Post Birthday stay at Discovery Primea

09/19/2015. As part of my 2015 birthday celebration, Chea wanted us to take a staycation at Discovery Primea. It's a new residential condominium with some of the floors and units opened up as a hotel.

Again, Chea was able to get a discount so we're jumping on the opportunity. We decided to get a 2 room unit so I could bring my parents along with Chea and Thirdy. We'll be staying overnight, but during the afternoon, our relatives will be dropping by so we can have a little party.

My mom left early so she could drop by my sister and go to the hotel along with my nephew (Fiji) and niece (Citti) and my sister of course. Gerry wouldn't be able to come along as he had work.

Check in was at 12noon, so we left around a little before 11am. It was Chea, Thirdy, Tita Fe, my dad, and myself in the car. We dropped by the columbarium first to visit my brother. Then we stopped at Eton Ortigas to get Chea's new phone replaced. I bought her a BlackBerry Q10 to replace her old Torch which finally died after years of service. But the unit we got had a stuck key, so we had to have it replaced.

Thirdy and his lolo having fun taking pictures

Entrance from Apartment Ridge Road

After that, we headed directly to Makati. We arrived a little past 12:20pm at the hotel. Our room wasn't ready yet so we had to wait. By that time, my mom, my sister, Fiji, and Citti came over from Glorietta and met us at the hotel lobby.

View from the inside towards Ayala Avenue

Reception

The place isn't as fancy as some other hotels, although it had high ceilings and was modern. There was an entrance on other side of the building fronting Ayala Avenue and Apartment Ridge Road. Both sides were mostly glass so there was bright natural light coming in.

My sister Maricel and Thirdy relaxing for a bit

Clockwise from top: My dad, Thirdy, Citti, My sister, Fiji

The bar

The corner post between the lobby and the lounge

The lounge and the bar. At the far end is the dining area

The welcome drinks

We waited at a lounge connected to their main dining room. The place is a bit narrow but since it's fronting a glass wall with a wide open view of the other side, it looked spacious enough. We were given welcome drinks. We debated on what was in the drink as there was even a purple flower. I said it was a bit minty and a sweet cucumber like taste.

After a bit, we took the elevator to our room which was 507. At the 5th floor elevator lobby, my mom noticed a platter filled with small apples. We were told that they're free and we can take as much as we want. We did and my sister and my mom loved it since it was sweet and crunchy.

Add the elevator lobby taking some apples

This is the first place I went to that I could get fruits freely and for free at that. We got into the room, and it felt average at first. Probably because the room is very minimalist, with a very clean look.

Welcome treat! Plus a cake coz it's a few days after my birthday!

A coffee book by the sofa. Awesome idea

The view once you got through the door only showed the receiving area, where there was an office desk, a receiving area with a large couch and two other chairs and a center table. Just beyond that was a very large kitchen.

A very plain entertainment center but I love the wooden drawer

Work desk

The work desk actually has a hidden compartment ... for a computer!

View from the door, besides the work desk. 

These aren't free of course.

I'm not sure if they're expensive as compared to the other hotels we've been. 

Hallway to the rooms. The first door on the right is the common bathroom

Then as you go to the center of the room, you'll see a corridor off to the sides that leads to a common CR at the right, a master bedroom to the left, and a second bedroom directly ahead.

The sink

Free toiletries. They even have mouthwash! And the bottled water is free of course.

Simple toilet with bidet

The towel holder above the toilet

The enclosed shower

The common CR was fairly average, with just a sink, a toilet bowl and an enclosed shower area.

The bedroom ahead had two double sized beds, a closet, a wooden drawer with a large LED tv on top and bed tables.

View of the master bedroom from the door. It isn't that big, but it's sufficient. 

View of the bed from the cabinet. Six pillows baby! Although the spiderman pillow is Thirdy's.

View from the right side of the room

When I got into the main bedroom, it was about the same size as the other bedroom but with one King Sized bed.

Bedside table. The gadget on the left are controls for the centralized A/C for the room. I didn't bother with the other buttons.

