We stayed for 5 nights in June 2008. We booked through a local agent who recommended this resort. Its been 8 years since my family’s last trip to Boracay so I was now unfamiliar with the new resorts. Two Seasons is located in between Seawind and Discovery Shores.

We stayed in a deluxe grand room with a King and a Queen bed. It was comfortable for even a family of 5. (We were 4 to our room, and my son was booked in another room with my single brother but slept with us some nights). Other friends stayed in a deluxe room and a superior room. Deluxe rooms are located on the ground floor, with bigger bathrooms than the superior rooms on the second floor but the superior rooms had a small balcony overlooking the resort building next door, which isn’t much to look at.

Ground floor rooms open directly to the hallway which has a Koi pond bordered by Japanese bamboo, running through the length of it. This same hallway is also the entrance to the resort so if you are easily bothered by sound, this may be a problem, though we didn’t hear anything when we were there except on our 4th morning, (thankfully just a day before our departure). Several families with children checked in the pool access rooms beside us, and the whole gang of them invaded the pool playing & screaming starting very early in the morning. I don’t usually get bothered by a little noise. I survived and even enjoyed our apartment rental in Madrid last year (which I never got to write a review of. So many reviews to write, so little time…) which was over a busy pedestrian street near Plaza Mayor where people were walking by till early morning. So my noise tolerance level is quite high. However, in this particular situation, it was screaming to the top of their lungs, and not just by one but by a multitude of children, and not only children but with the adults joining in to reprimand, to holler instructions, etc. I called reception to ask the guests to please tone down their voices because people were still asleep and we were getting bothered. It continued till midday and I gave up sleeping long before that. When I went to take my breakfast, the receptionist came to me very apologetic. I told her it wasn’t her fault. Some people are just not sensitive enough, and not well mannered enough, and it carries over to the children. Thankfully, as I said, we were leaving the next day, and I didn’t allow the experience to ruin my vacation.

Two Seasons looks exactly as it does in the website photos. We were all very happy with the rooms we chose. I had a chance to see their Suite Heaven and it was something else, with the small infinity pool facing the ocean. But I personally wouldn’t pay the price for the room. Its just me. Many people actually book it.

On service. I am not a very demanding sort of guest. I am quite easy to please. However, I found the staff not very well trained and at times sort of rude. For instance, one night, when they came to turn down, we were getting dressed for dinner so I told them to come back after an hour. They came back after 10 minutes and I said to come back in 50 minutes as agreed because we were not yet done. They came back a third time, and by the 4th time, still way before the 1 hour, they gave us the cookies for our bed, which meant they weren’t coming to turn down anymore and they were simply giving us our “ration” of cookies. Oh well…

I also lost some things like my dental floss in the bathroom and my handcream on the bedside night table. I don’t think they were stolen because they are not really the types of things one would steal. I looked all over the room, under the bed, everywhere. I needed that handcream because I buy it specially from the US as I am allergic to any other kind. And it was the only tube I brought for the trip. The dental floss was easily replaceable. They were just there 1 night, and the next day when we came back to our room after they had made it up, they were gone. I think it is due to the lack of training of the staff that perhaps it accidentally fell and they took it out as part of the trash, or maybe while they were changing the bedsheets it fell in with the sheets, or something like that. In all my years of staying in many resorts & hotels worldwide, I have never experienced losing anything from the room. I know hotel staff are supposed to be trained not to throw away anything of a personal nature, that a guest leaves lying around on the desk or anywhere in the room. They merely arrange your things but are careful not to take away or throw away anything, no matter how insignificant looking.

On our third morning, we had forgotten our breakfast coupons in the room. So when the waiter asked for them, my husband went back to the room to get the breakfast coupons for the 4 of us (my brother and my son had theirs). While my 3 kids proceeded to the buffet table with my brother, I sat waiting for my husband so we could get our food together. The waiter came back again and asked for the coupons. I told him my husband was just getting them. Apparently, my husband got stuck for a while chatting with our friends as he passed their room, so when the kids came back with their plates from the buffet table, the same waiter approached us a third time asking for the coupons, making us feel very unwelcome at the buffet. This was our third day, and by this time, they knew us already as resort guests. ALL the waiters knew us as we had taken many meals here (all breakfasts and some snacks and lunch) and they knew we had coupons enough for all of us, 4 in the grand deluxe room and 2 for my brother’s superior room. And I particularly knew this waiter by face already so I felt his action was unnecessary and so very unwelcoming. It wasn’t as if we would cheat our way through breakfast!

