Find hotels in Sta. Mesa / Paco

We paid over the odds for a taxi to this hotel so firstly we recfomend gettin uber installed on your phone upon arriving to the Philippines. That was nothing to do with the hotel though.. As 2 westerners who have been travelling for over 3 months, we wasnt prepared for Manila. No one ever told us were to stay or what to expect. We are vloggers and have our camera on us at all times. Santa Mesa wasnt the place to be vlogging. The staff were great in our hotel, we felt very safe and they helped anyway they could but we was told dont go out after dark and stay on main roads when your out. This isnt something you take with a pinch of salt. We left our room at 11am for a wander and were shocked to see homeless and street kids almost naked in there 100s. We comstantly got stared at and asked for money and then on top of that we were followed by 2 men for about 5 mins down a road which was very intimidating were we took shelter in 7/11 until we could sneak out of a diifernt door while they waited outside. we had paid for 5 days in this hotel which i cannot fault but the area was intimidating and as a female i genuinly was scared for my safety when i left the grounds. which i needed to do to eat! If its a layover you want to get the boat to coron, then uber to the hotel and then uber from the hotel to the pier, other than that i reccomend makati.. we stayed for 5 days as we arrived on a thursday had to extend our visa on the monday and leave for palawan via boat on the tuesday. unfortunate that this hotel is in the area i felt so unsafe but if your familiar with these type of town then you will be ok but nothin prepared us for the amount of street kids homless and people with guns. there was signs outside shops saying please deposit your firearms in the box before entering, including metal detectors just to get into the mall which we havent experienced anywhere else in philippines.. Huge culture shock for us. but again? nothing to do with the hotel, as i boo

Pros: - Excellent value for money. AU$20 per night promo at the time of booking - Minutes walk from SM Centerpoint Sta Mesa and MRT - Excellent Wi-fi speeds (around 40MBps recorded) - Rooms are clean with AC, TV and bathroom provided (hot shower available) - Cafeteria in the lobby providing coffee, snacks and limited hot food - Neighbourhood may seem a bit intimidating at first, but nothing to be concerned about and street food plentiful Cons: - Surrounding streets are small and can be hard to navigate or locate (taxi or grab drivers are often taken through SM on GPS, which is incorrect). Might be better to take a taxi from SM, which is only a few minutes by foot - Not sufficient for a family of 3 or more Overall, very happy with our stay. I would stay again.