ve ever stayed in and considering prices we paid, this has to be the worst of the worst. We prepaid for 4 nights for two pool Villas from 28 December to one Jan 1. Of course, there was no refundable option as they do not want to give you your money back. We paid a total of around USD3,800 and was expecting a precious and nice family Christmas holiday. However, we moved out after the first night and will ask you not to make the same mistake as us.

Place and facilities were in dire need of repair with little or nothing going on. There were maybe four other families when we were there and there was nothing to eat. Breakfast was an appetising and sorry as of course they need to cut as much cost as possible. They must have outsourced everything as there was no resident chef who only comes in and out during certain period, but even when he was there, food was horrible and unhygienic. We looked at the menu that had a wide variety of food, serving only a few villas, so you will wonder where the fresh food comes from??? There was none. Prawns were dead for a while, meat frozen ( or perhaps just chilled), and the last straw was when my husband got food poisoning, and I decided my family had to move out immediately for safety reason.

Staff were clueless and do not care. The reception looked like a government office. We were not allowed to charge bills to the room and have to prepay everything in advance, citing inspection by auditors. I take that to mean they are already under receivership and not allowed to grant credit or spend any money on anything, including on maintenance and food hygiene for the safety of the guests. The spa was also outsourced, and even though the backbone was there, they had two freelance workers who come in and charged five star hotel spa prices while offering a mediocre Massage. The only café was sad and lonely, there were no activities, no gym, no life. Cars were not allowed to come in to pick up guests, and they have fights with drivers and guests over this. There was also a curfew at 11 pm which means we were not allowed to come in and out after that. There is no commute to nearby towns, so you are stuck there for the duration of your stay. There was also a fierce German Shepherd dog on site which grows at everyone including the guests. It feels like we are in prison. overall, this place might have been a luxury escape 15 years ago, perhaps? But at some point of time, the owners and the staff stopped investing and stopped, caring, including caring for the well-being, enjoyment, safety of the guests. They have no standard for quality and not interested in the guests well-being. All they want is your money. They do not seem to be surprised when I informed them my husband got food poisoning and just suggested I take him to a hospital so I can get out of their way. They said this is what other guests did. We have now moved out to another resort in bohol as soon as my husband could make it and could not have been happier. I will be asking them for refund of the three nights we did not stay and I will update on the status of my request. I doubt they give a damn as money has already gone to the creditors. Insured, this is a sad, crappy, scamming hotel that just doesn’t care about its guests.

There are other resort hotels in Panglao which are way better than Eskaya.
My group and I were greeted by their front desk lady staff who seemed unfriendly and unwelcoming. On our 1st day, we found out that the kitchen will opens at 5pm and there were no food available. Also, we were informed that their policy is PAY UPON ORDER (no room charge), CASH TRANSACTIONS ONLY.
On the other hand, villas are quite nice and spacious. Restaurant staff were also courteous and attentive. Limited breakfast buffet selection.
The beachfront area is small compared with other beaches.

We stayed in the deluxe villa with own dipping pool and front deck with the seaview. There's an outdoor shower and toilet area with jacuzzi.

In summary, our stay could have been better if the front desk lady was courteous enough to welcome and greet us with a smile.

The hotel says cannot accomdate us because the room is not ready ! Very rude and bad attitude ! The hotel asks us to talk to Expedia for refund!

I was walking along the water line of the beach and your armed guards forbad me from walking in front of your resort. I was remaining on the beach at the water line but they blocked me and threatened me. Please note this: According to Article 51 of the Water Code of the Philippines, shores of seas within a zone of three meters in urban areas, 20 meters in agricultural areas and 40 meters in forest areas are subject to public use.

stay away from this place

dirty rooms - cockroaches on the bed , cob webs with spiders, etc

rude staff - they speak back to you and are just plain rude. they fight with you

poorly maintained facilities - resort looks run down

it definitely isn't luxury . not worth the price.

Nice and quiet resort, far enough from the bustle and hassle of Alona beach but close enough to enjoy their restaurants and shopping. The chef at Eskaya is excellent, every dish was perfect, especially Filipino cuisine. The staff was caring and attentive, especially Herbert looked after us extremely well. Very profesional and service oriented. Our daughter wasn’t feeling well and they were ready to arrange medical care in the middle of Easter holidays, which is the most important religious holiday in the country so only ER in Tagbilaran was open. Herbert and his colleagues were super nice, they took care of every wish we had. If you use a tricycle to take you to Alona Beach, we highly recommend Allan Bongo, just tell the staff at Eskaya and he’ll be waiting for you at the gate. We were very pleased and happy with our holidays.

No such thing as room charge. You eat in the restaurant - you gotta pay immediately. The menu is massive, but they don’t have half of what’s written there. Considering we were the only guests in the resort, their service was way below basic. To ask for a pitcher of water took an hour. You order room service, it’ll also take an hour. Their food was pretty decent though.

We arrived from our flight at 12:00PM. No other guests in the hotel but we were informed that our room was not ready yet and that the standard check-in is at 2:00PM so don’t expect, that despite what you are paying for, and a resort that has no other guests - they won’t check you in earlier.

We got the Grand Infinity Seaview villa that can have as many as 6 pax. We were 5 but there was only one bathroom :-( It was nice and spacious but only one bathroom.

We asked for a massage and their menu said it was open from 1PM to 12MN everyday but when we called, they said it was only open from 8PM to 10PM. It only has 2 rooms with 2 beds in each. We reserved for 2 pax at 8PM and 2 for 930PM. They said to be there 15 minutes before but no one was there to welcome us. So when we called, they said “you didn’t tell us what massage you wanted and you didn’t pay ahead of time.” Sadly, very passive :-( So, we just cancelled our massage.

The only thing you can do in the resort is use the gym, swim in your villa pool or swim in the main pool.

The one positive, in the reception, they have a dog named SALTY who greeted us every morning.

Biggest tip, you are better off in Bellevue, South Palms, Amorita or Henan - unless you don’t want to see anyone or share the beach with others, then just go to El Nido Palawan.

CHECK THE RECENT REVIEWS OF THIS RESORT ON GOOGLE AND OTHER SITES. It progressively gets WORSE! You can already see how dirty the place is when you enter the resort. The "owner"/housekeeper did not want to clean the room because it was "too early" to do it. My mom saw dog poop and cockroaches. There have been a significant amount of bad reviews about this place, specifically the owner. In our trip, she pretended to be the housekeeper and told my parents to leave. She was EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL and talks like a kalye person. She did NOT refund my parents the money they paid to stay there despite not staying there. She made them leave (thank God), but for that, we are bringing this to the NBI.