Another issue was on the last day, we came from swimming and found they had taken out all the towels in the bathroom without leaving any fresh ones. We called to request for the towels and they brought us 4 bath towels & 4 handtowels, without the usual 4 face towels. They said they would bring it in later. We didn't mind as we didn't really need the face towels and it was our last day. They did not supply us the face towels that night as they said they would. This wouldn’t have been an issue, but upon check out, they charged us for the 4 "missing" face towels. I was a bit irritated at this point and calmly explained to them, that they failed to supply us with towels the day before and I had to call in to request and even then, they did not give us the full supply of towels. They called housekeeping, and the housekeeping staff later apologized for the misunderstanding. But I was quite put off by this experience.

The restaurant served good food. Guests from other resorts, even from nearby Discovery Shores actually come to their restaurant for lunch or snacks. It was convenient to have a good on-sight restaurant for those times we were lazy to go out especially during lunch but at night, we always went out to try a new place.

Two Seasons provided beach towels for their guests. The beachfront of Two Seasons is pretty but quite narrow, as you can see on the website. Wide Boracay beachfronts are a rarity now. The best beachfronts in my opinion are still Friday’s and Seawind, but Seawind rooms on the beach side are old already, see my comments below. One comment on the beachfront of Two Seasons: I found they did not rake off the leaves or trash as frequently as they should. This is another area where their personnel fails. I made a gentle comment to the guy at the towel station that they ought to rake their beachfront regularly and keep it clean and he said that they do. On several days, I noted it wasn’t as clean as the neighboring beaches of Discovery Shores and Seawind.

Has Boracay deteriorated after 8 years? It is still very very pretty, and very very photogenic, and Boracay is blessed with the calmest waters and whitest finest sands I’ve seen, but I am very sad to say yes, it has deteriorated significantly. In some areas, there was a very unpleasant stench. We arrived on a Monday, and when we swam, there was so much trash in the water: plastic wrappers, foil packaging, bottle caps, etc. Plastic trash would touch my body as I swam and it took away my enjoyment, even the kids were grossed out, that we promptly left the water. When I commented to the locals that the beach front is so dirty, they just shrugged off and said, it is only because of the tide. By Tuesday, the trash in the water had actually lessened and by Wednesday, practically gone. My theory is perhaps there’s more trash after the weekend because of the weekend crowd. And during the weekdays, it gets swept off into the ocean and since there are not too many people, the beach stays cleaner. (But then that trash still had to go somewhere...)The local government should really do something about the trash and sewer problem in Boracay. Inland is not a pretty sight at all with overcrowded structures, and more trash.

Will I stay in Two Seasons again? Value for money, I will probably come back to Two Seasons because they offer room comfort for almost the same price as other resorts who have much inferior room quality & comfort. I checked out many other resorts and it is hard to find good rooms in Boracay, unless you’re willing to pay extra for Discovery Shores or Fridays. They have a lot of improvement to do in the area of service, but the rooms are nice & well equipped, comfortable, with good beddings, good bathrooms. I can tolerate the service. As I said, I am easy to please, and I forgive easily.

I checked out my old favorite, Seawind, while I was there. And indeed the rooms at the beach side of the resort are beginning to look tired and I would not choose to stay here unless they did a major renovation. However, do note that they are still very clean. I liked the newest hilltop room of Seawind at the back of the property, It is very prettily decorated, with large modern bathrooms. If I don’t mind not being right on the beach next trip, I will stay in Seawind's hilltop room at the back across the street because I still like their wider, windier, shadier beachfront which will just be a walk away from the hilltop room. And my husband & I specially liked the newest room with the view of the mountain and a simple pool beside it surrounded by lush foliage. I personally need wide open space, more greens all around, and wind. And I need to see something out my window. I cannot stay too long in a small concrete space, especially when I'm on a beach vacation. The view from our deluxe grand room in Two Seasons was of the pool which was all concrete, geometric and modern and a single palm tree. However, my kids vote for Two Seasons because they like being right on the beach.