Summer was almost over when my office friends decided to have
one last summer hooray. We have quite a
few criteria in selecting the place where we wanted to spend it. As most of us have families already (and we didn’t
bring them with us), the number one consideration we wanted was a place close
to the metro. We also want a place that’s
not too pricey, but is not too shabby as well.
Club Balai Isabel was a perfect fit to our criteria. J
Traveling to Club Balai Isabel was easy. From SLEX go directly to Startoll and take
Tanauan Exit for a no-frills journey.
But if you want to visit Tagaytay along the way, it’s also amenable but
the road connecting Tagaytay and Talisay is quite steep and curvy.
Club Balai Isabel is a huge hotel resort located at
Talisay, Batangas. This place doesn’t have
beach as it is situated near the Taal Lake. They offer quite a lot of accommodations. My guestimate is that they can accommodate
more than 200 pax for overnight. Though
the place is huge and can billet a lot of people, surprisingly, the area is
very serene.
We booked a suite room at Mataas na Kahoy area. The room that we booked is a one-bedroom
apartment with complete cooking and dining amenities. This saved us a lot in terms of food as we
were able to cook.
We were lucky that during our visit, Club Balai Isabel has
just recently launched Aqua Park. It’s a
huge water inflatable situated at Lake Taal.
Since the Aqua Park is on Lake Taal, the water is not beach salty,
instead the water tastes and smells like tawilis. Taal Lake is very deep, so life jackets are
important. My office friends and I had
so much fun in this activity. It cost
Php450 per hour. It has a lot of
obstacles but the most thrilling of it was the 40-foot slide. One hour is not enough for a person to tour
the entire Aqua Park (this is my judgement given my strength and age... :P)
Let me give you an honest review of my visit at Club Balai
Isabel.
Room –
5 out of 5. The room that we
booked is a one-bedroom apartment that according to the website, can sleep 4-6
people. However, when we checked out our
room, it can sleep 8 people comfortably.
It has air-conditioning unit inside the bedroom and outside the dining
area, a refrigerator, television set, cabinets, and a toilet and bath. It has
complete cooking and dining amenities (gas range, rice cooker, dining ware, and
utensils). Small size toiletries were
also provided.
Amenities
– 4.5 out of 5. Club
Balai Isabel has three swimming pools strategically placed in different areas
of the resort. It has a playground for
kids. Bike and billiards rentals are available. There are also water sports such as jetski that you can rent. A restaurant and a bar is also
present at Club Balai Isabel. However,
the restaurant closes at 9PM, while the bar closes at 10PM. Last order can be made 15-30 minutes prior to
closing. We just think this is quite early
for a hotel resort. We had to go out and
look for a place where to buy drinks and food.
Staff
– 4 out of 5. We
had nice, slightly not nice, and not so nice experiences with the staffs of
Club Balai Isabel. The nice one was when
we request to grill food in an area close to our place (which should be off-limits,
they willingly allowed). The slightly
not nice one is when we had to call housekeeping 4 times to clean our
place. The not so nice one was when we
were checking out. We already paid a
deposit but when we were checking out, the staff wasn’t able to relay to us
properly how to complete the payment and was insisting we pay the amount in
full, not considering our deposit. But this
was resolved after discussing everything.
Food –
n/a. Since the room we booked has complete cooking
and dining amenities, we weren’t able to try the food they serve.
Location
– 5 out of 5. Club
Balai Isabel is located at Talisay Batangas.
Three hours away from the metro. You
can visit Tagaytay along the way too. We
went there by car and it was a smooth drive.
I haven’t tried doing the public commute, so I am not sure how hard it
would be.
Value
for Money – 4.5 out of 5.
Our room costs us Php5500 overnight.
Since we cooked our food, it saved us a lot of money. The location was not far too. Aside from the minor issue with the staff
during check out, I think our stay was okay. Overall, if you want to place to relax from a
stressful workweek, Club Balai Isabel is a good option.
The Aqua Park is very nice additional amenity. I honestly want to commend Club Balai Isabel
for having this. Stiff competition in
hotel resorts is rampant nowadays, and for your place to be noticed, you have
to have an offer that others don’t have. And
Club Balai Isabel has Aqua Park. So I
urge you to visit Club Balai Isabel if not for the serene place, do visit it
because of the Aqua Park.
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.
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