By Charmaine Hibbert

It’s been a long flight over from London to Manila with a stop off in Singapore and no matter how great the service is – I have flown with Singapore Airlines twice now and their customer service from the cabin crew is second to none – you just want a quick check in and get to your room.

Fortunately for me that is exactly what I got and within 10-mins of arriving at the hotel I am undertaking the face down test into the fresh crisp cotton pillows and a mattress that is firm, perfect for me. I know I can’t jump into bed just yet as my luggage will be arriving soon so I check out the beautiful walk-in shower that has a rainfall shower head and hand shower with rail and I like the fact you have a choice of a deep soaker bath as well.

The fixtures are nice and modern lots of glass, golds, blacks and wood tones with an open rail for my clothes with plenty of hangers and lots of draws and with a nice deep wide safe. A tea and coffee station for those important liquid breaks between working and of course a mini bar. A mix of the practical with luxury.

There is a suite section off the main bedroom area with sofa, coffee table and a nice large desk to write which is where I am typing this review, the view isn’t much to write home about basically I am looking at another hotel but being close to the airport it is what I would expect. On that note I realise the sound proofing is perfect as I have not heard one aircraft engine noise, in a couple of words spacious and modern would be my conclusion.

Kusina Restaurant

Now one of the most important parts of any day is breakfast and after a fantastic night’s sleep I have made full use of that rain head shower, I am heading down to the Kusina restaurant that doubles up as the breakfast room between 6am-10am. After taking my room number one of the staff show me around, now as you can imagine I have seen some breakfast set ups in my time, but the Manila Hilton has jumped straight to the very top, to the point of my heart pounding with anticipation of when can I get started.

Of course, there is the egg station, that’s a given, but then you have the Filipino Kitchen, the International Kitchen, with meats including bacon and sausage, more egg options and lots of fresh vegetables and when one of the chefs asked me if I want to try the freshly cooked honey roasted ham with a honey mustard dressing, how could I disappoint him. There is every variety of bread you can think of, lots of fresh fruit which is always my starting point, it seems to make me feel better before starting the full fry up!!

And then she shows me the last section, I am sure she must have picked me and my tongue off the floor! There’s a chilling cabinet with a vast variety of juices and more fresh fruit, but then there’s chilled deserts, jellies, creams and custards in an array of colours, bread and butter pudding, throw in with all the patisseries and out the corner of my eye I spot dishes of jelly sweets, I now want her to lock the doors and throw away the key leaving me inside.

I think after an hour they must have rolled me out of there, oh did I mention the amazing pancakes with maple syrup, ok you catch my drift the room rate is worth it just to get that breakfast choice!!

Hotel Facilities

On the other side of that coin I did manage to get my arse down to the gym – I knew I needed to because it’s my last day here tomorrow and I will be hitting that breakfast room HARD!! – the gym is well equipped with free weights and weight machines, X Trainer, bikes and treadmill. The outdoor pool has a kid’s section and plenty of loungers to soak up the sun and is complemented by a pool bar serving a wide variety of drinks and cocktails. The service at the pool bar is as impeccable as I have come to expect with this hotel – the gym moved down my list of priorities!

We are now heading out on our travels to the Panay Islands but the good news is I will be back next week before heading back to England. The Hilton Manila is happy for us to store some of our baggage here. Your baggage allowance on Singapore Airlines is 30kg, but on the internal flights it goes down to 20kg so being able to store luggage here is a real bonus and being perfectly placed next to the airport the Manila Hilton should be your first and last port of call.

Manila Hilton
1 Newport Blvd
Pasay, 1309 Metro Manila
Philippines

W: hilton.com
T: +63 2 7239 7788