Green Verde Cottages, Sabang, Palawan, Philippines

Inquiries:

Green Verde Cottages did not have a website at the time of writing, but you can visit Hotels.com for the best deals on accommodations in Sabang, Palawan, Philippines.

Location:

The cottages are located several meters behind the beach in Sabang, Palawan. The cottages are located about half way down the beach from the main road on the beach in Sabang, next to Taraw Cottages. At the back of the cottages is a path that will lead you to the main road through some local farmlands. The path ends at the main road, about a kilometre or two from the pier. We thought the location was good.

Room Comfort:

Since we arrived later in the day, they only had one room available that had it's own private bathroom, but not in the room, but rather adjacent to our room. In order to use our bathroom we had to exit our room. Although this bothered us, we decided to give this place a try since we just left Taraw Vista and the person helping us, who was a friend of the family that owned the place, seemed really nice. The room was small but had a double bed. There was no mosquito net over the bed, but when we asked for one they were able to bring one for us that we put up ourselves. The bathroom was big enough, but didn't have a lock on the door which made us feel very uncomfortable. There was no toilet seat on the toilet, a common theme among the accommodations in Sabang, and no hot water. All rooms had a porch with a table and chairs. We were really bothered at night as it sounded like someone kept going in and out of our bathroom during the night. These individuals were drunk, loud and disrespectful to the other people staying at the cottages at this place. Since anyone could access our bathroom from the outside, it proved to be a nice alternative to the shared bathrooms available at this establishment for those drunk tourists.

Cleanliness:

This establishment opened in 2008 so it's relative new. Our room was relatively clean and the mosquito net that they provided us with was also clean. There were lot's of small ants in our cottage but since this isn't a solidly built place, it's not surprising.

Service:

We were very pleased with the service we received when we checked in, but our initial impression turned sour the following morning. (This is the kind of stuff most hotel reviewers won't discover since they don't stay at the places they review.) When several people checked out of their cottages, we requested to be switched to one that has an en-suite bathroom. After some discussion, the staff told us that they are all full which we knew wasn't true. After about 30 minutes of discussing the matter, they decided they would not give us any other cottage so we decided to check-out. We truly believe the staff didn't want to give us a vacant room because they knew they would have to clean our room in case someone else showed up to claim it. (The other rooms were already cleaned and a daily cleaning service isn't customary at this, or most other places in Sabang.) They told us that the other room was reserved for someone who already had a look at it earlier that morning. Since I was up before anyone else, including the staff, this was highly unlikely. (We later confirmed that the room was vacant that day and night, so if they were telling the truth that person didn't show.) When we left the establishment, the owner followed us to our new place which was about a 20 minute walk from theirs. They waited until we checked into our new cottage and then accused us in front of the owners of the new establishment that we didn't pay for our night there. We were really upset by the way this was done and about the accusation since we had already paid. They could have asked if we paid in the 45-60 minutes that I was waiting until my partner found a new place to stay rather than following us to our new place and then accusing us of not paying. It turned out that the friend of the owner that checked us in, didn't tell the owners that we paid. We ran into the owner later that day and he confirmed that he spoke to the woman and she confirmed we paid.

Food:

We had dinner at their restaurant and it wasn't anything special. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. The food in this area is limited, so we didn't expect much to begin with.

Overall Value:

This place has a lot of potential. The location is good and most of their accommodations, other than the one we stayed in, were good value. Our experience started off good, but quickly turned negative. Despite our experience here, it's not a bad option in Sabang, as long as you avoid the room with the washroom on the outside.  

Other Notes:

• Sabang has a beautiful beach that is rarely visited by tourist. In fact, we spent a couple of days on the beach here and were one of only a handful of people on it. Sabang is mainly visited as a day trip from Puerto Princesa for the Underground River tour, which is a shame because it's a nice area to explore for a few days.
• Sabang has a locally run mangrove tour that's worth going to. The local tour guides are quite informative. It's a nice and relaxing way to spend a couple of hours learning about the importance and significance of mangroves in the area and the Philippines, as well as see local wildlife, especially snakes, lizards and birds.

Photos: