Came earlier this week to have dinner at Rima and also check out the resort for future trips to Boracay. I was choosing between Shangri-La and the nearby Crimson Resort for this trip but ended up going with Crimson because it’s much newer (built in 2018 vs. built in 2009), and I am so glad I chose Crimson. The good reviews here seem to be from people who don’t regularly stay at luxury properties worldwide, and decided to splurge on the Shangri-La Boracay for a special occasion like an anniversary or honeymoon. If you fall in this category, I would advise you to spend your splurge booking elsewhere because you are being shortchanged. I don't typically leave bad hotels reviews as I prefer to focus on celebrating hotels that exceed expectations, but this place left a very bad taste in my mouth. First impression is that the Shangri-La is far past its prime, just a very gloomy and dilapidated feeling that needs to be remedied urgently with a thorough round of renovations, especially at the prices they’re charging for their rooms. The grounds are also much larger than you’d expect, which I personally am not a fan of because this means having to wait for a buggy to go anywhere. If you enjoy that secluded vibe, perhaps this aspect might not be a problem for you. What truly knocked this review down a huge notch, was the resort staff, and especially the security team. Walking into the lobby, you are not warmly greeted by reception staff like you would be at any other half-decent resort. Instead, they were entirely nonchalant, and I was then confronted by their security personnel with a brusque and unfriendly, “How can I help you?”. I understand that it is important to make sure that the grounds are kept safe and perhaps security might be a big issue at this resort (yikes...), but I am a very seasoned traveler with membership tiers of at least Platinum or higher at the big loyalty programs (and while Shangri-La isn’t usually my top choice for hotels, I am still a Jade member at Shangri-La Circle), and in none of the 5/6-star hotels or other Shangri-La properties I’ve been to either as a hotel guest or simply as a visitor was I interrogated as often as I was than at Shangri-La Boracay. I’d already told the security personnel at the lobby that I was here for dinner at Rima, and wanted to take a look at the resort before I went for my dinner. Somehow, he still chose to tail me around the resort like I was some dangerous fugitive, constantly asking me what I was doing there, and acted like he was escorting a contagious patient to quarantine when he corralled me to the restaurant. Not only that, almost every staff member I ran into kept asking me what my room number was, which would have annoyed me immensely if I were a hotel guest here to relax. When I told them I wasn’t a hotel guest, they would then ask what hotel I was staying in. How is the hotel I’m staying in relevant? If I wasn’t staying in another 5-star resort on the island, would they have treated me even worse perhaps? I am a well-dressed, well-spoken, petite 5'3" woman in my 30s, so it wasn’t as if I looked like some unkempt thug or rowdy teenager who wandered in off the street. What kind of security threat could I possibly have posed? How was any of this necessary at all? If the resort was at maximum capacity, I could maybe understand that they didn’t want outside guests walking around and crowding up the place, but the resort was practically empty, which says a lot in itself. I was literally the only diner at Rima when I got there. Needless to say, I will not be staying at the Shangri-La Boracay on my next trip to the island, and am perfectly happy to rebook at Crimson. I had some friends visit me at Crimson during my stay, and not once were they made to feel unwelcome by the Crimson staff despite the staff not knowing they were my guests until they saw me with them. That, is proper 5-star service. Shangri-La Boracay would do well to train its staff better to recognize what a suspicious person actually looks like, rather than harass a potential guest who was there to dine at one of their restaurants. Overall it seems that the staff have gotten far too complacent that Shangri-La is the only big name resort on the island, and have developed a very unwarranted "better-than-thou" arrogance about it. Higher price does not equate to better experience in this instance. The second star is only because the food and service at Rima was fine, and they had decent vegetarian options. The restaurant staff actually invited me to come back again to try more items on their menu, but considering my experience simply walking around the resort, I highly doubt I’ll do that.…