View of the room from window

The master bedroom cabinet. You can see the two pairs of slippers that have thick soles. 

The other half of the cabinet

Again, there was a closet with sliding doors with a safe deposit, and an ironing board and a couple of bath robes and some thick comfortable slippers.



There was a cabinet drawer with another LED tv on it. There was a chair and a small table near the windows.

The clock/speaker actually has some oomph to it. I listed to some songs off of youtube and it sounded better than expected. I'd definitely get one if i see it on sale for less than 2,000 pesos. 

As I started to take notice of the details, it started to feel upscale. On other side of the bed were side tables with lamps. On the right side of the bed, was a clock and a Philips speaker/clock for an iphone. On the other table was a master control for the centralized air condition for the room.

Yes, that's a tv at the end of the bath tub

An enclosed shower

The sink

We also had a bathroom in the master bedroom which had a very long sink, a toilet, an enclosed shower and a bathtub. And at the foot of a bath tub, was a TV! The bath tub had more features than the regular ones. It's not as big as the other bathrooms in other hotels, but you have to remember that you have a secondary bathroom.

There was a lot of toiletries free for use by the clients, although Chea mentioned that when she visited once, they had Hermes toiletries.

I posted on fb: "omg. gusto ko maglaba". 

I went around taking pictures again and when I got back to the receiving area, you'll notice the front loading washing machine that made me comment on facebook that I wanted to do my laundry. This is the first hotel I've been to that had its own washing machine, and it was the front loading type at that.

Contents of the fridge. We filled it up later with bottles of soda we bought from the supermarket at nearby Glorietta

Induction oven. 

Coffee maker

Coffee and tea, all for free!

Map

Although there was the usual food items and beverages in the fridge and the kitchen tables, there were others that were complete free, like the bottled water (which was unlimited. We requested several more bottled waters the entire time and were delivered to our room at no charge), the bags of tea, and even coffee. Their coffee maker was the one that used coffee cartridges which we've never seen at other hotels. We never bothered with the toaster but it was there too, along with a microwave and the aforementioned fridge.

View from the kitchen area

Slightly panned to the right

I think my first impression of being a little average is inaccurate. I think the correct term is homey. It does feel like you're in a very well kept residential condo (which is what Discovery Primea is) and that's how the rooms are designed.

My sis, Fiji, and Thirdy fooling around in bed

Cabinet for the secondary room

Nice tie and clothes hanger

Room's temp control

Tissue paper

Later, Chea went out with my mom to buy us food as we haven't had lunch yet. So we stayed and enjoyed our room. The place felt huge. I thought it was around 120 square meters or so, but Chea checked their website later and said it was just around 96 sqm.

About after an hour or so, Chea and my came back with bags and bags of Jollibee food products and a cake from Red Ribbon. We then started to have our late lunch, consisting mostly of Chickenjoy and Burger rice meals, lol.

Later, Chea's relatives arrived: Chi (Chea's sister) and her son Justine, Tita Emy and her daughers, Karen and Donna. Jigly, Chea's cousin arrived earlier.

Thirdy getting ready to take a shower

Thirdy trying out the jet pool

My dad checking out the view

We then took Thirdy down to the 3rd floor for a swim. My dad came along too. They had an infinity pool and a smaller jet pool ideal for kids. Thirdy stayed there with Chea.

View of the other 65 floors

View from the infinity pool

There was a couple relaxing in pool lounge chairs, while another family was enjoying the infinity pool. It was around 3pm and the sun was on the other side of the building so it was shady.

The cousins taking a dip

My dad taking a few laps

A bit later, Fiji, Citty, Tita Fe, my mom and sis arrived. The two kids joined Thirdy in the pool, and soon, my dad took a dip as well after borrowing my board shorts (my mom forgot to bring his). We stayed until 5pm since Thirdy really enjoyed the pool.

Another birthday treat from Discovery!

Thirdy singing me a birthday song to go with the cake

When we came back up to the room, we blew out the birthday cake candle, and ate again.

