HOTEL and ROOM AMENITIES
In addition to the usual commonplace amenities, furnishings, and activities (mini-safe, Wi-Fi, toiletries, bottled water, gym, gameroom, yoga), Plantation Bay offers you the unique and the unexpected (free or at nominal cost, except as qualified):
For Everyone:
For Adults, the Retired, and the Disabled:
- More space per guest than any other hotel in Mactan and Metro Cebu. Open areas and relaxing corners everywhere. No need to compete for limited lounge-chair space fronting a single boring pool and screaming children.
- Complimentary use of electric Personal-Mobility Devices for persons with mobility issues (subject to availability).
- Complimentary basic nursing services — BP, Glucose, Oxygen reading; wound dressings; OTC medicine.
- Quick access to major Shopping, Restaurant, and Casino complexes in Cebu City, just 20-25 minutes away by the Third Mactan Bridge. Plantation Bay is now the most conveniently-located resort in Mactan, combining a genuine resort experience with close proximity to downtown.
- Quick access to challenging mountain golf at Alta Vista Country Club, just 35 minutes away. Again via the Third Bridge, Plantation Bay is the only Mactan resort that can realistically offer golfing; all the other major Mactan resorts are 80 minutes or more from a mediocre city course. (Charges apply.)
- The ONLY spa in the country that is a real spa, and not just 4 walls in a high-rise, or a gussied-up jungle clearing paired with a starvation diet. Extensive range of physical therapy, massage, and beauty treatments. (Charges apply.)
- Scheduled or by-request activities for young and old, including: dance instruction; whisky blind tasting; Introduction to Tea; Bingo Night; crab racing; Botanical Tour of Plantation Bay; Bird-Watching
- All guest-rooms safely within just a few meters of open air and safety in case of fire (not that we ever had one), and 15-20 minutes from two hospitals with emergency rooms.
For Families:
- 1.5 hectares (4.7 acres) of private man-made saltwater lagoons, more interesting than almost any hotel swimming pool, safer than the open sea.
- Four different freshwater swimming pools to suit every mood — 1400 square-meter freeform for general frolicking, with coves and bubble-nooks; 400 square-meter shaded with waterfall and fountain features for a more refreshing temperature; 690 square-meter evenly shallow for young families; and 160 square-meter rectangular for Greco-Roman photo-ops.
- And of course the real sea, with diving, marine sport, and island adventures straight from our wharf. PADI certifications and re-certifications. (Charges apply.)
- Biking. Wall-Climbing. Pitch-and-Putt. Archery (real arrows).
- Shooting range (real bullets). (Charges apply.)
- Scheduled Family Activities like: Design Your Own Resort (take home your masterpiece in a sturdy gift box); Duct Tape Art; Ice Cream Challenge; crab races; Name-Game Parent-Child Challenge.
- A resort layout that everyone feels safe in. You would never let your child out of your sight in most resorts anywhere in the world. You will feel different at Plantation Bay. Older, responsible children can be allowed to wander around the resort on their own, just as they could in times past.
- No child — knock wood — has ever come to serious harm in Plantation Bay. Our staff and our safety protocols have kept our record spotless for our entire history. That's an amenity you can't put a price on.
For Corporations:
- Unusual conference venues for all needs, — Wall Street Boardroom, Roof-Garden Wedding, Treaty Negotiations, Alpine Chalet, others.
- Unique team-building activities that require strategic and tactical thinking, and the famous Plantation Bay Duodecathlon, a half-hour excuse to run, swim, climb, guzzle beer, proposition an attractive staff member, and do other silly things.
- Hearty food and relaxing ambience that make every conference or product presentation a sure-fire hit for the Organizer.
For Lovers:
- Romantic Rendezvous Package in your chosen hideaway anywhere in the resort. (Charges apply.)
- In-the-Mood Room Setup. (Charges apply.)
- All King-Bedded Rooms feature canopied mahogany Four-Posters.
- Quiet corners in pools (and elsewhere) where no one can see you.
For Foodies and Drinkers:
- Most 5-star hotels in the US and Europe are content to have one all-purpose restaurant. We have four distinctive restaurants presenting a range of dishes from the world's favorite cuisines — Italian, American, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Chinese, Southeast Asian, and Vegan, plus USDA Prime and Japanese A-5 Steak.
- All four also offer different dishes that represent Philippine cuisine at its heartiest and most satisfying, from the World's Best Kare-Kare to The Real Adobo to an Incomparable Ube Ice Cream made from scratch in our kitchens.
- A short but carefully-chosen wine list, featuring "best-buy" sparkling wines from Spain, Australia, and Italy, plus "not cheap but worth it" Veuve Clicquot and Dom Perignon. No Petrus or Opus One, but a few quite decent (and popularly-priced) reds and whites from California, Australia, and Spain.
- Instant Craft Cocktails, each with our secret riff on the usual — Vodka Martini, Margarita Hermosa, Boulevardier. . . Made in batches in advance, so available within just a few minutes.
