My New Favorite Hotel in Manila, The Picasso
On our most recent trip to Manila, Marc and I stayed at the Picasso Hotel in Salcedo Village. To be honest, my knowledge of hotels in the Philippines' capital is very limited. The only ones I know are the ones I used to see and hear about while I was still living in Manila ages ago, and I mean ages ago. The Manila Hotel, The Philippine Plaza, now the SOFITEL, the Century Park Sheraton Hotel, The Intercontinental Makati, and the Manila Garden Hotel, now the Dusit Thani were the only ones I knew of. Most of these hotels I saw while my family and I shopped in Makati or saw while my dad drove along Roxas Boulevard. I had never heard of the Picasso. I don't even think it was already in existence and in business at that time. Anyway, we wanted to stay at the Dusit Thani once again but since they raised their rates so high this time around, Marc and I opted for the Picasso Hotel in Salcedo Village, in Makati's upscale Financial District.
I was really happy with the location. It was just a block away from the Ayala Triangle, a beautifully manicured and well tended park in the middle of Makati's Central Business District. It was likewise just a good 10-15 minutes leisurely walk to the Greenbelt and Glorietta Malls where restaurants and shopping abound. I think we shall use this hotel as our base on our next visits to the Philippines.
The bed in our room
The wall opposite the bed. The flat screen TV was placed here.
The flat screen TV
The kitchenette
The mini fridge under the kitchenette's counter. This appliance served us well during our visit. I kept the cakes I purchased from Goldilocks here like the yummy Sans Rival.
This is the frosted glass wall that separated the bedroom from the bathroom.
A view of the sink, vanity mirror, and toilet
A full view of the vanity. The shower was located to the right of the sink.
The frosted glass doors to the shower stall
The shower. I particularly liked the shower stall. It had hooks from which a clothes line could hang. I actually used it to dry our white laundry after I washed them by hand. There were no laundry facilities in the hotel and neither were there any laudrymats nearby.
The door to our room
On our last day in Manila, we had to leave the hotel at 4 am to catch a 6 am Air China flight for Beijing, China. Not wanting to bother anyone to take us to the airport anymore so early in the morning, we were able to arrange a private car and chaffeur, not a cheap taxi, from the hotel to take us to the NAIA (Manila International) Airport for a very small fee. It was worth it. Thanks for much to the staff and employees of the Picasso.
We were very happy with the Picasso and we definitely have no problems staying here next time we return to Manila.