.jpg)
.jpg)
Synopsis
Arlyn's birthday was coming up. Time to go somewhere and celebrate!!
Summary
- Purpose: Arlyn's Birthday Trip
- Departure Date: August 24th, 2026 (Monday)
- Departure Location: Mandani Bay Tower 1, Mandaue City, Cebu
- Arrival Date: August 28th, 2026 (Friday)
- Arrival Location: Mandani Bay Tower 1, Mandaue City, Cebu
- Total Cost: ₱27,862.86
Map(s)
Narrative
May 2026
Arlyn sends me a link to an ad on Facebook for G Boutique Resort located at Santander, Cebu. I take a quick look at the advertisement and was impressed by what I saw. I save the link for future reference.
July 30, 2026
With Arlyn's birthday quickly approaching, I decide to visit G Boutique Resort (Website, Facebook, Google Maps) for her birthday. I send a message to G Boutique Resort via Facebook Messenger requesting availability during the week of August 24th, 2026. I was interested in the Premium Cabana as this was the only room that had a king-sized bed.
The resort responded almost immediately. They said the rate is ₱4,480/night (with a 20% promo) — that's for 2 guests and includes daily breakfast at G Bistro, an onsite restaurant. Included in the message was a link to a payment QR code. I clicked on the link and was prompted to send a payment of ₱18,189.00 from my bank account. I made the payment and notified them of the payment. They acknowledged the notification.
| Payee | Item | Cost | Form of Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| G Boutique Resort | Four nights with breakfast | ₱17,920.00 | Debit |
| G Boutique Resort | Bank Charge | ₱269.00 | Debit |
| Total | ₱18,189.00 | ||
August 16th, 2026
With Arlyn's birthday quickly approaching, I messaged G Boutique Resort to see if they can provide a birthday cake for Wednesday, August 26th. The following is the chat session that I had with G Boutique Resort.
With the cake handled, we were good to go.
August 23rd, 2026
With one day left before we leave for Santander, we fill up the Fortuner.
| Payee | Item | Cost | Form of Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| LNS Oil | 44.2 liters @ ₱85.80/liter | ₱3,681.86 | Cash |
| Total | ₱3,681.86 | ||
August 24th, 2026
After packing up the Fortuner, we leave Mandani Bay at 12:00 PM for Santander. After a couple of hours driving, we stop in the McDonalds in Carcar for a snack and bathroom break. We then return to the car and continue south.
While we were driving, my phone received a message via Messenger. It was from G Boutique Resort. The message came in at 2:13 PM.
At 2:30 PM, the following message was received.
Since I was driving at the time when the phone received the messages and because my phone is configured to not distract me from messages and phone calls while driving, I did not read the messages until later. In fact, I did not read the messages until we had arrived at G Boutique Resort at around 4:30 PM. I was a little frustrated by the lateness of the notification from G Boutique Resort concerning the birthday cake. I wished I was notified before we left Cebu City so I can make other arrangements.
We did our little check in process. I was handed a key. The desk clerk then pointed to a staircase that we had to take to get to the third floor and our room. The staircase was a narrow, steep staircase that wrapped around 135 degrees with very limited headroom and a railing that was incomplete. I turned back to the desk clerk and asked if there was a younger guy around that could assist us with our 50-pound suitcases. Fortunately, there was. The desk clerk called over a teenager that was sitting in the 'lobby' area on his phone. He picked up our bags, slung them over his head and hauled those suitcases up two flights of stairs with no trouble at all.
Using the physical key provided, I opened the door. The room was bright and inviting. There was a king-size bed (something Arlyn and I had been looking forward to), a desk, dresser, small refrigerator, TV, safe and couch. We rolled our bags into the room and closed and locked the door.
The bathroom was attached to the room but was located as an outside area, not air conditioned. There was a large replica of a claw foot tub in the bathroom that served as a hot tub with jets. There was a sink, toilet and shower. One wall was open to the outside with what could be best described as a balcony. A sheer curtain was the only protection from the outside. The room was hot and muggy as it was exposed to the outside environment.
We unpacked and settled in. We took a moment to relax after such a long drive. At around 5:30, we ventured down to the second floor where the G Bristro was located. We found some seats and were provided with menus. Like our bathroom, the G Bistro is exposed to the outside. We ordered our meals and drinks and then waited. And we waited. After 50 minutes, our drinks and meals were served.
All throughout the meal, we had to push away and remove two cats that hovered around us. They were not content with waiting until we were done. The grey cat, Ugly, was a little more patient. But the black cat, Puma, was very insistent. After we were done with our meals, we got up to leave, only to look back at the cats jumping onto our table to polish the plates.
We took our evening showers and settled in for the night.
| Payee | Item | Cost | Form of Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| McDonalds | Snack | ₱232.00 | Cash |
| G Boutiqe Resort | Baggage handling tip | ₱200.00 | Cash |
| Total | ₱432.00 | ||
August 25th, 2026
We spent the day at the beach at G Boutique Resort. After Arlyn got a good dose of vitamin sea while I hid in the shadows, we grabbed lunch at the G Bistro. After lunch, I had to find a bakery in Santander to find a birthday cake. There was a Julie's bakery in town. So we drove there and ordered a chocolate cake. While there, we bought some bread.
| Payee | Item | Cost | Form of Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julie's | Bakery | ₱600.00 | Cash |
| Total | ₱600.00 | ||
August 26th, 2026
It is Arlyn's birthday!!
We returned back to the beach and I flew the drone. The drone video can be found on YouTube.
After hanging out at the beach, we had to return to Julie's Bakery to pick up Arlyn birthday cake. While we were there, we picked up a few more bakery items.
For Arlyn's birthday dinner, we returned to the G Bistro. We were told that the cook had left and they did not have a backup. They can make a burger or egg meal, but that is about it. We were becoming very disappointed.
