General Santos Homestays

The rooms are comfy enough, and the A/C, though box type, is not too noisy. Breakfast is OK, and airport pickups are cheaper than a taxi. But... P2800 for the cheapest room is daylight robbery, and you even have to pay P350 extra per night for a fridge. You don't get hand towels, only bath towels. There's no room safe. And both TV (Sky) and wifi (PLDT) are absolutely awful. The TV channels keep breaking up and are almost unwatchable, and the wifi is extremely slow and keeps dropping out completely for minutes at a time. If you stay at this hotel you will end up using your mobile data just to avoid being driven mad by connection dropouts. The in-house wifi won't even load Wikipedia. What is it about Gensan hotels that stops them providing usable wifi? The Royale Hotel wifi is terrible, the Greenleaf wifi is terrible, the Grand Summit wifi is terrible. The only (just about) usable wifi is at the Microtel (which has awful breakfasts and is also seriously overpriced). I come to Gensan several times a year, and now I just resign myself to using massive amounts of mobile data every time I come. Gensan hotels, you are holding your city back.

This review is based on the premier room which is P4990/night. The room was basically OK with plenty of storage space and a big desk (but no spare power sockets anywhere near it). The sofa was torn in several places. The wifi was reliable but only about 8mbps. The king bed was actually 2 single beds with a ridge in the middle. The TV signal was bad and the picture kept breaking up. The room curtains don't shut out the light because the A/C unit is too big and gets in the way, and the windows are not double-glazed so the traffic noise is seriously loud. But the worst thing about the room was the bathroom, which was tiny and impractical. There are no spare shelves to put your toiletries, and the shower design causes water to flow all over the bathroom floor. To see the room service menu you have to scan a QR code, but the hotel's website is broken so that doesn't work and you have to get someone to bring the menu to your room. Breakfast was poor quality (pizza? really?) and the breakfast room doesn't seat enough people so you end up waiting around for a table. No fresh juices, only sugar-packed artificial stuff. I saw an espresso machine after breakfast but wasn't offered this choice when seated. Overall, the Avior is extremely disappointing (everything looks pretty but is very badly designed) and I won't use it again. It's definitely way, way overpriced. The premier room is worth maybe P2000/night, no more. I dread to think what the standard rooms are like.

I took a suite for a few nights (P3600/night) and, while calling it a suite is definitely a stretch, it does have a kitchenette and a separate day bed and window seat as well as the main bed. And despite the room being near the lobby, it was quiet at night. The room (in fact the whole hotel) is a bit dated - oak veneer and cream paint everywhere - and there are quirks (ceiling fan with no wall switch, kitchenette worktop light that won't switch off unless you reach in and unplug it). On the plus side, the bed is comfy and the A/C is quiet. There's a table and chairs as well as a desk, and plenty of storage including a laptop safe. The bathroom is small but has everything you need. The wifi, which is normally terrible in Gensan hotels, is actually good (60mbps, not many dropouts). Way better than the Greenleaf, Avior, East Asia and Grand Summit. The buffet breakfast is fine, though sometimes there's irritating background music in the breakfast room. Overall the Microtel is still a decent budget option and staff are courteous and helpful.

I booked a king suite with them and when it came time to go I was informed that the king suite was no longer available! With a ”no refund” policy in place, they took my money for a room the didn't even have! So they were willing to pay for my stay at a couple of nearby hotels instead. Both were worse dumps than this one. In their behalf, they were willing to work with me and we settled on a future stay at their hotel in a king suite. The room was not very big for a ”king” suite. TV reception was poor and the Wifi was abysmal. They don't have their own restaurant, instead using the one downstairs located in the little mini mall where they are located. It didn't offer much but it was OK for a quick bite before leaving for the airport. There is a bigger mall across the street, however half of that mall is closed due to a fire resulting from a previous earthquake. There is a 24hr convenience store located in their mini mall for snacks and drinks. I would have expected more for the money, but then this is the Philippines and anyone who has ever read Dickens could learn a ”great” deal about ”expectations”. Ha! (sorry, couldn't resist)

If you want a place just for the night - RSG microhotel will do. It is very affordable and the room is adequate. No luxury here. A few parking spaces available for private vehicles and commuter vans. Big buses will not be able to park here. Can be booked online. I was not asked what I wanted for breakfast - something which I found rather strange. However, I believe I could have specified what I wanted for breakfast. Just do not know if there would be additional charges for it. The hotel would do better if they improved the road leading to the hotel and if they placed a more prominent sign along the road to inform visitors where to enter.