This was arranged for us from Manila by a travel agent. This is the worst place I have ever stayed. And I have stayed in places that range from $7/night hostels in South Africa to the suite at the Four Seasons in Miami. Upon arrival, the outside looked nice enough with the pool and reception area. To get to our room, we had to walk down a dark hallway reminicient of "The Shinning." Once we got to our room, it was dark, dirty, had ants and bugs and the toilet was broken. The bathroom was so dirty. The walls were splattered with god know what and there were holes in the ceiling. The mirror apparently fell off and they didnt bother to replace it. i asked if we could be moved, but the hotel was apparently fully booked with no rooms. We figured, as long as they fix the toilet, we could live with it. They were able to fix the toilet, but at about 11 pm the air con went bonkers. making a horrible noise and just stopped working. the room was hotter than outside. I tried to call the front desk. Not working. No answer for like 10 mins. I had to get dressed, walk down the scary dark hallway to the reception area. I let her know that no one was answering the phone. She then told me the numbers they had written on the phones are not the numbers for the front desk. HELLO??? Why would they do that? Anyway, she wrote the correct numbers for the front desk for me on a piece of paper. Thank you. I proceeded to tell her what was going on with the air con and how it was broken. They sent numerous people into our room to try and fix it, because as they kept telling me: the hotel was booked with no rooms. After about an hour of people in and out of my room trying to fix the darn thing I got fed up and tried to call the front desk again, using the new numbers she gave me. Once again, not answering. I had to make a trek to the front desk again. I let her know the phone again was not working. She asked me to go upstairs and try again. I could not believe her! This phone or the phone in the room is broken. I told her I would not stay in a room without air conditioning. I told her I paid for an air con room. she just stared blankly at me and kept repeating to me the hotel was fully booked and no rooms were available. I finally told her I paid for an air con room as they advertised right there in the front lobby, which I pointed out to her, in cash (as they strongly discourage credit cards) and I wanted what I paid for. Again, "no rooms" I then became really upset and insisted they either give me back my money or put me in another hotel that did have available rooms with the same amenities La Carmela said it provides. The whole time I was pretty calm, never raising my voice. Trying to make her understand we could not sleep in a room that was not only hotter than outside, but whose air con was making a racket, even when turned off. When she again only offered the "no rooms" line, I lost it. I didn't scream, but I did raise my voice so others waiting there to check in could hear exactly what I was saying. About the dirty rooms, broken toilets, air con and the deck -- i wont even go into the deck situation. I demanded my money back. She disappeared into another room, came back about 30 seconds later and slide a key across to me. She never said a word. A new room suddenly became available. We moved and it was glorious. Still down the dark dingy hallway, but the aircon worked and the toilet flushed and we were able to sleep. The next day, after jet skiing, we returned to the room only to realize the whole floor in the room was flooded. Thank god we had everything either up on the desk on on the bed. When I called down to the front desk, I got no rooms. I went ballistic! Shortly after, we got a knock on the door from one of the maids saying they were moving us up to a suite. Woohoo. To the 3rd floor. Near the front of the building (no more dark scary long hallway). Although it was no where near the standards of a Motel 6, I realized how horrible the other rooms we previously had were. Room was fine, until...yup, you guessed it...the shower was broken. I just could not believe this hotel. Another 2 calls and 3 visits from the handyman and an hour later, it was fixed. NEVER EVER STAY at this hotel. There were hotels and huts right next door that were cheaper and way better. They are also underconstruction. They start at 6 AM. So don't bother trying to sleep in. Oh and one last thing: we tried to order room service from the 2 page ALL DAY Menu. I am talking 2 pages of food and drinks and desserts. Everytime I tried to order something, I was told they were all out. After trying about 5 items, she finally said "all we have on the menu is Tuna sandwich." I asked "then why do you call it an ALL DAY Menu?" All I got was a giggle as a response. How's that for customer service?

Myself and my girlfriend stayed at the hotel from Mar 17 thru Mar 23. The place has more negatives than positives.

Negatives:

1. The place is too high priced for what you are paying for during peak season. There are many cabins, cabanas, and other higher quality resorts available on the beach for much less.
2. The place is more a Filipino style hotel. If ya had a group of people to share a room it is OK.
3. The place is too noisy. While there, there was a TV production company and a movie company staying there and it was quite noisy.
4. There are too many vendors hanging out side the hotel entrance. It really sucks when ya go for a stroll and get asked everyday by the vendors for boat trips, buy sun glasses, buy pearls, buy fish, etc. Apparently the manager does not care about guest being hassled. On average there were about 15 - 20 vendors hanging out there daily,
5. The beach front in front of the hotel is dirty, there are not enough beach lounges for guest.
6. Security guards and the managment do not stop vendors from bothering you on the beach.

Positives:

1. Free breakfast buffet every morning
2. Location on the beach is OK. Makes for a good long stroll to the end of the beach where Fridays is located.
3. Great dinner buffet.
4. Friendly staff.

Overall I would not recommend anybody stay at this hotel. There are many other, nicer places to stay. I am going back to Bora in June and will be staying at the Boracay Beach Chalets in the Suite with a patio looking right onto the beach.

I look forward to the managers reply to my review.

This is the worst hotel ever that we stayed!
I came to know this hotel thru my officemate and she said that the hotel is ok. Searched the net for the site and looked ok.
We made the booking as early as 1st week of January and paid full amount for 3d2n for 2 rooms inclusive of transfer on Jan25th. Called 4x for our confirmation booking and the staffs that I spoked to are not aware of our booking. 2 days prior to our departure, i called again to check if they already made the arrangements, but to my dismay thay didnt made the arrangements. Good thing I called to check.
Upon arrival, we were given the new rooms with lacking or not functioning facilities with paint smell and construction. We requested for change of rooms, we were given the worst room, drainage and sink not working resulting to flooding. Heater also not working. Almost whole day of construction noise, as early as 7am!!!! They should be responsible enough to think the welfare of their guests! Foul smell of the CR. We complained abt this at the reception area but they did not respond. On our 2nd night, we received phone calls at around 130am. to 530am. Someone is also knocking our door and ringing the doorbell every now and then. We called the reception area to ask their security to check on this matter but the call and the riging of our doorbell still pursued. The next day we talked to the manager abt this and he only offered us to transfer to another room. Too late since we are about to leave that afternoon. The manager Mr. Perez is not accomodating at all. Really a traumatic experience for us! Not worth your money and not worth staying!

This place was quite a disappointment. In fact we spent much of our vacation eyeing up other hotels, comparing prices and wishing we had stayed elsewhere. We even checked out 2 days early to spend the remainder of our stay at a romantic little place we found.
To sum up, the place was very shabby. Linens were very poor quality, beds uncomfortable. The general standard of service was poor, and the location was unpleasant - on the shabbiest part of the beach, with lots of vendors. And there was something unmentionable floating in the pool and when we mentioned it to the staff they only laughed!
We did a little research and found so many nicer places for the same price or even less, so don't bother with this one. We will be back but not to La Carmela.