After dinner, I asked the staff for the owner's email address. Upon receiving the email address, I wrote an email to the owner stating our concerns.
|
To: [email protected] |
|
Hi Teza, I reserved and paid for our current stay on July 30, 2026. As I have done before in the past, I try to find a new town and resort to stay at for my wife's birthday (which is August 26th). This year, I found your property on Facebook and decided to stay at G Boutique. On August 16th, I used Messenger to request a birthday cake to be prepared for my wife. The response I received stated that a cake would be made available. It said: Our team can definitely arrange a cake for her dinner at G Bistro that evening. On August 24th, we began our drive from Mandaue City to Santander. Two hours into our drive, I received a text message from G Boutique. The message stated:
I wish I had been notified about the cake before leaving Cebu City so I could have made arrangements. I was able to locate a bakery in Santander, Julie's, that was able to accommodate our last minute cake request. Upon arriving at the room we were very surprised about some things about the room. Some of these things are minor while others caused great concern for me and my wife. I managed a Bed & Breakfast in northern California in my previous life. The hotel was called the McCloud Hotel and it was awarded the AAA Four Diamond rating. We worked very hard to achieve and maintain this rating. We appreciated all feedback that our guests left for us. This included the good, the bad and the ugly. This allowed us to address the issues quickly and professionally, keeping our guests as happy and satisfied as possible, and most importantly, returning for more. I will present to you our observations. You may do with them as you please. It seemed odd to have the bathroom outside the aircon area of the room. I have seen this only one other time in a resort in Panglao Island 19 years ago where the bathroom was not a part of the aircon room. The bathroom is a good size. The shower fixture was loose. When you move the shower, the whole fixture that is connected to the wall moves. It looks like there are some patches on the wall where someone tried to close the holes on the wall or tiles, but it was loose. We mentioned this to your staff and they did come and tightened up the fixture. It will, however, remain a problem. The shower drain does not flow very good. It was so slow we had to pause the shower to allow the drain to 'catch up' and wait for the water to flow. We found when we turned the drain, this temporarily fixed the problem. At one point, we removed the drain and a small crab, the size of finger nail, emerged from the open pipe. When the drain does not flow, the bathroom floor fills up quickly. Thank goodness there was a squeegee. A shower curtain would have deflected much of the water. A lip on the floor around the shower would prevent the water from flowing into the rest of the bathroom. The tile work in the bathroom is not very good and would benefit greatly from some attention. The desk on the right side of the bed is set too high. The refrigerator barely keeps drinks below room temperature. We found a lizard in our room on the first night. We found some ants in the bed. The bath towels were not completely clean as there was hair from previous user on the towels. Dining We selected your property because of the Bistro. We liked the fact that we did not need to venture out to find dining options in town. We looked forward to trying the food and drinks. On the evening of August 24, we ordered dinner and drinks. Both the drinks and dinner arrived together in 50 minutes. On the evening of August 25, we ordered dinner and drinks. The drinks arrived after 15 minutes. Dinner arrived 30 minutes later. On the evening of August 26 (my wife's birthday), we were told that the cook had to leave for an emergency. The back up cook can cook burgers or fish sandwiches or eggs. We were very disappointed. So we ordered our burger and eggs. This took another 45 minutes. Management On Tuesday, August 25, I sensed there was a need to talk to management. I asked the woman at the front desk who the manager was and requested to speak to that person. She said there was no manager, that there was nobody to talk to. Stairs Yes...your website does state that rooms must be accessed using stairs. However, I did not realize that the stairs were so steep with railings that do not extend all the way. Thank goodness there was a helper available to haul our bags up these stairs. Cats We love cats. We had a cat in California and several in E. Samar. However, having cats jump on our dining table while we are actively eating in the Bistro is not good. And observing cats on the bar counter where drinks are prepared has me very concerned. Construction There is a house being built in front of our bedroom window. Tonight, there are doing a concrete pour of the second level floor and it still continues at this hour. This looks like an all night event. They are using a mixer to create their concrete. Everything seems to have a layer of construction dust on it as a result of ongoing construction. Messaging It appears that you're utilizing an AI agent to respond to our messaging. Some of the responses from the AI agent are confusing and not consistent. Conclusion Your website boasted serene ocean waves, good food and vibes. We are disappointed. The property has great potential. There are some areas that need serious attention. I am open to discuss further if you wish. Regards, |
| Payee | Item | Cost | Form of Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Julie's | Bakery | ₱200.00 | Cash |
| Total | ₱200.00 | ||
The rest of our stay was pretty much the same. There was no change.
August 28th, 2026
We packed up our gear and requested assistance with our luggage down the staircases. We tipped the luggage handler and the G Bistro waitress. When it came time to pay for our meals, we were told that the owner waived the charges for the August 26th dinner (Arlyn's birthday). I paid ₱3,690.00 to cover the cost of the remaining meals.
We left G Boutique Resort at 9:40 AM. We had about a 4 1/2 hour drive. I wanted to get back through Cebu City before 3:00 PM when the traffic gets really bad. On the way home, we witnessed a motorcycle hitting a puppy. We also got to experience a police checkpoint that was checking driver's licenses. I made a video that captures some of the highlights from our drive home. It can be found on YouTube.
On our way home, we stopped at Abohan de Monteza in Talisay for Arlyn to pick up some food for dinner. We arrived at our condo home at 2:00 PM.
| Payee | Item | Cost | Form of Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| G Boutique Resort | Tips | ₱400.00 | Cash |
| G Boutique Resort | Meals | ₱3,690.00 | Cash |
| Abohan de Monteza | Meals | ₱670.00 | Cash |
| Total | ₱4,760.00 | ||