The hunt for an UHD (4K) television (LG 49UH600T)

We've been staying at our condo in Mandaluyong City for a year now. And all that time, we just had one 32" Hisense HD Ready (720p) television in our room.

Thirdy was attending Kindergarten near our QC house last year so we didn't need a second tv for the living room at that time.

But starting this month (June 2017), he'll be staying with us in Mandaluyong during weekdays, so we need a second TV for him and Tita Fe in the living room already.

I've been planning to get a TV that's around 55 inches. Our unit is small so it'll look huge. I was torn between getting an Ultra HD (4K) or just a Full HD (1080p). My hard factor is the price. I don't want to spend more than 30,000 pesos.

Per usual, i did my due diligence. First is to check with OLX.ph, to get a rough estimate on the available TVs and their prices.

I didn't want to spend too much, and the last TV that we bought was the HiSense brand we have for our room. We bought it last October 2016 for around 11,000 pesos and I haven't experienced any issue with it.

It's a Smart TV and uses Opera App Store for it's application. It supports Netflix and has even a dedicated button. The pre-installed Youtube app also functions well. There aren't that many apps you can get from the Opera Store but I barely use the Smart tv functions as my main PC is connected to it (as well as my Xbox One).

The Hisense 55" UHD model is around 30k at Cash N' Carry in Makati. That's for cash  payment or straight credit card transaction (no installment/layaway option).

The 55" Full HD model (55K220, which is a larger size version of the 32K220 that we own) is around 24k. So a difference of about 5 - 6k.

I did some quick compare for LG and it's about 3k more expensive than the Hisense counterparts. Not bad.

Next step was for an actual look of the models. Since we live beside a mall with my go-to Applicance store (Robinson's Appliances), I went there and checked on the Hisense displayed units.

The 55" Full HD models cost around 27k with cash/straight CC payments (3k more than Cash N' Carry). I could go and buy at Cash N' Carry instead of Robinson's Appliances once I decided to buy.

I can buy cash, but I prefer an installment plan. I just don't want to part with 30k in cash when I can do it gradually across several months especially if it's 0% interest.

I looked at the other models from the other known brands (Samsung, LG, and Sharp) but didn't bother with the other ones (TCL, Devant, etc) as I've read some bad feedback from them back when I was looking for a bedroom TV. Nothing stood out at that time.

Next was to decide on whether to get a Ultra HD or settle with Full HD.

One thing to consider is that 4K content isn't that widely available yet. 4K bluray discs are available, but you need a player for that. And those are expensive right now.

You can stream with Youtube and Netflix, but you'd need a fast internet connection. Definitely, not viable right now. Downloading them is possible, but each movie is about 50 gigabytes compared to a small 1080p video of around 4gb, or a raw ripped Bluray copy around 25gb. With hard drive prices still expensive, you won't be saving a lot of 4k videos on your PC or portable drives.

However, I did read that UHD (4K) tvs, can upscale lower resolution videos (the standard 480p, HDReady 720p or FullHD 1080p) that they will look better than on lower resolution TVs. So getting a UHD TV now even with little 4k content available will still be a better choice. As you have a future proof TV. You just need to wait for cheaper Hard drive prices or faster and cheaper broadband connection.

After thinking about it, I've decided on getting a UHD TV.

I did some research on Hisense UHD TVs. Most of them are pretty good considering the price. Still, I'm a bit apprehensive about getting a Hisense TV for 30k.

For a 32" at 11k, it's ok. But for 30k, I would like a more well known brand, even if Hisense is already the 4th largest TV maker in the world.

So I again checked OLX.ph for a UHD TV from japanese and korean makers. I found out that the 55" variants are out of my ceiling of 30k.

But I did find a few models within my price range, but a tad smaller. There's a 2016 49" model (49UH6100) from LG that's being sold for around 29-30k. The 2017 version (49UH6500) is around 33k.

Samsung's 49" UHD model is around 35k. But there's a 49" Curved model being sold at Lazada.com.ph for only 30k with free speakers.

It looks enticing, but I'm not sold on curved displays. I think it's a bit gimmicky at that size especially since you'll be watching it from a distance. And I have a feeling that replacement display panels will be prohibitively expensive. So i'll stick with flat displays for now.

I did find a Sharp 50" model at around 30k as well. It's a smart TV using Android TV (Lollipop).

Samsung uses their own OS, Tizen. Unfortunately, it's not that mature so I assume there isn't that many applications you can use. LG uses WebOS.

