Property: Fairmont Makati, Manila
Status: Accor Plus Platinum
Room booked: Gold Corner Suite
Room upgraded/type: No, but next category was Presidential Suite.
Rate: Mish-mash of Stay Plus + surplus, SNU, and regular paid booking.
Free internet: Yes
Free Breakfast? Yes - as offered to all Fairmont Gold guests
Early check in/late out: 4pm checkout requested and granted at Gold Lounge
Welcome drink: Yes, redeemed for drinks at Mistral Rooftop Bar in the adjoining Raffles. Had very limited options e.g. $5 local San Mig only, $8 local craft beer not included
Welcome gift: Nothing at all. Raised in post-stay feedback form.
Stayed for three nights when switching between PNRs on the way back to Australia.
Pre-arrival experience was poor. I received an email from the Fairmont Gold team three days prior asking if they could help with transfers, spa, restaurant bookings, etc. I responded to ask for help and info about transfers and spa, but got nothing back. Two days later, while en route to MNL on JL, I used the onboard wifi to follow-up and say I had no need for transfers anymore but still wanted to answers about the spa. They responded with transfer costs BUT no answers to my spa questions.
The room was very large but quite tired. Relatively small TVs, tech panel from the 90s (lights/aircon) which didn't actually turn off all lights. No Chromecast. Massive bathroom with varying hot water - never cold, but sometimes just luke warm during peak early mornings and evenings. This made the bath less useful as it would be about room temp after filling up. On the first day one of the bathroom basins was plugged shut with a broken open/shut lever) seemingly fixed by housekeeping on their first visit.
I noticed on the 2nd day that the room allocated was on L6, but the Gold floors were marked in the lift as L7-8. There was a noticeable difference in the hallways - L6 had old, musty carpet, with the smell covered with diffusers, but L7-8 looked renovated. I was going to raise it, but couldn't be bothered moving half way through the stay as we'd opened multiple suitcases and set ourselves up.
We tried breakfast in both the lobby restaurant Spectrum and the Gold Lounge. Spectrum had a vastly superior selection with all bases covered - western, filipino, Chinese, Indian, bakery, juices, salad bar, fruit bar, etc. The Gold Lounge boasted a small buffet and an a la carte menu (attached) which was really just plated buffet items from Spectrum brought up to the lounge. We had the a la carte french toast and wonton soup, and these both arrived stone cold and were identical to the buffet items. The Gold Lounge was significantly quieter and a nicer place to have a slow meal, but Spectrum is the pick if you want the selection and don't mind a bit of noise.
The gym was massive and usually pretty quiet. The pool area was quite large although popular when the sun was out. The adjoining Raffles has its own pool, but those guests can also access this pool/gym/spa area. There was a bar by the pool too.
The Gold Lounge canapes were quite substantial, and there was both a self-service bar as well as table service coughtails (see p4 on attached menu)
We wanted to make a same-day spa booking, but apparently you need to make a reservation at least 24 hours in advance! Have never come across this before, I guess they just bring 3rd party masseuses in when needed. We elected to use another service nearby which was about 1/5 the price.
On our final day I asked for a late check-out at breakfast in the lounge, and was granted 4pm on the spot. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with status, or if it was just because I was a Gold guest and it was a Monday in early Jan, which was noticeably quieter than the weekend.
I was sent a feedback form on the day of checkout and left constructive criticism about lack of status recognition, assigned on non Gold floor, etc. Received an "our fault but too bad, see you next time" sort of response. Considering the price of Gold rooms I think I'll try another property next time I'm in MNL.