Friday, January 5, 2018

Christmas staycation at The Bellevue Manila

Ever since I got married, Christmas Eve has been spent at my in-laws where my MIL always cooks up a storm. We always have mass on December 24 which starts at 8pm, and then we have dinner after. Then, we wait until midnight to open presents!

However, both my in-laws and my mom happened to be in the States for Christmas, so hubby and I were going to be orphans lol! We just decided to book a staycation, which is one of our favorite things to do with the kids, so we could celebrate a little differently.

I think we've tried almost all the hotels in the south already, except The Bellevue Manila and Vivere. And when I looked for holiday promos, I ended up booking with Bellevue since they had a great deal.



They had a "Holi-Deal" Offer and I booked 2 Tower Deluxe Rooms for P6,111 each (all-in), since my sister and brother-in-law were joining us, as well as our 2 yayas.

Buffet breakfast was included as well as the ff:
- Php300 worth of food and beverage credits (excluding Hatsune and In-Room Dining)
- Special Gift
- 20% Discount on F&B bill: excluding Pastry Corner, Hatsune and In-Room Dining. 
- 10% discount on Azurea Spa: Special perk for booking directly from our website.
- 10% discount on Laundry Service: Special perk for booking directly from our website.
- Free Access to PressReader: Digital Newspaper
- Free Parking
- Free Shuttle Service to nearby Alabang commercial and financial districts
- Free WIFI Access
- Use of Pool and Gym
- Waived Charge at Vue Bar: Waived Minimum Charge at Vue Bar
- Welcome Fruit Platter
- Welcome Drinks

The Bellevue has 2 wings, the Main Wing and the Tower Wing. I was told the rooms at the Tower Wing were newer, which is why they were also more expensive by about P1k. I got the Tower Deluxe Room which has a choice of 1 king or 2 queen beds. I requested for rooms with 2 queen beds and if possible adjoining.

However, I called the morning of our check-in and was told they didn't have any more rooms with queen beds. So they just upgraded me to the next room category which had a king bed, and they will just put an extra bed free of charge. YAY! The rooms were nice and big but they were located on opposite ends of the corridor which was a bit of a workout lol!

Anyway, here was the first room which we stayed at. You'll see later, the layout of the bathroom area is a bit different from the other room.



As you can see, there's a glass wall for the bathroom, but there's blinds naman for privacy.


The bathroom was gorgeous, with a bathtub and separate shower.



My only issue with this layout was this part only had a sliding door with no lock, so the kids kept opening it even when someone was in the shower lol!



We also had a fantastic view of the pool from our window.


Here was the 2nd room which our yayas and my sister stayed in. The layout for the bathroom is different.


Instead of glass, the wall here is closed unliked in the other room. And the view from this room is not as nice. But everything else is the same.

bathroom
love the huge mirrors in the closet for selfies ;p
living area
small ref by the door

The pool at the Tower Wing was nice but it was so cold!

kiddie area
there were also some koi fish

There was also another pool at the Main Wing which we just checked out. It was also nice, but if you are staying at the Tower Wing, it would be quite a hassle going here since you have to cross the lobby and go up the elevators again.


Anyway, it was our first time ever to stay at a hotel for Christmas and I didn't expect so much people to be doing the same. I thought mostly everyone would just be spending it at home with their families haha. We planned on eating at Phoenix Court, the in-house Chinese restaurant, but when I called to make a reservation after checking-in, they were fully booked na daw! We just decided to eat later than usual, at about 8:30pm and they had available tables na naman. We also got 20% off our bill as hotel guests.

After dinner, we took pictures at the lobby by the Christmas tree.


with my sister, kids, and our yayas
hubby and his youngest brother, galit na daw sila sa tagal ng photoshoot namin LOL!
we even saw Santa roaming around the lobby; kids weren't that happy though haha

Then, it was finally time to open presents! The kids were getting nervous at first because they didn't see any gifts daw. Of course we hid it well! I couldn't bring all their gifts since it was definitely a lot (and ang bulky!), I just brought 2 each so that they'll have something to open on Christmas Eve.




And the little boy was so happy since he got the final lion to form his Voltron! Hubby bought all 5 at the same time but we've been giving him each lion separately before Christmas as prizes for good grades, etc. And now it's complete! But in reality, I think Daddy really bought this toy for himself haha! ;p


The next day, the kids were surprised to find more gifts from Santa (and may letter pa)! Ang dami lang questions like how did Santa know we were there, and diba may CCTV un hotel? So may footage daw dapat lol! ;p


Buffet breakfast was served in the Main Ballroom since obviously they had so much guests.

puto bumbong!

And our package had P300 worth of food and beverage credits (so P600 since we had 2 rooms). We just bought cheese rolls and ensaymada at the Pastry Corner located at the Main Wing.

Pastry Corner

Overall, I loved our first Christmas staycation experience. Everything was so festive in the hotel. The promo I got was super sulit too considering the price and inclusions. I also liked how they had free cancellation up to 2 days before, and you will only be charged at the hotel already. However, I just realized there was no "Special Gift" given which was part of the package. And I had to ask for the welcome fruit platter, and was just given 2 apples and an orange late in the afternoon. But it's ok, I'll definitely still come back here at Bellevue next time for another staycation. :)


The Bellevue Manila
North Bridgeway, 
Filinvest City, Alabang, 
Muntinlupa, Philippines 1781 
t: (+632) 771-8181 
e: tbmnl@thebellevue.com 
w:www.thebellevuemanila.com 

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