Now Android TV opens up a lot of possibility given the large library of Android apps. However, you can always buy an android TV box or an android stick with any TV now. But it does save you at least 2000 pesos.

However, I did read that Hisense owns and manufactures Sharp TVs now. So you're just basically buying a rebranded Hisense TV. You'll probably be just as good as getting a Hisense TV and just get an android stick/box if you've outgrown the apps from the Opera store. You'll probably end up doing that in a few years once Android TV lollipop gets old for the newer apps. Android fragmentation. Read on it.

By this time, I think I've settled on the LG 49UH6100. It's a year old, but that's ok. Nothing significant with the 2017 version over the 2016 one. It's smaller too, at only 49". But hey, maybe 65" will be cheaper after a few years.

Now it's time to look where to buy one.

Robinson's Appliances offers it for 32,500 for cash/straight CC payment. Cash N' Carry has it for 30k cash/straight cc payment. Automatic Center at SM Light doesn't have it any longer.

I checked Saver's appliance store in at Visayas Avenue, and it's tagged as 39k despite an ad in OLX.ph saying it's only 31k for the same terms. I was advised by the olx seller to go back and look for him. But i thought I might just get one from Robinson's Appliances as it was closer and I could have it carried over to our condo unit on the same day without paying for delivery charges.

The TV model's cheaper at Cash N' Carry by around 2,500, but it's a bit far.

We also checked Western Appliances at P.Tuazon Avenue as I saw their FB ad for a 'bagsak presyo' sale all weekends of June. But when we got there, I was disappointed.

Basically, their SRP for the TV's was the price they had when they first came out. And then they say that they drastically reduced the prices. However, even at this 'reduced' prices, other stores still sold them a lot lower.

Today, 2017/06/18, at around 4pm, we decided to drop by an Abenson's store in Greenhills on the way to Mandaluyong from QC. Chea remembered the time I asked her to visit that branch when I saw their ad about open box/display items.

Good thing that we did. They were having a flash sale today.

We saw that the 49UH6100 was being sold at around 36k for cash/straight payments. Disappointing at first.

We spoke to one of the agents, and I mentioned that Robinsons' was selling it for 32.5k on the same terms. The agent said that he could try and make it available for 36k, but for 3 months installment.

Chea and I then checked if we took the 32.5k straight CC with Robinson's and then transferred it to a 12-month installment plan with another card with the typical interest charges. It came out around 34.8k.

Chea showed the computation to the agent and said that it will be cheaper for us if we went with Robinson's. Not to be outdone, they made some calls and asked their bosses (we were talking to a sales manager already) if they can offer it lower. Chea said we could get it for 35k at Robinson's on a 12-month installment plan based on her computations.

35k is 5k more than my original price limit. But the only way I could get it at that amount was to buy it on cash terms from Cash N' Carry.

While the sales personnel was talking to his boss on the phone, I went around, and saw some display units being sold on the other side of the store. There were some pretty nice options there.

I saw an LG 49UH600T model being sold for only 26k. I was surprised at the price. It was probably an earlier 2016 model used as a store display.

The 10k difference is definitely tempting. Yes, it was WebOS 2.0 as compared to the 49UH6100's WebOS 3.0 platform but I thought, i'd probably just use Youtube from the available apps. I'll primarily use cable TV with it since it'll be for the living room.

It doesn't have HDR (High Dynamic Range) unlike the 6100 model, but it's something I could live with at the moment. It's not a deal breaker for a 10,000 peso difference. I'll probably upgrade the TV 5 years down the line, and it'll be one of the features that I'll be looking for aside from an OLED screen.

Another upside of the newer models is Trumotion or the greater than 120Hz refresh rate. A faster refresh rate makes movement shown on the tv a lot smoother. It makes movies looks smoother. The faster refresh rate is something you'd appreciate especially with playing action games or watching action movies on the TV.

That's something I would like. But again, will I pay 10k pesos more for those feature? Probably not. Unless it came with an OLED panel.

The sales agent checked how long it was on demo mode, and it showed to be just around 50 hours. He was surprised. He said we were buying a display unit that was just turned on for a total of about 2-3 days, so it was practically brand new.

The agent asked if we wanted it on installment plan, and he was able to get it for the same price of 26k stretched for 6 months.

There were a lot of other deals for store display TVs and some of them are pretty good. But Im glad that we decided to drop by Abenson's around Greenhills. And it's always a good choice to bring Chea when shopping. She always gets the best deals.

