For the second of my consecutive weekends in Manila, I opted to stay at the Conrad Manila, having done the Hilton Manila for the first weekend. I had a good stay at the Hilton Manila, so I was looking forward to see how the Conrad would fare in comparison.
The Conrad Manila is a good property in its own right, with an upmarket and newish feel still, despite having actually opened a couple of years earlier than the Hilton Manila. While the hard product was good, I felt the soft product was a notch below other Conrad properties in Asia. It’s location is good for amenities and conventions, but may not appeal to most business travellers.
Overall, I had a nice enough stay at the Conrad Manila. For any future trip to Manila, it’ll be a tough choice between the Conrad and Hilton. That speaks well to the Hilton and not so much for the Conrad. The Conrad Manila is nice, but not significantly better than the Hilton. Ultimately it would probably come down to price and location preference.
Booking and Pre-arrival
For this stay, I opted to book a Bay View King Deluxe Room, which is a couple of categories up from the lead-in King Deluxe Room. The Conrad Manila building is a rather odd S-shape, so rooms can range from bay view, pool view with partial bay view and city (mainly SMX Convention Centre) view. I would try to book a bay view room as far as possible. I booked this at PHP13,019 including taxes and fees (approx. SGD303). Standard Room Rewards at the Conrad Manila go for 50,000 points, so not really a good use of points since lead-in rates typically are around PHP10,000 give or take.
About 10 days before my arrival, as this was an Advance Purchase rate, the hotel sent an email to request for payment via a payment link. Failing to to pay via the link would result in the card on file being charged. Either I missed the email or I chose to ignore it, the hotel did try to charge my card. This ended up being blocked by my bank. As a result, the hotel sent a new payment link through which I duly paid.
A couple of days prior to the stay, a member of the Executive floor team reached out to provide information on the hotel’s airport transfer and provided information on the Executive Lounge benefits. This was similar communication which I had received prior to my stay at the Hilton Manila.
Location
The Conrad Manila is located in the Pasay area of Manila, to the north west of the airport. In normal traffic, a car ride from NAIA Terminal 3 to the Conrad should take around 25min. The Conrad is within the SM Mall of Asia complex, which is the largest mall in the Philippines and sixth largest in the world. This means there’s plenty of amenities around the hotel. However, it’s not so convenient for business travellers who need to be around the Makati or BGC area.
The hotel has a prime spot overlooking Manila Bay. However, I have heard that there are plans to reclaim land from the bay, which will likely result in the bay view from the Conrad Manila being obstructed in the long term.
Arrival and Check-in
I caught a Grab from NAIA Terminal 3. Arriving in the middle of the day on Saturday, the hotel was pretty crowded. The lower lobby was nice and bright, with an art fixture dominating the middle of the lobby. A concierge desk sat off to the left, and lobby lounge to the right.
The reception lobby was a lift ride up to the 3rd floor, with expansive views of Manila Bay. There was a queue at reception, so I asked the queue minder if I could check-in at the Executive Lounge instead. She tried looking up my name on her clipboard of arriving guests, but somehow could not find my booking. By the time she was done leafing through her clipboard, I was able to get to the front of the queue. The front desk agent was able to find my booking with ease, and the queue minder now offered to escort me to the lounge for check-in.
Once at the Executive Lounge, the queue minder from downstairs brought me to a table and left to inform the lounge staff to complete the formalities. Oddly enough, it took almost 10min for any lounge staff to approach me or acknowledge my presence. Once a staff did come over, the various formalities took another 5min. By this time, afternoon tea had just started so I opted to hang around the lounge for a bit. More on afternoon tea later in this review.
I also requested for late checkout the next day, but was told they could only confirm late checkout availability the next morning. I was later informed by staff that occupancy during that lead up to Easter holidays was a very busy period for them.
Overall, the entire check-in experience felt slow and not very Conrad-like. The Hilton Manila certainly scored better in this regard.
Bay View King Executive Room
My bay-facing room was located on the 6th floor. Most rooms here at the Conrad Manila measure 40sqm, except for the “Premier” rooms and suites. That’s the same size as the Hilton Manila.
Entering the room, there was a luggage rack and wardrobes on the left and bathroom on the right.
The first wardrobe closer to the door contained the room safe, iron and ironing board, hairdryer, umbrella and some storage drawers. The other wardrobe further into the room was for clothes. This was where the bathrobes and slippers could be found. There was a lot of storage space, but I’m rarely in a hotel long enough that I’d unpack and hang up my clothing.
The bathroom had the shower on one side and toilet on the other. Both were behind frosted glass panels. The bathroom actually smelled a little musty. Not bad enough to be an issue, but definitely noticeable. There was only a single vanity sandwiched in the middle of the bathroom. At least there was sufficient space on the vanity top for my own toiletry bag.
There was nothing fancy about the toilet. The shower on other hand, had 3 outputs: a rain shower, handheld wand and jets in the middle. The hotel does describe it as a “hydrotherapy shower”. Toiletries were the Conrad-standard Byredo Mojave Ghost.
In the room, there was a cabinet where the minibar fridge, Nespresso machine, kettle and related items were stored. The minibar fridge was stocked.
The king-sized bed was flanked by beside tables, facing the 43inch TV. There was a work desk, while a sofa sat across the entire width of the window. The desk had a couple of USB-A ports and a universal power outlet. On one bedside, there was the controls for the lights and curtains. Each bedside had a universal power outlet. There was obvious wear and tear around the switches.
