stayed there for 3days/2 nights. room is okay, clean and fully functional. the downside is really the hotel location itself. it's far from the main road.
hotel has private beach, and swimming pool. both are small. has two restaurant. had dinner at the one next to the pool. it's okay, decent food.
the worst part is the hotel staff. our flight back is late afternoon. so we requested for late check-out since the day before and i had to keep asking, because they coudn't confirm yes or no. this does not make sense, especially since the hotel is quite empty.
the hotel does have a dive shop, where you can arrange for island hopping, diving and snorkelling trip. we arranged for a dive trip from the shop. quite convenient, reaonable price.

What they say is true and it get worse. We stayed for 4 nights and 5 days. From Thurs-Mon (Jan 8-12, 2009). The hotel booked their weekends for private company party (for 400 guests) and informed the staying guest the night before the party. They didnt even bother to offer anything to compensate the noise. And then the next day they had another Homecoming party. The hotel was so expensive which was Ok if you get the service you expect. We voiced out our concerns with the "Guest Service" but we didnt get any response from the management even a single call from them. The staff are ok. The bathroom was clean. Needs a lot of improvement with their pool. The worse part was our last dinner made my husband sick and we need to posponed our flight and get another hotel to stay.

I think I will start with first impressions.
Driving there from the airport in the early morning. We approached a long single track road past a lot of shanty dwellings, arrived at a check point with a security guard then a further drive with wire fence and yet another security post, My wife quite concened as I had booked this part of the trip commented that it was a bit like entering a prison or concentration camp. However when we arrived in our room it was delightful, 4am, a fabulous room, a happy wife (so far!) and a great dawn view of the beach. It went rapidly downhill from there!
Breakfast was appalling (one thing I like about Asian hotel breakfasts (and I do like my breakfast!) is great variety of fresh fruits a good selection of western grub; not here! I had a choice of eggs flavourless plus burnt bacon, bread 2 or 3 choices with 2 tiny domestic toasters and a long queue! margarine, orange squash. Poorly trained staff. Get the picture?
Waiting and general staff were great though, very friendly, hotel was clean although the pool needs a serious repaint. Beach is like a 2nd world war dock with concrete walls surrounding a tiny beach, I assume to stop erosion but I am sure it could be made prettier; No chance of a tropical walk along the shore here! Very safe for kids though with gentle slope and they obviously can't get past the concrete.
Our room apparently was one of the best, the other rooms are quite dark and relatively small compared to ours, we had a smart large bathroom with interconnecting room to our daughters room.
Biggest problem however with this hotel is a total lack of a bar! 9.30 at night finished your meal you either drink in the restaurant or go to bed. Drinks are small and very expensive, spirits are tots out of a measure. Can't even stroll to another hotel or local village, effectively locked in!
So we guess the security guards were there to keep us in! We did manage to break out one night and sneaked a cab to the Shangri La hotel. Ah! now that is a real hotel with brilliant food and service, more expensive but worth every penny and a welcome feeling unlike the desk front at the Costabella who seem to fob all enquiries off to the guest clerk in another building and I don't think they smiled once except when we checked in.
From the food selection I suspect that the owners are catering mainly for clients from around the Far East and Westerners are an after thought.
So I would have given a mark of 2 for this place mainly for my room and the dive school which is excellent (shabby equipment though); but we travelled from there to Sutera Harbour resort in Kota Kinabalu which is a faultless real 4 star hotel (review to come as I am stil there!) so I have to give a 1 for this place. It is definetly not 4 star, and in my opinion struggles to make a 3 star, I wouldn't recommend it unless you want a quiet holiday with toddlers, not fussy with the food and liked staying in watching TV !

We've stayed in the Costabella Resort from 23 - 28th Dec. in a Poolside room. Due to the flight schedule we arrived at 7am in the morning and the staff made the effort to get us a room which is very much appreciated.

The room itself was large in size but as others commented before, rather depressing dark and the bathroom with the shower was clean but very dated. (Stone painted in green with the paint peeling off)

The beach was unusable - sludge and not deep enought to swim. But you can walk to the hotel pier and jump into the water from their which was enjoable.

The other areas such as the pool looked and felt dated. What really bothered me and left a bad after taste - that I wanted to invite some friends and family there to join me for lunch and was told by the hotel staff that they had to pay a hefty entrance fee to get into the resort. When I complained and wanted to speak to the hotel mananger or supervisior I was told they are either absent and on holiday. (during the top season). Insisting on my claim to be heard I was told that somebody would contact me. Well it never happened and I went to another resort to enjoy an afternoon with friends and family.

Overall I was rather disapointed looking at the price/service ratio. Especially that the resort is not cheaper then other places in Cebu.
Last advise - be careful with taxis. The hotel will not enforce a fair taxi code. So taxi drivers will charge around 3-4 times as much and not use their meter. Be prepared to get out and wait for the next one. Normally then the driver will half his demands.