If we didn't decide to get the 49UH600T, we would have gotten the 49UH6100 for 35k on a 12 month installment.

A little bit of patience goes a long way.


Update: It's almost 6 months to the day that we bought the TV. So far it's working pretty well.

There are two features that I love about the TV. Smartshare and WiDi.

Smartshare is their app that allows the TV to connect to DLNA devices. These are network devices that can share their media content. Using smartshare, i can connect to the shared files I have on my PC. It allows me to watch the movies on the TV from my pc. My PC has about 5 hard drives on it, ranging from 1.5TB to 3TB, and it's mostly Movies and TV shows. So I can watch them on the living room while my PC is in the bedroom.

It works well for 1080p files, but I can't make it work for the 4K movies I have.

Another is WiDi or Wireless Display and Miracast. WiDi allows your device that has this feature to cast or stream it's display wirelessly to the TV. Using it, I'm able to project my phone (Xiaomi Note 4X) onto the TV wirelessly. I can do the same thing with my laptop that has WiDi.

So I can now project my laptop display onto the TV without using HDMI cables. I can watch movies on the TV now with another option aside from SmartShare.

There are other few apps on the LG Store, but I barely bother with it anymore except probably Netflix. But the app is bad as it gets stuck buffering. So I just use Netflix on my Xbox (I transferred it from our bedroom) to watch on the big TV, although i mostly watch in the bedroom TV.

I have a few 4K content now, and it's on a USB hard drive attached to the TV as it's hard to stream it wirelessly over the network.

The visual details are there, but I do feel like I'm missing out not having the HDR and the Trumotion features. But at least, I'll have something to look forward to when I upgrade the TV in a few years.

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Happy 4th Birthday, Thirdy!

April 17, 2016. It's Thirdy's 4th birthday, so we're celebrating it with a couple of activities with the clan.

Birthday Breakfast!

Thirdy's preferred breakfast nowadays consists of the words, bread and butter. 

First off, we stayed overnight at Shangri-la EDSA hotel as part of Chea's 12 for 12 staycation hotels for her 40th year. So after the breakfast, we went back to our room and Chea's parents arrived with Tita Fe a few minutes after. They took Thirdy swimming again while I took a power nap.

Later, we checked out at around noon and proceeded to Trampoline Park at Greenfield District in Mandaluyong City.

Thirdy raring to go!

Thirdy is just a bundle of energy so he'll love this place. Plus, the entire clan gets to play around with Thirdy. It's their first time here, while Chea and Thirdy already tried it out a few weeks back.


There was a sale for coupons at Metrodeal a few weeks back and we took the opportunity to buy the tickets then.

We were scheduled at 1 pm, so by the time we got there, most of the relatives were there waiting. It was just the Esmundo clan who were running a bit late. My sister and her family, were stuck in traffic so they'll just go straight to the second activity for the day.

As usual, Thirdy couldn't wait to get started. As soon as they got in, he was already all over the place. He enjoys playing and being active with family, so this was a pretty great activity for his birthday.

Chea and I didn't bother to join them inside. I just stayed on the 2nd level balcony and recorded it on Chea's Go Pro. I was planning to buy a shoulder strap for the Go Pro, but got too busy to actually buy one.

After our time expired, we then headed off to ACE Water Spa hotel, still in Mandaluyong.
Chea was looking for a place we could eat after the trampoline fun.

Let's party party!

Birthday boy with his nanay

Thirdy in the room!

She ended up reserving two rooms at Party Party Family KTV at the 6th level of the hotel. While Thirdy still can't read to belt out some songs on the videoke machine, he still enjoys music, especially the danceable ones.

Thirdy enjoyed the hats strewn around the room

They have a projector for this room

Some of the food

Dug in before taking a picture. Lol.

Mini mini burger. Didn't eat one. Was happy with the meatball pasta

So from 2:30pm to 5:30pm, the clan had a good time singing songs and eating food. Granted, the food wasn't topnotch, the entire cost was affordable.

Happy Birthday, Thirdy!

The room was huge and state of the art. Controls were on a touch screen panel, but there was still a song list so you can browse for your songs.

From Party Party Family KTV's fb page. They like to take pictures of their guests. You can see Thirdy fighting for the mic.

Ready to blow!

Good job!

After the party, Thirdy went home to Antipolo since he's spending most of the summer there with his grandparents. Chea and I went home to QC after.

It was a pretty fun afternoon of activities. Now let's get to planning Thirdy's 5th party.

