Viven HOTEL

I believe this place is owned by the Mayor? My tita Vanessa Mae Batallones loves checking in here with her customers.

Modern hotel. Still, it had a leaking roof and wet floor between our room and the elevator. Room was compact but clean and quiet. Entrance was hard to find the first time, it's on the side street opposite Robertsons Mall which also has a leaking roof even though it is new building. Good location, plenty of food available at the Mall. There's a casino in the hotel complex. They arranged a car to the airport for P500.

Great location in San Nicolas. Right next to Robinson's Mall. There is a Casino Filipino right next door. The hotel has basic amenities and a good breakfast included. There is running hot water and newer AC in the rooms.

We booked a room at Viven Hotel (thru Agoda) because of its location. I knew this was a new hotel that's why I decided to give it a try despite all the negative reviews. My boyfriend and I spent 5 days at this place last March and it was good. The location is fabulous, it's close to Tribeca Coffee Shop and Robinsons Mall. The staff at the front desk were friendly. Check-in was seamless. The room was spacious and extremely clean. Complete supply of toiletries with 2 bottled water every day. Great WiFi connection. The air conditioner and shower worked pretty well. Free breakfast was included in our booking but we chose not to have ours. I wanted to love this hotel but there were few things that disappointed me. The bed was firm and quite small for my boyfriend. There were no safe box and mini bar. No iron and ironing board as well. I had to request clothes hangers from the housekeeping personnel, too. There was no fitness centre. No spare key card (that would be for our room) to keep the power on all the time. They only gave us one key card and every time that we went out and went back to our room, we always had to wait for a few minutes for our room to get cold. We stayed at the top floor so it always gets very hot when the air con is off, especially during the day. I asked the staff to give us an additional key card but they offered it with a charge of Php1,000, which is way too much for the room rate of Php3,000. In addition to the above, we paid for an Executive Superior Room, with refrigerator as one of the features, but the room we stayed in had no fridge. I called to the reception and demanded for the refrigerator but they said, they couldn’t provide as the room that we booked has no fridge included. I didn't bother to scrutinize our booking because we were exhausted from our long day road trip. I also trusted the words of the staff that I've spoken to and thought I just overlooked the details of our booking. Curious, I checked our booking confirmation afterwards and got very disappointed after I found out that a refrigerator should be included within our room. It was the whole point why I chose to book that room - the refrigerator, as it's always hot in Ilocos and I wanted to make sure that we always have cold drinks available whenever we feel thirsty. Overall, the location is ideal and the rooms are budget friendly. The staff were pleasant but they need to be diligent. They need to thoroughly check the booking details of their guests.

We had problems almost from the moment we got there. 1. The shower was either too hot or too cold. 2. The water wouldn't drain properly in the shower. 3. When we asked for help, an employee came, looked around, and ended up doing nothing but telling us to call again if the problems persisted. 4. I never figured out how to make the wi-fi work. The breakfast buffets tasted fine, however the food choices are limited.