The Gabayan Riviera

The road to the resort from main could use a little widening

Unfortunately, several issues kept this from being the relaxing stay we were hoping for.

The biggest disappointment was that we booked what was advertised as an "Executive Villa," but it wasn't really a villa at all. It was more like a duplex, with another room sharing a wall. Unlike many places in the Philippines that use concrete construction, this building did not seem to have much soundproofing. We could hear our neighbors, and they could hear us. That lack of privacy was not what we expected when booking a villa.

The bed was also extremely hard. Everyone has different preferences, but this felt more like sleeping on a wooden board with about an inch of padding on top. Combined with the noise issues, getting a good night's sleep was difficult.

Speaking of noise, the roof is made of corrugated steel. Even a light rainstorm sounds incredibly loud. During the rainy season, it can be difficult to sleep through the constant noise. To make matters worse, our roof actually leaked one morning, dripping water onto the headboard and onto my wife and me while we were in bed.

The WiFi was another major frustration. It was slow and unreliable throughout our stay, and at the restaurant it was essentially unusable most of the time. If you need internet access for work or communication, don't expect a dependable connection.

We also noticed a large number of ants around the room and property. Seeing a few insects in a tropical environment is understandable, but there were enough that it started to feel like cleanliness and pest control were not being adequately addressed.

The restaurant food was decent, but the prices felt excessive. As an example, we could walk less than a kilometer away and buy a burger for around 80 pesos, while a burger at the resort cost about 500 pesos. The resort version was larger, but not enough to justify the difference in price.

One final issue was the bathroom design.

Slow Wi-Fi connection. Should have a designated smoking area in the restaurant away from other guests.

Far from any restaurants

Location wise a bit far from the hustle and bustle night life of san juan, yet perfect for me and my wife's honeymoon

I had guests that we invited over for a BBQ and the entrance fee was P250 per person consumable which was understandable. What I didn't like what the additional P150 per person fee for use of a single towel. The P250 should have included the use of the towel however it didn't and to me it is a simple greed by the owners of the resort. In addition, some of my guests decided to use their P250 consumable towards the P150 towel and they were told that they could not use the remaining P100 since they used a portion of it on the towel. Once again, thank you, this is pure greed on the part of the owner.

There were a few minor issues, such as slightly inconsistent WiFi and limited nearby dining options without transport, but nothing that significantly affected our stay.

There were a few small problems with the food, power outage and insects in the bathroom but nothing that was important and all were dealt with immediately by staff.

Our room's air-conditioning didnt work on our second day and the hot shower as well but they moved us to another room. Its a little farther from all the restaurants and the resorts restaurant sucks. The food is bad, we ordered a calamari and we couldn't even eat it, that's how bad that even the staff can't eat it so they gave us a refund. This place would have been perfect if they have good food in their in house restaurant. Please management, improve it.

o wifi era bom de dia e a noite era horrível. e eu recomendo deixar a sua porta fechada, pois na primeira noite após meu jantar no restaurante do hotel, presenciei uma aranha gigante na parede do lado de fora do meu quarto.