| Unless unavoidable, DO NOT USE the hotel's room phone. Under certain conditions, a recent ruling allows tourism establishments to legally tap and listen in to telephone conversations as well as install hidden cameras to monitor activities which may be deemed as a potential security threat. The problem - there's no way to know if the security surveillance may be used for other purposes. NEVER EVER DIVULGE THAT YOU ARE AVAILING OF ANY OUTCALL SERVICES! WHY? Because the sharks lurking within the hotel premises are all in for a KILL as to who amongst the guests are pontential money milking cows. They will tell you "outcall is not allowed" so that they can offer you their version of service which is definitely way below par. If you resist, they will find ways to inflate your hotel bill with a hefty surcharge. All hotels offer their version of in-house massage service and may charge you a hefty surcharge if you admit to availing of an outcall massage visit. If you bring a friend and teasingly announce that you are availing a massage, your friend will be refused entry unless you pay a hefty surcharge as she will be considered a competitor to the hotel massage services. We assure you - there should be NO PROBLEM if you had simply informed the hotel reception that "a personal or business friend will be visiting". DO NOT USE THE WORDS "MASSAGE" OR "MASSEUSE". Do not be waylaid. If you are being psyched up as a potential milking cow, you will be asked to pay extra even just for bringing in a friend. Take note, staying in any hotel does not in any way relinquish any of your civil rights! The hotel has no right to interrogate you nor any of your visitors without sufficient proof of wrongdoing or complaints filed. You have the right not to divulge information regarding yourself and visitors. The Philippines is no longer under dictatorship nor martial rule unlike decades ago! But some people still want you to believe it is, apparently for their self-serving agenda. Most major hotels automatically charged your stay based on a twin or double occupancy. Verify before checking in to make sure you can admit a friend or companion to stay the night over WITHOUT SURCHARGE! DO NOT BE DUPED INTO PAYING MORE THAN WHAT YOU SHOULD! Elsewhere in the Philippines, the word "SPA" is oftentimes confused with the word "Massage". An antiquated establishment offering massage may claim the word "SPA" inspite of the absence of any "SPA" facilities. While the word "massage" may actually be so vague as to not emphasize whether it is therapeutic or sensual. Notwithstanding any individual claim may even turn out fraustrating or defrauding. The jargon "extra" may imply that one needs and is willing to pay extra for whatever. You may be charged independently and milked for each "extra" resulting to a hefty bill when you could have paid much less had the service specified the type beforehand. Bottomline: Don't enter into any deal without knowing what you are paying for. Don't assume you were understood as what you have been intending to mean. |
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| Guidelines when visiting the Philippines |
| Arrival at airport |
| Checking in hotel |
| On availing of any outcall service |
| After baggage clearance, if hotel transfer is not included in your travel package, first alternative would be, avail the cartelized taxi flleets parked near the exit, at exhorbitant rental rates. They paid a premium to compete alongside airport car rental firms, therefore had to recover by charging you more than supposedly registered on the meter. Might as well avail outright the airport limousine service with published rates based on specific destination. Another option, tag your luggage and walk to the "departure entrance" where regular taxi cabs dropped off departing passengers. You may also walk outside the perimeter of the airport where regular metered taxicabs ply thier usual route. Or, simply call our hotline for a personal pick up and limousine service. |
| Make sure to alight only within the hotel premises whatever the circumstances may be. The hotel will not be responsible for anything that happens to you outside the hotel's security jurisdiction. Double check with the baggage portman for the number of items and tip him a MAXIMUM of US $1 per item. Do not be overwhelmed by the friendliness of hotel staffs as they are trained to psych you up for an overkill. Be subtle and gesture politely for a "NO, thanks". Make sure you are dealing with the right personnel. Any person you meet in the hotel premises may dressed well enough to convince you he or she is connected with the hotel. Verify. Verify. Verify. |
| Choosing your hotel |
| Make sure you choose a "friendly" instead of a "hostile" hotel. How to tell the difference? Simple. A friendly hotel sees every guest as an opportunity to promote their guest service value. Most of these are new players, small to medium scale and will go beyond normal efforts to make you feel at home, giving the best value for your money spent. A hostile hotel sees every guest as another potential milking cow. Since they had been established over time, will not be as enthusiastic on further value promotions. Instead, they believed you need them more than they you, will always have reasons to justify their stupendous ego so be ready for a ride to helldom. As much as being popular and large scale, somehow believed they must always be attuned for a terrorist attack, therefore vigorous in exhibiting harsh security detail, supposedly to thwart any eventuality. Come to think of it, would you rather stay in a heavily guarded and highly and potentially threatened hotel? Or one that is not as heavily guarded, simply because there is no need for such? If in doubt, give us a call at our hotline and we'll recommend a friendly hotel for you. |
