Category: diary

Booking.com 2023 awards

It’s great to be appreciated . . . thank you to all our visitors who have pushed us even further up the rankings this year. It’s been a difficult time for everyone in the tourist industry, especially in Cebu which has a very tourist-focussed economy.Thanks to all our staff who every day put in that bit extra to look after our guests and show why since we opened in 2017 we have been consistently ranked in the top five places to stay in Cebu province.

Thank you all!

Another success with booking.com :)

It’s that time of year again. Booking.com, one of the biggest online travel agents in the world, have been issuing awards based on the reviews given to resorts and accommodation. We at Eskapo Verde have maintained our ranking of 9.5 over the past two years. Our one year average is higher :).

With the efforts we’ve put in over the last year and our plans for 2020, we look forward to an even higher review score in the future. We owe thanks to all our staff who have worked hard to provide excellent service, guests who chose to stay with us – and especially to those we pleased – and to our future guests, we look forward to sharing our slice of paradise with you.

Eskapo Verde is finished!

After years of work, Eskapo Verde is finally complete! Well, it’ll never *really* be finished since we have a stream of ideas for improving the resort, but major construction is now all done :).

We have four cottages and four 10-bed dormitories so you will be able to find somewhere to stay within your budget and soon we’ll be adding Laser-class sailing dinghies so you’ll be able to explore further afield in Badian Bay.

Outreach basketball clinic: Bugas, 2 June 2019

#EskapoVerde is keen to build bridges with and within our local community. As another strand to our outreach ideas, one of our Directors, Albert Mariter Alocillo who is a well-known regional basketball coach, ran a short basketball clinic together with two of his players from the US – Stephon Patrick (New York) and Anthony Winningham (Kansas City), thank you guys for your assistance and support. This was a rehersal for a more ambitious effort planned for the end of June involving 60 boys and girls: basketball, volleyball, swimming, sea kayaking, mangrove exploration and environmental education. The tourism operators in Barangay Bugas and the SK are all assisting by providing facilities with the aim of improving the quality of life of our younger brethren.

After the clinic, the participants all helped to clean up the area of the community stage. We collected four sacks of plastic rubbish and the whole area looks much tidier now.

Introduction to the training
Introduction to the training

 

Demonstration . . . .
Demonstration . . . .

 

Clinic attendees
Clinic attendees

The first of our cottages is ready!

After lots and lots of work and thought and sweat, the first of our four cottages are ready to rent :). Until the other cottages are ready, we will be offering a “construction discount” since there will be a small amount of activity in the area of the cottages for a while. However all the heavy stuff on the remaining three is done and the activity will just be a few of our guys doing light work. You can see the detailed photos on booking.com but here are some tasters:

Cost of the cottage is 2,500 per night – double or twin beds, a private balcony and bathroom with hot showers – and of course our normal resort advantages: an excellent restaurant with delicious Filipino dishes and wonderful desserts, happy, cheerful & professional staff, peace and quiet almost all the time, lovely sunrise and sunset views, mangrove exploration, environmentally friendly, sustainable development . . . . What more could you want? 🙂

Mail us, use our online system, go through booking.com or Airbnb to experience the delights of Eskapo for yourself!

Booking.com awards 2018, Eskapo Verde rates 9.5/10

2018 has been the first full year of operation for #EskapoVerde; we didn’t know that booking.com platform gives out certificates for our review rating at the end of the year so we were quite surprised to receive a certificate from them through the post the other day.

Just so that you know, the review score is based on the average score of all guest reviews over the year and is out of 10. We scored 9.5 which ranks us at number 8 of all the properties listed on booking.com in the whole of Cebu province and – particularly pleasing! – number 1 in Badian & Moalboal area. Scored categories are: cleanliness, comfort, staff, location, facilities and value for money.

Well done team and thank you to everyone who submitted a review for us after their stay! We’re happy to have pleased (almost) everyone and we will keep working to improve further in the months and years to come. #GuestsLoveUs.

The Eskapo Verde team: l-r: Raffy, Ging Ging, Jemart, Viamae, Pedong, Aiken (reception), Andres, Fred (restaurant manager), Demar (watersports manager), Clyde & Mildred (housekeeping manager). Missing: Mercy.

Our cottages are close to being ready!

We’ve been working on four cottages, suitable for couples or people who would like a little more privacy than our dormitories can offer, to add to our accommodation options for a while now. We’ve happy to say that we’re close to having two of them ready and hope to have them available for booking around early next year. Of course this depends on a whole raft of other things happening as well but it’s looking good :). We’ll post here and of course you will be able to book and pay for them through our booking.com page when the cottages are available.

We won’t post photos yet but we can promise spacious, airy comfort in the middle of our island, a lovely balcony, plenty of electrical outlets, a ceiling fan, hanging space and shelves for clothes, a security locker, twin beds that can be fixed together or separate, a spacious bathroom with a hot and cold shower . . . and a reasonable price! Plus of course easy access to our restaurant and watersports area :). All the cottages are constructed in our signature style: blending into nature rather than imposed on nature, raised above ground on posts and mostly built of wood and bamboo.

Old clothes donations

It’s been a while since out last update however we have not been sitting still . . . our cottages are progressing well and two should be ready for the New Year. Crossed fingers, pressed thumbs, weather and other factors permitting :).

However we especially wanted to mention that we are now collecting old or unwanted clothes in reasonable condition from guests for donation to deserving cases in the barangay. We are working with the SK in Bugas to identify those in need so please, when you leave if you find you are dragging too many clothes around with you, we will happily relieve you of them, clean them and pass them on to those who would most appreciate them. We have a couple of bags so far and hope that as the tourist season comes around again many more will take the change to update their wardrobe and help others!

Many thanks to those who have contributed already and those who will . . . .

Registered supplier with PhilGEPS

A small milestone achieved . . . we are now registered with PhilGEPS and you can find us under Supplier ID 236630 in the system. This means that for government departments and LGU’s we are now an approved supplier and you can pay us directly. Hopefully this makes it easier for some of you!