Commitment to Diversity:
- Guests from all over the world (how about Iceland, Kazakstan, and Kuwait?), of all ages and backgrounds, all faiths, and all personal-preference identities.
- Respect is given to all, but respect in return is expected for our staff and for our other guests.
A video walk-through of a typical room type:
Why so affordable? Plantation Bay offers well-maintained, up-to-date rooms and facilities, more leisure activities, and warmer, more genuine service than any other hotel in the country. But we don't have to advertise (our past guests do that for us), and we don't have to pay 10 % of our gross receipts, plus another 10 % of our net, plus shared overhead, to an international hotel chain just to use its name. We pass these considerable savings on to our guests.
Some hotels offer "free" breakfast, but obviously this is built into their room rate. Hence, the breakfast is not really "free"; rather, it is "compulsory". Our room prices do NOT include breakfast. Every day, you can choose whether to have a big breakfast, a small one, or none at all, and pay only for what you consume. Our daily buffet theme breakfast is priced at P 1,200 Nett * (smaller children half-price), while a plated American, Continental or Filipino breakfast costs P 520 Nett *. Pancakes cost P 420 Nett *, and a cup of brewed coffee to take away costs P140 Nett *. If you book direct, all the registered occupants of the room can enjoy a full breakfast buffet for a flat extra fee. That flat fee is not advised for only 1 or 2 occupants, but recommended for 3 or more. After selecting a room type, click the prompt to choose this option.
Satisfaction Guarantee
The Plantation Bay Room and Restaurant Satisfaction Guarantee. We would like all our guests to feel they made the right choice in coming here. And most of our guests do, so we can afford to be liberal with those who don’t:
Immediate change of heart after checking in. (Applicable Only to Direct Bookings. This guarantee does not apply to bookings explicitly described as non-refundable, including those for peak and blackout dates, and certain promo-rate bookings.)
If after arrival you do not think you would enjoy your stay, please advise us (by calling a Duty Manager or the Front Office Manager) within 4 hours of checking in, and we will do the following:
- Waive your room charge for the day (but not your charges for food, goods, or services if any);
- In case you made any advance payment or deposit, the entire amount will be refunded to you by the same method/channel you used to pay;
- Help you book at another hotel in metropolitan Cebu; and
- Provide you with free chauffeur-driven transportation to that hotel;
- The provisions of this guarantee do not apply to guests refused check-in or ejected, for either obnoxious behavior or refusal to comply with the Resort’s policies. Plantation Bay does not suffer ill-mannered guests or those who think they can intimidate the natives. By not wasting our time and energy on a few unreasonable guests, we leave our management and staff in good humor to serve normal guests better. If we do reject or eject you, after you have paid us in full for all the goods and services you have consumed, we will escort you to our front gate and bid you goodbye.
You must, however, actually come. Our normal policies apply to no-shows and reservation cancellations made prior to check-in.
Early departure vis-à-vis the number of nights reserved. (Applicable Only to Direct Bookings via This Website):
If you shorten your stay after at least one night during a non-peak, non-blackout period, we offer two options to minimize your financial loss:
- Certificate for an equivalent number of roomnights to be used on a future occasion, within a reasonable time frame.
- After re-calculating the appropriate cost (given the shorter stay) for the roomnights that were used, and deducting this from the amount paid in advance for the initially-planned stay, a refund equal to 50% of the putative value of the roomnights cancelled. This refund will be given in Philippine peso cash or (if originally paid by credit card) via a credit card reimbursement (please allow time for credit card handling).
This policy does not apply to peak or blackout dates (approximately 30 days a year) that require full advance payment—no refunds will be issued for early departures on these dates.
Unsatisfactory food. For every diner in our outlets (excluding dinner shows and open buffets), if after consuming 25% or less of any dish or drink you are not completely satisfied, please advise our staff and there will be no charge for it. (We will of course offer you alternatives.) Please do this instead of just grousing about your meal later, when we can no longer ascertain exactly what the problem was or whether any staff member warrants correction.
Understanding Philippine Hotel Pricing
All prices in the Philippines are subject to 12% Value Added Tax plus 0.75% Local Tax. At the same time, in accordance with industry norms in the country, Plantation Bay also adds a 10% service charge, which is distributed monthly to all the regular employees of the hotel, in equal shares. One + is for all taxes of about 12.75%, the other + is for 10% service. P 100 ++ means that your final tab will be around P 123.95 for that item, after both taxes and the service charge are added. Finally, in some cases, we quote prices "Nett", which means that whatever VAT and service charge are applicable are already included in that figure; hence, P 100 Nett means that your bill will be P 100. We apologize for any confusion this might cause, but assure you that all hotels in the country do (or should do) the same thing, with the difference that we actually pay our VAT and Local taxes, and actually pay out the service charge to our employees, whereas some might not.