After that, Chea's relatives left, while Tita Fe, my sis, Fiji and Citti stayed a little while longer. I was still full because of the late lunch and the merienda, so we didn't bother with dinner. We just ate what was around (mostly Jollibee meals still).

Menu

The prices. Looks pretty reasonable. 

At around 8pm, Chea, Thirdy and I drove Tita Fe, My sis, Fiji and Citti to the MRT so they could head home. Gerry was still unavailable so they had to commute home to QC.

We drove back, had our car parked by the valet (it's free) and headed to our hotel room.

The rest of the night was spent watching TV, and dozing off. We went to bed at around 10pm, but I couldn't sleep soundly the entire night and found myself waking up all the time, and walking around. I really like the size and layout of the place. 96 square meters, and yet it felt like it was sufficient space for you to live in.

Thirdy had a crying fit during the night as he was looking for Tita Fe so that woke up Chea and my mom for a while. After half an hour or so, he was able to get back to sleep.

Breakfast!

The setting

the food towel

The other tables

In the morning, we woke up at about 7am and headed down to the ground floor to have our breakfast. We were the third group there, but there were sufficient tables and chairs around as guests arrived later.

The choices

The main course was a set meal. You would choose one from a list and they would have it cooked. There was however a buffet area with bread, all sorts of cheese, nuts, jams, salad, and some chilled juice and milk.

Buffet breakfast items

Salad station

Nuts, cereals, and cheese!

I love the pineapply and mango chevre!

Dried fruits and nuts

Bread! The croissants were soft and flaky, just the way i like 'em!

Jams

Milk, a couple of chilled juices, and some fruits

Fruits!

My mom ordered the congee, my Dad ordered a sandwich I think, Chea ordered the wagyu tapa, and I ordered an eggs benedict.

Just this for me

As i keep on saying, I'm not a breakfast person so I was not even able to finish the Eggs Benedict. It tasted fine and it was freshly cooked so I had to let it cool a while as it was hot.

Big bowl. My mom couldn't finish a fraction of it

My dad's order. That's salmon i think.

Eggs benedict for me

Wagyu tapa for chea

Thirdy ate cereals mostly.

The meal cost 1,100 pesos for non-hotel guests. That's a bit expensive even with the unlimited option for bread, cereals and others. But it's free for our stay so I won't complain.

After breakfast, my dad and I went back to the pool so he could have a few laps while my mom and Chea packed our belongings. After half an hour or so, we went back to our room and rested a while.

Our checkout was at 12noon, but Chea and I want to check out the Asia Comicon at the World Trade Center so we were out of Discovery Primea by 10:30pm.

So how's our stay. It was pretty great.

The room is quite big, and there were a lot of freebies. There's even an activity set for your kid (if you have one) which included a bag, an activity book and coloring pens. It's unfortunate that there was only the Minnie Mouse design but Thirdy wanted to wear it soon as he saw it, so we'll be taking it back once their Mickey Mouse stock comes in.

As for the service, the people are very friendly and very accommodating. Just one call, and they're at your room within minutes. We never had to make a second call at all.

However, there's no activity room like a billiard room, or a playroom for kids, or even a gym if you want to get some burn time, although they do have a chapel. Maybe in the future when they finish the rest of their renovations.

The room that we got had the normal price of around 17,+++ pesos for an overnight stay (ouch for middle income earners like me). We actually planned on getting a smaller room for 4 adults (and a kid) which was about 7,+++ at a discounted rate, but we were upgraded three times. Discovery Primea was on its soft operations so I guess some of the higher end rooms were still available.

So yeah, if you could splurge that much for a hotel stay, Discovery Primea's a good option. It's just a street crossing away from Glorietta 4 which brings a lot of shopping options, restaurants that are easily accessible. Other luxurious options such as City of Dreams or Solaire Hotel and Casino only have expensive restaurants and boutique shops within the immediate area. You'll have to take a service shuttle to Mall of Asia.

With Discovery Primea, everything is accessible just by walking.

It's also quiet since they can't handle a lot of guests, so if you really want some serenity, this would be a perfect place for you.