In my opinion, a daybed would have been a better choice of furniture for the window than a sofa. A sofa means having to sit back facing the bay all the time. A daybed would provide more flexibility to look out the window at Manila Bay. That said, the roughly west-facing of the hotel means the bay view rooms do get the full force of afternoon sun. The window was horribly dirty though.
Another downside of these bay-facing rooms is the lights and noise from the rides and carnival stalls(?) across the road. These did go on quite late, so could be disruptive to bedtime. The hotel isn’t very tall, so it’s hard to escape the noise. The soundproofing was also pretty poor in my opinion.
In the late afternoon, a staff member came by to deliver a welcome amenity, which was bar of chocolate, and a welcome card.
The room was comfortable overall, and I slept well. The Conrad Manila uses Frette linen, the same as the Conrad Centennial Singapore. It’s one of my favourite linen brands, and I find them very comfortable. I did feel the room here at the Conrad Manila hasn’t aged too well, with some wear and tear and slight mustiness of the bathroom. The poor soundproofing made evident by the noise from the road and across the street may bother some.
I actually felt the Hilton Manila room felt more spacious and made better use of space. After all, the bathroom there actually had a bathtub as well. The Conrad probably provided a better rest, once the outside noise was done. Given both rooms are the same size at 40sqm, I do somewhat prefer the Hilton’s layout over the Conrad.
I had one particular purpose of staying at the Conrad Manila, besides trying a new experience. I managed to accomplish that mission, and headed home with the hotel’s signature carabao plushie to add to my collection of Conrad stuffed animals.
Executive Lounge
The Conrad Manila’s Executive Lounge is located on the top floor of the hotel. Breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails are offered at the lounge, along with all-day non-alcoholic beverages.
The space
The lounge was a long rectangular space. Most of the seating was set up for dining, with dining tables by the window, booth seats and a long communal table in the middle. There was also an area with a low sofa and table. The buffet area was situated at one end of the lounge.
The lounge offered a view over the pool and partial view of the bay.
Soft drinks were available throughout the day.
Afternoon tea
During my stay, I was able to enjoy afternoon tea twice. Even though I officially checked out at 2pm, the lounge staff were more than happy to let me kill time in the lounge before leaving for the airport. There were a couple of sweet and savoury items each, plus two types of scones.
On the first day, there were egg sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, chocolate walnut brownies and Puto cheese (a Filipino snack). The second day featured the same mix of sweet and savoury, but different items. There was a berry cake, chicken sandwich and other items. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos on the second day. I did have an iced coffee that looked visually impressive.
Evening cocktails
Evening cocktails was an interesting fair. There was a buffet of various small, single serve canapes, and the usual cheese and cold cuts. There was also a chef preparing small portions of risotto. It’s always nice to see a hotel put some creativity and effort into the food offerings.
I tried pretty much all the savoury food items including the risotto. The quality was not spectacular, but it was decent enough for hotel lounge food.
In terms of drinks, there was one type each of sparkling, red and white wine. There was also the usual spirits with mixers. The quality here wasn’t particularly impressive either.
The lounge offerings were overall satisfactory, with the alcohol being a bit on the poorer side. The food quality was sufficiently varied, and the quality was fine. I would rate the quality similar, perhaps a tad better than the Hilton Manila. Service was fine but not memorable. I would probably give the win here to the Conrad over the Hilton.
Food & Beverage
The Conrad Manila has a number of F&B outlets. There’s the all-day buffet Brasserie on 3 where breakfast is served, China Blue by Jereme Leung for Chinese cuisine, C Lounge for tapas and drinks, plus a couple of other bars.
Breakfast at Brasserie on 3
As a Hilton Honors Diamond, I had the option of breakfast in the lounge or at Brasserie on 3, which is what I opted for. As expected for an Asian hotel, the buffet was extensive, thought I felt it was a bit light on Western and non-Filipino Asian options.
I’ll be very honest and say Filipino cuisine isn’t one of my favourites, so the heavy emphasis on Filipino items meant there wasn’t that many hot items I was keen on. That said, I commend the Conrad Manila for showcasing more of the local cuisine. Of the items I did eat, nothing really stood out. It’s a buffet of quantity, but don’t think I’m the right audience for most of the items.
Facilities
The Conrad Manila has usual requisite pool, gym and a spa.
Swimming pool
The pool is located on the lobby level (3rd floor). It’s not the biggest, but still a good size to do some laps or just laze about.
Gym
The gym is also located on the 3rd floor if memory serves me right. It’s a bigger space than the Hilton Manila’s, and also stocked with Life Fitness equipment. The changing room for the pool and gym is spacious, with lockers, a steam room and sauna.
Spa
I didn’t use the spa and there was no one manning the counter when I stopped by. However the menu for the spa and bookings can be found here.
Conclusion
The Conrad Manila is a nice hotel, with comfortable rooms, great views of Manila Bay and a solid Executive Lounge. The rooms are showing a bit of age, and service is hit-and-miss. The issue for me is that I’m uncertain if this is a better property than the Hilton Manila. The Conrad is solid, no question about that, if slightly poorer than its siblings in Singapore, Hong Kong or even Bangkok. The latter is a property I wasn’t overly impressed with either, but I still rate higher than Conrad Manila.
On its own, the Conrad Manila is a property I’d be perfectly fine with returning to. The overall experience, visually and physically, is still a Conrad. The Conrad brand is my favourite in the Hilton portfolio and if price fits, I’d still rather stay in a Conrad over a Hilton. That makes the Conrad Manila my pick for Hilton properties in Manila.