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12 for 12: Marco Polo Ortigas (with Club Access), Valentine Dinner Date at F1 Hotel and Buffet Breakfast at Cucina

2016/02/14. It's valentine's day and we're spending it with an overnight stay at Marco Polo Ortigas. But first, we'll be having lunch at Dong Juan at Mother Ignacia in QC with my parents, Chea, Thirdy and Tita Fe.

Thirdy at Marco Polo

My parents went to church so we just met them at Dong Juan. As usual, it's packed, so my parents had to park a little bit farther away. Good thing Chea, Thirdy, Tita Fe and I, arrived earlier so we managed to have a room all to ourselves. By the time we left, there were a few people already waiting.

Our nook at Dong Juan

Iced Tea

Calamares

Sisig

Fried Rice

Pasta (with truffle oil yumm)

Ribs

Salad for the 'rents

Mug dessert

Chea and I agreed this time that the food didn't taste as great as the first time we ate here. Probably because there was a party going on so the cooks probably weren't able to prepare our food quite well. We ended up spending 2,000 pesos on pork ribs, a pasta dish, salad, sisig, a plate of rice, a dessert, and two servings of iced tea for 2 adults, 3 seniors and a 4 year old kid who barely ate. Ouch.

After that, my parents went home, while Chea, Tita Fe, Thirdy and I headed of to Marco Polo.

Along the way, we dropped by Cubao to get one of those MyPhone my28 android phones from Smart and Myphone that only cost 888 pesos and comes with 100mb free data every month. Since it's dirt cheap, I decided to get one as I need some of the apps that doesn't work with my BlackBerry Passport anymore (facebook, youtube, viber, etc).

Elevator lobby at the 3rd floor

Nanay Chea and Thirdy waiting for the lift

Inside the lift

We then headed straight to Ortigas. The parking entrance is at the back of the hotel, so went in and upwards to the 3rd level.

The reception desk at the 24th floor

Waiting area fronting the reception desk

To the left from the elevators is the main restaurant, Cucina

Another waiting area between Cucina and the reception desk

The reception area is on the 24th floor, so from the 3rd floor, we had to take the elevator. As soon as you get off the elevator, you'll see some seats. Off to the left is their main restaurant, Cucina. To the right is the reception desk. Fronting the reception desk is another receiving area, with a bar, and the children's playroom at the other end.

Thirdy excited to go in

So while Chea was inquiring with the reception (seems that everyone is staying late and/or extending their stay), Thirdy and I went to the playroom dubbed the Piccolo Kids Club (which I think refers to the musical instrument and not the green guy from Dragon Ball Z).

A small slide

A couple of feet from the slide

Panning to the left where Thirdy is already picking up some toys

The room is pretty small. Probably just around 8 square meters. Good thing there were just 2 kids playing at the time, along with two adults. They managed to fit in a small slide in there, which is Thirdy's favorite. It's just perfect for his size.

There's a TV too so you could watch some movies.

After a few minutes, Chea came in and told us that the room wasn't available yet but we could already go to the Continental Lounge so we can try it out and probably get some free drinks.

Another restaurant on the 44th floor

The lounge is at the 44th floor so we had to take the elevator. Only one set of the elevators can access the higher floors, while the rest can access the lower floors.

Club access! Yes!

The Continental Club lounge is bigger than the one at Seda. It's far longer and wider at that. Aside from the main hall of the lounge, there's a smaller area which can probably be called a library as there are books lining the walls, while there's also a meeting room, complete with a desk and swivel chairs.

Reading area

A meeting room

The view. That's the Medical City and Rockwell Ortigas if you're wondering

Thirdy making tampo because he wants to go back to the playroom

The rest of the lounge 

Playing with my new burner phone

Free drinks

We sat at the chairs near the meeting room while I fiddled with my new phone and drank some juice.

Finally! We have a room. 3901.

The door from within. Cabinets to the left, and bathroom to the right

Beside the cabinet is a small bench with drawers

The sliding wall. With mirrors!

After a while, our room was still not available so we were upgraded to a single bed suite at the 39th floor. The main difference with our room was that it comes with a sliding wall so you could hide your bed from a very small receiving/dining area (it barely fits a small round table and two chairs).

View of the room from behind the sliding walls

The layout is pretty much the same as most modern single room hotel or condominium units (sans the kitchen). The small hallway to the room has the bathroom to the left, and the cabinets to the right.

