For its rate, the Lobby has served its puropose. It's nicely done. Unfortunately, the staff were not that friendly, they were accomodating so many guests at the time of my check-in. Could this be the reason of their unfriendliness, I am not that sure. They were very pre-occupied with so many papers, vouchers, receipts and whatsoever. There were times when the situation at the lobby has calmed down and yet you can still see long faces of the staffs. Just like some inputs here, the rate for government conventions etc. is very attractive. But the service has obviously suffered tremendously. A room can be old and yet clean! Yes the rooms are old and you can see it from the cabwebs hanging behind the furnitures. I was shocked upon seeing my room! No towels, no soap & shampoo. The exhaust in the bathroom does not function. The bathtub's drainage was also disfunctional-gross. I felt like I was in a cheap brothel, like those I see in some films(sorry for my impression). There was one friendly and polite boy who was responsible for the entire floor, he looked so stressed making up all the rooms on that day. He apologized for everything though, atleast the innocent looking boy has the real sense and understands the real meaning of customer service.

Royal Mandaya has a decent lobby upon entrance. The staff are quite friendly. The complimentary breakfast is ok.The rooms are decent size but are pretty dark and old looking. It's definitely not a modern style hotel.

Overall, you're not staying at a luxurious resort or a 4 star hotel (basing it on US standards). It's a hotel that gets the job done without many frills or much excitement.

Don't expect to be blown away by anything...but it's definitely not one of the worst places i've ever stayed at.

I had the unfortunate experience of having stayed at the Royal Mandaya twice in three weeks. I had no choice but to comply since it was management's mandate to use the said hotel.

It was great to have complimentary airport pick-up especially in such a large city like Davao. It was made more pleasant given the size of the mini-bus that they provided for us. The driver, Rey, was as efficient as he was courteous. Little did we know that this was the last time pleasant-ness would visit us with this hotel.

Check-in was a nightmare. Apparently, personnel of the Dept of Budget & Mgmt were simultaneously checking-out as we were being driven in.

More than seventy-five people were in the lobby, all clamoring to check-out from only four people at the Front Office. So close to eighty-five guests plus other visitors and staff were crammed into the lobby - and the lobby able to only accommodate seating for twelve people. This scenario was repeated during my last visit not 2 weeks ago, this time it was a hundred personnel of the Dept of Education checking out. The hotel is pretty cheap for its size hence the propensity for government bookings.

What particularly got my goat was the rudeness of one of the front office staffers who when asked face-to-face for a reasonable time for checking in not only ignored my question but turned away to talk to someone else without even a by-your-leave. This after her colleague told me an hour before that my room would be ready after thirty minutes. A senior staffer took my complaint but I felt she was just managing me without offering any concrete solutions. And while this was going on, another guest whose bath towel was stolen while at poolside was raising holy heck in the back-office. Score two for this hotel.

And a business center that closes at 5:30 P.M.!

The breakfast buffet was not any better with stale omelet and chafing dish after chafing dish of greasy hotdogs and sausages.

Location was the only saving grace for this hotel but not as good as that of Casa Leticia or Apo View Hotel.

I would not recommend this hotel to tourists or business men unless the guests wanted easier access to Hot Legs, this girlie bar across the street

When I visited Davao last June 2006, I had the misfortune of booking my mom and my brother to the Royal Mandaya Hotel since it is a little bit cheaper than the Marco Polo (where I stayed since I am on a business trip).

The hotel is impressive from the outside. The lobby is also beautiful. Staff are polite and very accommodating. And so we are expecting that my family's stay will be altogether pleasant.

But when the elevator opened, we were quite disappointed that the corridor on the way to their room is a bit dark. Carpets have stains as well as cigarette burns. When we entered the room, it was the same. Stained carpets (with cigarette burns as well), smell of cigarette smoke, and dirty walls. Not to mentioned the size of the room is a bit small.

I was so embarrased to my mom and my brother, granting that I haven't seen them for three years since I live overseas now. I immediately suggest that they should move to Marco Polo but they politely refused since I already paid for it and that they're just too excited to see me again.

So don't be fooled by the nice facade and lobby!