Negatives first on the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan – I emailed the hotel and asked if it’s walkable from the airport and they said yes from Terminal 2, so since we were arriving at Terminal 1 I said we’d get there free airport shuttle now knowing exactly how far it was from the airport exactly. Our flight was over 2 hours late, emailed them before taking off and mentioned this and they sent an email back asking how late, like they thought I was air traffic control in Hong Kong. I stupidly thought that being an airport hotel, they would keep track of flights on the thousands of apps or websites that track flights. In addition to this, being by the airport you would think they might be experienced in following flights for people landing.
When arriving at Cebu Airport, getting through immigration and customs was quick, thanks to the Apec card (even without one the line wasn’t that big), but when we got out there was nobody holding up a sign or waiting as promised by the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan. Decided to walk over to the hotel as you can see the neon sign and didn’t look far, so not a big deal, and if I had known it was a long par 5 from either terminal, we’d have just walked. So, forget about the shuttle, it’s a waste of time, and based on our experience, a bit of a lottery if the actually show up or not.
Took a slight wrong way trying to find the hotel, but just stay on the main road and you can see a car park entrance, not that easy in the dark but if you have any sense of direction and common sense you’ll find it. It’s a 5 minute walk, have to walk across one road, even if you have multiple heavy suitcases, unless you’re a princess, you shouldn’t have a problem finding Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan. When out of terminal, turn right and you can see the sign on top of the hotel.
Got to the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan, mentioned to the staff about the transfer and there was no apology, no comment at all, bit like they couldn’t give a flying fuck despite the fact I had booked it and nobody showed up. Presume this is a regular occurence based on their response, or lack of. Check in took about 10-15 minutes, not the fastest in the world and not the slowest.
The Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan is a bit like something you’d find in China, a rather lame attempt at decadence that has gone wrong. I’ve seen worse, and nothing really to complain about. It was late when we got there so we just went straight to sleep. Oh, I booked an Ambassador Room on the web, (cheapest available), and got upgraded to a suite arrival, maybe this was their apology for the driver no showing at the airport. Regardless, although the upgrade was nice it was basically useless because we had to get up at 7 in the morning.
The room at Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan was large, separate living room, bathroom and bedroom. Everything was fine, just like you’d expect a 4 star hotel to be like in the Philippines. Bed was large and reasonably comfortable. Had a shower in the morning and this was a bit disappointing. More than a trickle and just enough to wash soap of your body. Otherwise bathroom was good, large and clean.
Breakfast at Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan started at 6a.m, typical asian 4 star resort breakfast, good service, okay egg station with the mandatory shit bacon and coldish not very good hash browns. They also had some fruit, cereal, salads, bread. All okay and perfectly acceptable for a 1 night stay. If you had to stay any longer it wouldn’t be great but for a stopover it was totally fine and if I had to do a one night stopover in Cebu again, I’d have no problems staying at the Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan.
Check out took about 10-15 minutes, same as check in. Overall the staff were friendly and polite, helpful and no issues there. Organised a taxi to go to Cebu Pier 1 to Bohol, which took about 30 minutes (read about getting the Cebu-Bohol ferry here). For a 1 night stay, the hotel is fine, nothing great but not much to complain about and even if you’re used to 5 star hotels and resorts, apart from the water pressure in the shower, you should be fine here.
I’d stay here again and if you need to stay 1 night either for a connecting flight or for the ferry to Bohol or any other of the surrounding islands, this hotel is more than fine. Just don’t expect absolute luxury. It’s cheap and relatively cheerful, just don’t expect too much and you’ll be fine here. I booked it directly with the hotel but you can also book it on booking.com or anything similar. For more info about the hotel contact us either on Twitter or via email and be sure to check out our Bohol travel advice for kids and families.