Enter the cabinet

Just a couple of drawers

The cabinets has the usual flat iron and ironing board. I didn't notice a safe deposit box, and wasn't planning on using one anyway.

Sliding door. No locks!

Bath tub

His and Her sinks

Toiletries

Bath robes in the bath room. Nice. Im used to seeing them in the cabinets

Toilet with an enclosure. 

The shower

The bathroom is average in size, with the toilet and the shower in separate glass compartments. There's a phone beside the toilet in case you need to call someone while doing a number 2. There's a bath tub too, with handlebars which is pretty nice to help you get in and out of the tub. The entire room's tiled in one design from the floor to the walls so it looks pretty clean and nice.

Kitchen counter

Small table

As I mentioned, there's small round table with two chairs , in front of a small kitchen cabinet that had the coffee maker.

Thirdy trying out the bed and pillows

Small TV

We have a big queen sized bed which Thirdy likes a lot with bedside tables at either side, and a long bench at the foot of the bed. And of course a work desk and a tv fronting the bed

Chair

View of the Ortigas concrete jungle

There's a chaise lounge chair by the window (with an arm table), in case you want to sit by the window and admire the view, which was some buildings within Ortigas Center. Chea was disappointed as she wanted the Metrowalk view. She wants to transfer to another room when we get the chance.

Going up for snacks

Later, Chea's sister and nephew arrived. Justine will be the one to take Thirdy along for a swim. Chea and I went back to the Continental Lounge to get some snacks.

Looks like somebody (a lot of them) beat us to the food)

A bit pathetic compared to Seda. They were constantly putting in new food

Coffee area. The inner area is where the cocktails were supposed to be. 

They only had some pastries available, a little bit of fruit and ham finger sandwiches. It was a bit disappointing especially with what we had when we were at Seda Hotel. While the lounge at Seda was a bit more relaxed with people actually wearing casual clothes, here it's a bit uptight as people here probably use the area for meetings and discussions.

My very small and disappointing snack

Coffee jelly. Pretty ok

There were also no available computers for use as compared to Seda. You could rent a laptop per the attendants, but I didn't want to pony up cash just so I could blog a while. I am getting disappointed by the minute here.

Since there was barely any food, we finished quickly and went back to our room. Thirdy was back in the room as the main pool was too deep, and the jacuzzi was too hot.

We transferred rooms to the 38th floor since Chea really wanted the Metrowalk view.

Around 6 or so, we left the room and headed to F1 Hotel in Taguig. There's a valentine dinner there with a performer and someone gifted us tickets for the event. Tita Fe went home along with Chie and Justine, so it was just Chea, Thirdy and myself.

Ceiling of the elevator area. Fancy

Chea registering us

The trip was quicker than we had imagined, so we were there a little earlier than 7am.

Guy scratching his head while waiting for the time to start the photo booth

Awww. 14. Because it's Feb 14.

There was a main registration booth while there was another one for DealGrocer. Apparently, some of the tickets were offered at Dealgrocer for only 1,800 pesos from the original price of 2,999. That's a nice deal right there. A 5 course meal and wine at a hotel and a show to boot.

Side of the place, with a projector

Thirdy just woke up. He's grumpy the first few minutes of waking up.

The stage with a piano

We wanted to make the most of our stay at Marco Polo so we wanted to leave early. We were told that we could already eat even though the event starts at 7:30pm. We were given bread while waiting.

The menu for the night

Some bread to tide us over. Mostly Thirdy.

The ticket

Thirdy back to his jovial self

So we asked the waiter to start serving us our food.

Salad with vinaigrette

Pumpkin soup

We started with a light salad, followed by pumpkin soup.

What do you call this?

After that, the photobooth was already open so we took the chance to have our pictures taken while there were barely any guests.

Lobster! But a bit small though

Ma litid

Later, the main course was served. I opted for the lobster thermidor, while Chea went with the Beef offering.

Ice Cream Mango Crepe

Then for the dessert was a crepe.

We declined the wine and just drank water.

We were finished before most of the guests arrived, or the show actually started. Like I said, we wanted to leave early so we could go back to the hotel. We were told that the performer was Vanessa Monot, a finalist in the talent show The Voice Philippines.

Since Chea and I never watched the show, we weren't tempted to stay and watch the performance. And to be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the meal. It was a hotel and I was expecting dishes I could not get from restaurants.

The lobster was ok but small, and I could get that at any seafood restaurant in the Metro. The beef was heavy with tendon. And not in a good way. And Crepeman has better crepes than what we were served.

