Stories of Mrs. S: A Day at Astoria Plaza

Monday, July 1, 2013

A Day at Astoria Plaza

Last May, a few people at work decided to have a get together for summer. Due to logistics and planning challenges, we just decided to stay in the city. We booked a two-bedroom suite at Astoria Plaza in Ortigas for an overnight stay.

I was tasked to book the room. I did it through their website. You will be asked to pre-pay 10% of the room charge to confirm your reservation. Note that this amount is non-refundable and if you decide to cancel, you must do it three days before your arrival date or else you will incur additional charges. The suite is good for four persons with free buffet breakfast.

We were planning to go for a swim with the baby but Mr. S got there late due to car troubles. We just hanged out with the officemates for a few hours and left for the night.

I took a few photos of the place. The rooms were just right for four persons. But if you will use it for a team building activity or other parties (bridal shower, stag party, baby shower, despedida), you could probably fit about 10 people there, of course the others would have to sleep in the couch or bring sleeping bags. Technically, you are not supposed to hold parties but as long as you don't damage anything, you should be good.

Two single beds in the smaller bedroom

Still two single beds in the master's bedroom

The Master's bedroom is a bit more spacious that the other room and has it's own bathroom. I did not get very good pictures of the bathrooms. They were both clean but were a bit small. The bathroom at the bigger room had a bath tub. I can't remember if toiletries apart from soap was provided. The suite we got had single beds in the master's bedroom too. Usually, they'd have a king sized bed. This would work for people who want to maintain their personal space especially if you are using the place for team buildings/parties instead of family use.

Living and dining area

The living/area is spacious too but the actual dining table is a bit small. You can use that desk provided to put your food ala buffet style dining. There is also a kitchen but no pots and pans provided. The last time I stayed here I think was four years back, they provided those too. I am not sure if they will provide it if you requested for it. We did not have plans to cook so we didn't bother asking. There were only four sets of plates, spoon, fork, knives and glasses so if you have a bigger party, you need to prepare to bring these items.

Kitchen area

Apparently, most of our officemates left early the next day since it was mother's day too. Nobody was left to use the free breakfast. We live near by so we went back there to use our breakfast vouchers. There wasn't a lot of selection but for the price we paid for the room (Php 6500), I'm not going to complain. The only thing I'm sad about is that there was no bacon. I liked that they had arrozcaldo though. They also had chicken tocino, tapa and fish. Not a lot of variety but enough choices for everybody.