Whenever I’m away for a short business travel, a convention, or visit friends, I always look for a hotel that is accessible, relaxed, and cheap. This is the reason why I came up with this project on my blog on reviewing hotels, including the price, food, and their amenities. I am going to share my experiences with you so you can also check if the hotel that I have stayed is the right one you need if you’re near the area.
My very first hotel review on this blog is The Maxwell Hotel.
The Maxwell Hotel: Simple, Clean, And Affordable
It is located at N. Escario Street, Cebu City near the business and shopping strips. It is close to Ayala Center Cebu, one of the busiest shopping destinations in the city. Fast food chains, coffee shops, and leisure venues are also close that you don’t need to go far if you wish to hang with business colleagues and friends.
Before we go further, let’s talk about the hotel itself. I was able to stay overnight and experience their hospitality and amenities first-hand.
Guest Rooms
The room that I have stayed at The Maxwell Hotel is true to what they promote: simple, clean and affordable. For only ₱1,800.00, you can have an accommodation good for two with complimentary breakfast. The room that they provided me has a big window and I surely have a view when I wake up in the morning.
Wardrobes to hang your clothes are available. Cabinets to keep your things are also there, and a working table for computer work is decent.
It is well lighted, which is good when I need to work something on my blog. The beds are spacious and comfortable, too. But the first thing I check when I enter a hotel room is the toilet and shower room.
There’s a hot and cold shower. Enough space to move around in the shower room is not a problem. However, if you are looking for a nice bath, there’s no bathtub.
Facilities
The waiting lounge is good enough when you are waiting for your friends to come over or just relaxing while reading magazines or the daily newspaper. A coffee vending machine is also placed for a morning kick or an afternoon wake-me-up juice.
But if you fancy having a taste of Lechon, you can have your lunch, mid-day snacks or dinner at Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly and get a platter of a boneless Lechon and a bunch of pusô. It’s open 24/7.
Supposedly, they offer another kind of food like dinuguan, beef stew, and kawali aside from the Lechon. But when I stayed there for a night, only the Lechon is available. But thankfully, an outdoor coffee shop is near and 7-Eleven is just around the corner. There’s also a Jollibee nearby.
Services And Staff
The Maxwell Hotel also has different services:
– 24-hour front desk
– 24-hour bell service
– 24-hour hotel security
– 24-hour standby generator
– 24-hour free parking for hotel guests
– Wi-Fi in hotel lobby
– Breakfast room service
– Room cleaning service
– Luggage storage (at the front desk)
– Safety deposit boxes (at the front desk)
They also offer what they best-effort basis services. These are provided by outsourced or third-party establishments and guests are required to have them requested via the front desk. These services are the following:
– Laundry services
– Massage services
– Car rental services
– Booking services (airplane tickets, boat tickets, city tours, island hopping, scuba diving, etc.)
Internet connection at The Maxwell Hotel is amazing. You can have a strong and fast Wi-Fi either in your room or in the guest lobby. If you are staying here and you have work to do that requires access to the web, their Internet is very reliable.
The hotel staff members are friendly and accommodating. With my experience, they rang me up in the morning and asked me if I wanted to have my breakfast served in bed or if I wanted to go directly to Philippine School of Culinary Arts to have one, which is located at the next building a couple of steps away from the hotel.
Food
Aside from having lunch or dinner at the Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly, your breakfast will be served by the aspiring chefs and bakers at the Philippine School of Culinary Arts.
The Philippine School of Culinary Arts (PSCA) offers a wide variety of breakfast menu. They have American breakfast with bacon and pancakes, with added scrambled eggs. If you like Filipino-style breakfast, they also offer deep fried boneless bangus, garlic rice, and poached eggs with slices of fresh tomatoes.
At night, you can hang at the Ola Resto Bar and Café. It is located in the front area of the hotel building. When I was there, I had a little bit of a struggle because it’s a weekend and the place was easily packed with the crowd (majority are workers from the neighboring offices and patrons). So, my friend and I have coffee instead at the outdoor coffee shop which has the best view of the busy street of Escario.
Overall Experience
I enjoyed my overnight stay at The Maxwell Hotel. Considering it’s a business hotel and you are supposed to stay in your room after a long day of attending a conference and seminar, or you travel to Cebu for a short trip, the accommodation is worthwhile and comfortable.
The hotel offers services like food, massage, and more. However, if you want to go out and enjoy the night, you can drop by the Ola Resto Bar for a glass of wine or a bottle of cold beer. If not, other places are nearby that offer something to nibble and to drink. A Starbucks is even right across the street.
The food at the Cebu’s Original Lechon Belly is good, however, it is somehow limited (during my stay) and the breakfast at the Philippine School of Culinary Arts is amazing. The coffee at the Ola Resto Bar is nice and the outdoor cafe is relaxing with the view of Escario. It’s a little pricey though but still within the budget.
The room where I stayed is very clean and comfortable. The big window with the view of the street is a plus; it gives you a glimpse of the sunrise when it’s already morning. The downside is when N. Escario Street is busy, you can hear cars from the heavy traffic. But when it subsided, everything is quiet for a good night sleep.
The toilet and shower are also clean and spacious. It doesn’t have a bathtub, which is ideal to have a relaxing bath after the long day of work attending a seminar or strolling the city. However, this does not sacrifice the comfortability of what The Maxwell Hotel can offer.
The N. Escario Street can be very busy at times. This tells you that transportation is very accessible and public transport vehicles are always available, at all times. This can happen during rush hours when people travel to and from work, which is normal to any city you can visit. Otherwise, N. Escario Street is calm and the area is peaceful.
My overnight stay at The Maxwell Hotel is good and I enjoyed watching Netflix and updated my blog that I stayed awake until 3AM because the Internet connection is fast and stable. I was sound asleep in bed and was able to wake up early for breakfast the next day.
To know more about The Maxwell Hotel and their promos, visit their website at www.maxwellhotelcebu.com today.
To get discounted rates for room accommodations, check promo price here.
If you want to read more hotel reviews in the future, follow my social media pages on Facebook and on Twitter. You can also check random photos on my Instagram.
The Maxwell Hotel
₱1,800.00
Pros
- The hotel is very clean and relaxing
- Very accessible and hotel is near business and leisure strips
- Hotel staff members are welcoming and attentive
- The price for accommodation is affordable (with complimentary breakfast)
- Guest room is spacious and relaxing; Internet connection is very stable and fast
Cons
- N. Escario Street can sometimes have heavy traffic (during rush hours)
- No bathtub available
- Food choices at Cebu's Original Lechon Belly is limited
- No swimming pool
- Ola Resto Bar is a little pricey and very crowded during weekends