If I paid for the dinner myself (at 2,999 per head), I'd probably be swearing my head off. But since it was just a gift, I just feel bad for the people who paid the whole amount. But maybe they were there for the show?

Anyway, we left before anybody even anybody stepped onto the stage, got into our car, drove out of BGC and through a McDonald's drive thru to buy Thirdy a happy meal, and back to the hotel.

We transferred rooms since Chea really wanted a view of the Metrowalk.

View of metrowalk at night

Our new room. 

It's exactly the same sans the sliding walls

We slept early (it was a little before 10 I think), but I kept waking up the entire time.

Soon, it was 8am, so we went down to the 24th floor where their main resaurant, Cucina, was situated.

Heading in for breakfast

The eagle's due to them having a branch at Davao

Our table. Nice view.

Cucina had a nice view of Ortigas, being located so high in the hotel. One side of the place is just peppered with floor to ceiling windows. It's a little bit small, but better than Discovery Primea.

There weren't that many offerings. It's almost the same size as with Seda. Just enough for you to have a decent breakfast.

Juice

Fruits

Salad counter

Okonomiyaki! Ranma!

Japanese food

For soup

and noodles

Thirdy's favorite breakfast: Champorado

Eggs and omelette

Pinoy servings

South Asian offerings

Fresh noodles cooked on the spot

Bacon

Cereals

Bread pudding tastes like soft french toast. Put some vanilla on it!

Waffles

I went with the usual bacon and eggs (omelette), a bread pudding, and some california maki. Again, I'm not a heavy eater. I wish I could've tried some bread but I was already full.

My first haul

Thirdy and his champorado

My second haul

My third and last haul

All the food selections were OK but you'd be disappointed with their juice offerings, having only three: Grape, Apple and Orange.

Back to our room

After that, we went back to our room and I went back to bed, it was around 9am. Chea and Thirdy were going to the pool. I woke up at around 11am, and was surprised that Chea and Thirdy weren't back yet so I went to the pool area.

On my way to the pool area

Thirdy and Chea already drying up

Long pool

There's a guy watching the pool but he's not wearing swimming attire. Is he supposed to be the lifeguard and save people? Or is he supposed to guard the pool? Tsk tsk. Get your priorities straight Marco Polo

View from the pool

While waiting for Chea to take a shower, took a picture of our keycards

Receiving area on the pool level

I found them already drying up. Thirdy and Chea took a quick shower, and then I brought Thirdy to the playroom while Chea prepared our stuff so we could go home. We were allowed a late checkout, I guess since it's Monday anyway.

Thirdy back at the playroom for the third time

This guy is really a bundle of energy

We left a little past 12noon and headed home.

So how's our stay? Pretty nice but a little disappointing.

The room was pretty good. Decent sized and modern. The bathroom was nice even though it's just average in size. But the glass partition between the shower and the toilet was nice. There's a speaker in the bathroom so you could hear whatever's on the TV. It's kinda funny since you don't get to see what's on the TV, you just hear it.

Another complaint is that the main bathroom door doesn't have a lock. Again, there was a time that Thirdy wanted to come into the bathroom to see me, while I was doing a number 2. Lol.

I'm a bit disappointed with the Continental Lounge. The afternoon snacks were too few, and were mostly pastries and sweets. And then we were told that we couldn't bring the free drinks there to our room.

At Seda, we did it most of the time. We went to the lounge to drink, and bring another one to our room to drink later so we didn't need to go back to the lounge. Also, there weren't computers we could freely use. At Seda, we were able to use Macs.

I really couldn't help comparing it with Seda Hotel actually especially if you get them with Club Access.

The location of Seda is better as it's besides Serendra and with lots of retail and food establishments. There's a mall, Market Market and SM Aura, although it's a bit of a walk.

With Marco Polo, Metrowalk is across Meralco Avenue and you'd have to walk to the far end before you get to a pedestrian crossing. But if you want malls, there's St. Francis, Megamall, Robinsons' Galleria and Shangri-La nearby as well.

Marco Polo has a better pool (it's indoor and there's a jacuzzi too) and a playroom (albeit small).

But I kinda feel restricted overall with Marco Polo. It feels like its geared towards businessmen and everything needs to be prim and proper. While Seda, it feels more relaxed. So it's perfect for leisure.

So there. If you're a discerning gentleman (or lady), Marco Polo would be a good option to stay in Ortigas but I wouldn't recommend the Club Access option unless you're there for business.

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