| Copyright2007Charl's Philippine Angels |
| Wi-Fi internet access |
| Internet access in the Philippines is almost free of charge. If you own a portable computer, all you have to avail is buy some coffee and presto! Free internet access! If anyone tries to sell you internet access, they must be joking! Most major hotels provide wi-fi internet access at their coffee shops as a come-on for their customers.The competition amongst coffee shops is so stiff that many at the malls and elsewhere provide wi-fi to entice customers their brand of coffee. Some buildings located at the (open 24 hours) I.T. Centers in Cebu provide free wi-fi access. You may also access internet in your hotel room but at a premium rate. |
| Finding a date |
| In general, Asians are culturally melodramatic, tend to focus on the trivial, behavior patterns inclined on mood swings than objectivity. If you can adapt well to this concept, finding a date is as simple as finding a friend. Being a tourist, finding a date also requires further declassification beyond certain social strata. The two basic strata to consider will be the "tourist friendly" and the "unfriendly" type. Within the tourist friendly stratum are sub-strata with preference over race and ethnicity, age, marital status, economic standing etc. Who is and how to spot a "tourist friendly" type? The tourist friendly type is one who has preference to mingle with tourists. All you have to do is look straight into their eyes and smile. You can tell outright because only the tourist friendly type will reciprocate positively to your positive gesture. Introduce yourself. They are very particular with your race, country of origin and purpose. Be yourself and sincere. You now have a date. Take note that finding a date doesn't guarantee personality compatibilities. You may also lose a date as easily as finding one. Beware the agendadized impersonators and assumptive types. Apparently, these pretend to be "tourist friendly" because of a hidden personal agenda. Their interest will center on your marital and financial status more than anything. When invited, may tag along the entire family purportedly to insinuate the assumption of courtship and eventual marriage. Where to find a date? Basically anywhere where the "tourist friendly" abound. Malls, parks, groceries, eateries, cafes, casinos, offices, public transports, nightclubs, streets etc. The more people, the greater your chances. YOU DON'T NEED ANY PIMP NOR HOOKER. Just your good old gentlemanly charm, sincerity and concern. Most of the locals are "day people". They prefer any activity on a sunny day. You can maximize your chances of meeting people if you time your activity between early dawn up to just before sunset. This is the time most of the locals will be out so your chances and choices are immense. After such, the numbers start dwindling as people hurriedly que for public transport to catch a ride home for dinner. The next wave will consist of a minority of nocturnal types who prefer sunset to dawn. There are also specific places and time where the "tourist friendly" gather for the purpose of finding you. If you are too busy or lazy to look, simply avail of our comprehensive nightlife tour or call us for a personal companion service. |
| Security - how safe is it? |
| You may not believe it but the Philippines may be safer than exagerrated by the media and bureaucratic politics. The Filipinos may have internal conflicts amongst themselves but will always assume neutrality in all foreign affairs. This de facto state of neutrality can be further substantiated by its demographic history. The probability of being threatened in this minature but developing third world tropical paradise is so insignificant in comparative relevance to the highly urbanized and sophisticated cultures you have been accustomed to. So what could possibly happen during your stay? Practically nothing. This is the reason we are here to compensate for what would have been a boring and sleepy journey. A reveiw of demographic statistics will reveal that a percentage of crimes were passionate in nature, committed by people living within a commune. Another percentage of petty crimes involved properties. As you move about the city, you will come across signage posted everywhere reminding people "not to leave items unattended", which unwittingly gave the impression that thieves abound everywhere. It is customary for people to assume ownership of anything unless a claim is made by the rightful owner. There may be data on isolated cases of heinous nature but these are relatively insignificant and could have even been worse in other places. So why the outlook appears otherwise? Apparently certain sectors want to cast an image of fear and apprehension to drum up support for their causes. You will encounter a barrage of hoopla with regards to security blah blah etc but your most eminent concern should really be the contents of your wallet. Also expect some petty annoyances and occasional bullcrap. |
| Tipping culture |
| As much can be traced back to Western colonization, tipping in the Philippines is very predominant. Almost all service employees expect you to tip five to ten percent of gross amount charged or an amount not lower than US $1 for petty errands. |
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| Recommended On-Call Metered TAXI Service in Cebu |
