{Review} Puerto Princesa Hotel Accommodation: Deep Forest Garden Inn

Hiya again, everyone!

Here is my next installment in my series of Puerto Princesa posts.This post will cover our stay at our choice of accommodation. And, that is Deep Forest Garden Inn.

Before I officially start, let me warn you that I am no professional at making reviews. But, I will try my best to give as much info possible which could help you guys out if you plan to go visit Puerto Princesa. :)

So, let's start...

So, next to being able to book a flight to Palawan, the first thing we searched for is accommodation. Of course, we would like to make sure that when we got there, we got a place to stay. After looking through many inns and hotels, we decided to go for Deep Forest Garden Inn.

Source: Deep Forest Garden Inn

See how beautiful the whole of Deep Forest Garden Inn is? Just one look and we were automatically drawn to it. The one thing we were looking for in our accommodation is a pool, since I was not so sure if there was a beach to go to or if I would be able to with BabyLove around. So, a pool was convenient.

Located in Palawan, the hotel is situated on the Abueg Road and only 3 minutes away from the airport. Boasting 18 well-appointed guestrooms and suites, all were tastefully furnished with wireless internet access, flat screen cable TV, air-conditioning, toiletries, and private bathroom with hot and cold shower. Guests can dine at the onsite restaurant where a variety of delicious cuisines are served. The services available onsite includes massage services, tours, car rental, and ticket reconfirmation services. Offering quality accommodation with excellent facilities, Deep Forest Garden Inn is an ideal place to stay during for a wonderful vacation in Puerto Princesa.

Room rates and room inclusions can be viewed here.

The room we got was a Deluxe Room (Php 1,900 per night) since it was the cheapest! Haha! Pretty understandable, right? :P

Booking

We booked straight from the website. We tried booking it at Agoda, thinking it was cheaper. However, upon summing up service charges and fees (if I am not mistaken), it still added up to the room rates. So, before you book straight from Agoda, make sure you check both rates from the site as well as the hotel's site (if available).

Facilities and Amenities

I loved the pool! Use of pool and jacuzzi is already included with the room rate. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to enjoy the pool that much because BabyLove is scared of pools or bodies of water larger than her small little tub here at home! Hahaha! I wanted to enjoy the chess pool, but unfortunately, was not able to. Haha! Oh well. Pool bar was also great. Pool was also kept very clean. Two thumbs up to that.

Room was always made up everyday. We always get back with a made up room.

Tours

Deep Forest Garden Inn actually has its own tour agency, Tourister. Of course, this should be convenient as we won't have any problems finding some other agency to book our tours by the time we got there. However, our experience was not so good when it comes to this agency. Below are the reasons:

1. After successfully booking our accommodation, they told us that they'd contact us within 24 hours to confirm our tour bookings. But, we did not receive any call, after 24 and so hours. We had to call them instead!
2. Emails were not clear. As in! We had to send so much emails before we got the answer we needed. 
3. A day before our flight, we called again to confirm our tours. And, they said that we just settle them on-site! How convenient, right?! 
4. When we got there, as expected, none of our tours are booked! To add to that, we have lost hope in the Underground River tour. Why? Well, they said that they (the agency) could not secure an environmental permit for us anymore since we should've done that a month before. And, we booked a month (or even more) before our flight! So, they told us that we had to get the permit ourselves, personal appearance! Goodness, that was their job!

We nearly had to take care of our tours ourselves! That was supposed to be their job, as we don't have that time to get the permit ourselves since we were only staying for a few days! 

Oh well, enough of the bad side. 

Luckily, during my Irawan Canopy Zipline tour, the agency in charge of that tour knew that I still haven't booked a tour for Underground River. And luckily, she offered their agency's service and mentioned that they will secure the permit for us! Yay! Problem solved!

Food

Unfortunately, the hotel does not include breakfast in their room package, so food was an extra expense. You can order from the hotel, though. It's a bit pricey, but trust me, food was great! And, servings were enough for two! If you aren't like me who eats a lot, then a plate would benefit 2 people! Nothing I could say about food. It was worth the price!

Transportation

Since Deep Forest Garden Inn was way off the downtown area, you can't just walk your way to groceries or restaurants. However, trikes are available within the vicinity of the hotel. It costs Php 60 for daytime, and Php 80 for 6pm onwards. But, if you hail a trike at downtown area, some would just charge you just Php 50, even during night time! They say that that is the normal rate that they should really charge you. ;) So, quick tip. Just note that this may not be a problem at the downtown area, but, I doubt that this would apply for trikes within the vicinity of the hotel or inn. ;)

Some side notes

This has nothing to do with accommodation, but I thought I'd share since I mentioned transportation. At the downtown area, we went to a grocery/department store called NCCC Department Store (if I am not mistaken). Do take note that they close at 7pm! Yes, even the food stall seen outside the department store close at that time. So, if you need to do some quick grocery shopping, make sure you make it earlier, or else it would close down before you know it! Haha! 

A Robinson's Place mall has just been recently constructed at Puerto Princesa, but it was far from where we were staying. 

There isn't any but one coffee place at Puerto Princesa called Itoy's Coffee Shop. We were craving for coffee, but we only knew about the place a day before we went home. :( No Starbucks, no other coffee shops other than that. So, if you are a coffee lover like me, then I think this would  be a little bit of an issue! Haha! But, Itoy's does serve yummy coffee and frappes!

So, last thoughts...

What I  ❤  ❤  ❤ :

• The place was in a semi-isolated area. The place was also full of trees. Just as the name of the Inn suggest, it really sure feels like you are in a forest. Really relaxing with greens all around you. If you are looking for a place to escape the city life, then this is the perfect place for you!
• Yummy food at the hotel!
• Very friendly staff.
• Room was made up everyday. We always come back from our tours to a made up room.

What I loathe:

• Customer service via email wasn't that good. As mentioned earlier, we had to go through numerous emails before they gave the answer we needed. This often lead to miscommunication.
• To add to previous entry, grammar was a bit problematic, so we had problems understanding their emails once in a while. 
• Also, staff who answered calls were locals, so we often do not understand what they say. It would have been better if they had at least one who could speak fluent and clear English.
• Poor service of in-house travel agency.

Despite the things I dislike, I still definitely will book my stay at Deep Forest Garden Inn on my next visit to Palawan (which could probably take years before it happens again! Haha!). I was really satisfied, despite the trouble here and there. It was all in all a great place to stay at!

If some of the questions you had in mind was not answered below, do leave them in the comments below, and I will get back to each one as soon as I can. :)

I hope this did not bore you, instead, I hope it is useful for some of you. :) 'Til my next Palawan post!

Cheers!
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