Ahana Resort El Nido

I often shrug off some bad reviews thinking it can't be that bad, but genuinely this hotel is the worsts I have experienced and feels like a complete tourist trap. Having travelled extensively across SE Asia & Asia as a whole staying in a range of places from budget hostels to luxury hotels, nothing has been so disappointing as this. Main Issues: Location: It's badly located on top of a hill around 25 mins from El Nido town, the area is a building site with nothing else around. Taxis, TukTuks etc. won't go up the hill so you will likely have to walk up at some point. This is essentially a 10-15min Uphill walk on a rocky path. They state 5min somewhere which is hugely unrealistic, it's a 10-15 min uphill trek. Instead of running complimentary shuttles to El Nido Town, they capatilise on the fact you are stuck by charging you 10x the local taxi rate to use their 4x4, they also have only one which you will be competing for with other guests and I had to wait 3 hours to be picked up when using it. The round trip cost to El Nido Town is 30 USD (Should be 3 USD in a tuktuk) Given you are on a hill with nothing else around, you will likely be forced to use this service. Facilities: The hotel itself has a small pool, restaurant and 5 rooms. You may think on the images it looks nice, this is completely superficial and you quickly find out it is tired and impractical. The restaurant is open and has no aircon, the food is expensive and of poor quality compared to El Nido Town, you also aren't allowed to bring food or drink from outside and again given the poor location will be forced to eat there. No fridge, dirty rooms, ant infested and mouldy. Staff were rude and unhelpful, rooms had no curtains so you can see the bed from outside, and the bathroom had a seethrough netting with staff lingering outside. Also even when no one is in the hotel they blast music from the bar (mostly the same loop of cheesy EDM) with disproportionately loud sub which was really loud in the room played from like 8A.M to around 10/11PM nice little cherry on top of the roasting hot room. Not an issue given the room was so hot but they didn't have hot water in our room ( or anyone else's there at the time ) not sure why you'd want a cold bath but that's all you'll get. Genuinely don't believe anyone could be happy staying here, Philippines hotels generally aren't the best value but this takes it to a whole new level

We had the most incredible stay at Ahana, and would come back again in a heartbeat. All the staff were so incredibly welcoming and helpful throughout our stay - especially Niel - nothing was too much hassle. Ahana has been built so beautifully with great attention to detail; it feels like a little paradise with its gorgeous views, greenery, infinity pool, bar, and stunning rooms and bathrooms, and solid Wi-Fi. We had the best sleep at Ahana too with the coziest beds you just sink into. So relaxing. And the food!! SO delicious. We woke up every morning looking forward to our french toast and smoothies :) Getting there was no problem at all - they reached out to us to find out what time we need picking up (complementary) and also going back to the airport. This was a huge help as it was in a proper truck rather than a tricycle which is the only other way of getting around El Nido (other than by moped), which would not have been ideal with our luggage. I understand that the track to the resort may not be ideal for those who struggle to walk up the stairs with ease day-to-day. But if you can do that then you can get up the hill. We found it really easy to get to the main town of El Nido by arranging tricycles to pick us up and drop us off at the base of the hill whenever we needed - Ahana are also kind enough to take you up and down the hill free of charge if you cannot do the walk yourself. Although the resort isn’t in the centre of town, the pay-off for the peace, views and gorgeous apartments is more than worth it and makes the resort so luxurious. Again, we didn’t have any problems anyway with the location and by arranging tricycles we were free to do all the amazing activities El Nido has to offer and stay out as late as we wanted. The only con I can give Ahana is the bunnies out the front. They are not cared for properly at all given the teeny tiny size of their cage and absolutely nothing to stimulate them. I can’t imagine the suffering they are feeling. Sadly this is something more people need educating on. Ahana, please do feel free to reach out to me personally if you would like some help understanding what is best for bunnies so positive changes can be made - I am more than happy to help :) Thank you for the most magical stay that we will never forget - we really hope to come back again in the future!