Tagaytay: Windy Ridge Hotel

I was on the internet at 2AM trying to find a hotel-with a tub. The plan was to visit the coffee shop that my office mates were raving about, then spend the rest of the day lazing around in my hotel room.

Windy Ridge was a good pick, situated near the Rotunda, where food establishments and public transportation are readily available.

The hotel staff who answered my call was more than happy to take my reservation, though I made the call in the wee hours of the morning. They have standard rooms at 2500Php, but since I was particularly looking for a tub, I ended up booking their 'R' room. It has a full view of the Taal lake---and a tub.

I arrived in Tagaytay at exactly 2:00PM which is their standard check in time. The first thing that I noticed was the hotel's fragrance, which smells of sandalwood and vanilla-I think. The ambiance was homey,with small details added to complete the hotel's rustic look.

 

A lady readily assisted me, she was unable to find my reservation, but it's still my pick since (it seemed like) I was the only guest at the hotel.

The hotel only has 10 guest rooms. Their restaurant and cafe area extends to a terrace with a great view of the taal lake, which was not visible at the time because of the fog. The hotel also has a garden, a children's area and an unmaintained pool.

View from the terrace.

 The pool and the garden area.

I was made to choose between the 'Y' and 'R' guestrooms, the rooms were the same with a queen bed, a 24'' television and a personal refrigerator. Both have a terrace with a  good view of the tall lake and a tub. Though both rooms are big, I kept my original reservation , since the 'R' room creates the illusion of being more spacious.

The shower curtain and the sides of the tub in the comfort room were a bit moldy, but aside from that, the inside of the room was clean and spotless. They also have their hot water centralized, so no hard times with the water heater.
The hotel has 24 hours food and beverage service for their guests, so I was able to call room service to have my complimentary cup of tea delivered to my room at 10:00 PM. (They normally offer red wine but i'm more of a tea person.) Nothing special with the tea though, just the regular yellow label Lipton tea.

Their breakfast was a bit disappointing though. For 3800Php, I expected more. There were 3 pieces of bread, 3 pieces of small hot dogs, an egg, a sort of a bean recipe, and a cup of coffee. (I normally pay half the price accommodation with a better breakfast set minus the tub at Tagaytay Econo Inn).

I also noticed that though it says that Windy Ridge is a WiFi hotel, there was no WiFi. I asked the front desk lady and she said it was available at the lobby, so though the restaurant area extends to the lobby, I went and stood at every corner of the main lobby, but still, I was not able to find any network. There was also no lounge area in the lobby, so i'm thinking I would have to stand while using their WiFi if I was ever lucky to find the network. It turned out I was unlucky.

At around 20 minutes before 12 noon, the front desk staff gave me a ring informing me that the standard check out time is at 12 noon. I went up to check out and was made to stay for a couple of more minutes while the same front desk lady checked the room.

Overall, the staff was nice and very accommodating, but for the amount that they are charging, they can still improve in some areas, like maintaining their pool and their garden, making sure that the comfort room is free of molds and the shower curtain is changed as necessary. But most of all, they should really really change their breakfast set.