Harold's Mansion, Dumaguete City

Bee found the Harold's Mansion website via Google.

To its credit, it is a favorite place for Peace Corp volunteers, backpackers and divers. It is also listed in Lonely Planet. You won't have a problem finding it as travel agents, residents and tricycle drivers in Dumaguete know the place.

Harold

By jingfrey73, shot with DSC-W70

Harold is a very friendly person. Even before we got to Dumaguete, he would reply to our queries sent via text messages and e-mails, although I think he prefers texting as he is often on the go.

The first time he meets you, he would ask why you are in Dumaguete, and based on that, suggest places you may want to check out.

He would also teach you how to go about on your own if you do not intend to avail a tour package from his establishment. He would introduce you to other guests, invite his guests to Reggae Wednesday nights at Hayahay and maybe even go to his lakehouse for a bonfire.

If you are a diver like him, you may even end up comparing notes and planning a diving trip.

I believe a big factor to his hostel's popularity would be his personality.

The Place

The website already lists the hotel and accomodation rates, and the current add-on for tax is 10%. They have relatively cheap rooms, although you might find cheaper inns/hostels/lodges in Dumaguete if you surf the web. Harold's Mansion prefer payment in cash. I have also noticed that they do not automatically write out a receipt. You have to request for one. I am not sure if this is the practice in other, similar hostels/inns in Dumaguete as well.

Free airport pick-up is a boon for first time travelers to Dumaguete. This is a service provided by most hotels/hostels/inns in the city. However, you have to arrange your own transportation when you leave and go back to the airport. If someone lets you hitch a ride to the airport, then that's good. The next cheapest way to get there is to ride a tricycle for PHP8 a head.

As claimed on their site, you get a free breakfast - just go to their 2nd floor cafe and look for the side table for the bread. They have two toasters for use of the guests. Go to the counter to get some marmalade, jelly and margarine. That's what the "free continental breakfast" actually is. You can get as much bread, jam, marmalade and margarine as you want, as long as it's during the breakfast hours.

If you want to eat something more than that, you have to order from their menu and ofcourse pay. Their breakfast meals are priced somewhere in between Jollibee and Pancake House - sorry if the comparison makes sense only if you are a Manileno.

If you brought along food that needs refrigeration, you may ask them to put it in the hostel's refrigerator. If you need to microwave food you brought (from outside the hotel) they will charge you a small fee for microwave use. We wanted to heat the home-made foccacia bread that Bee brought in an oven toaster, we had to settle for microwaved bread instead.

Coffee and tea is free and available all day. Tea would be a Lipton sachet dunked in a cup of hot water. Coffee is brewed. If the coffee's gone, just ask the counter lady's help to brew you a new batch. Although brown (the muscovado kind which is ideal for coffee) and white sugar are on hand at the side table, you have to ask the counter lady for your sachet of creamer.

Internet access is free and unlimited if you have a gadget that has wi-fi. Otherwise, you only get 30 minutes a day of free internet using one of the two PCs in the cafe. Just ask the staff for the username and password used to access the internet. I think you pay by the hour if you exceed the 30 minutes. If you want to burn a CD, you have to pay a different fee for that, but it includes the blank CD. The cafe, and therefore the PC use, is not open/available 24 hours. I think they close shop around 11PM.

Rooms of the same rate are not necessarily of the same quality. We reserved a twin airconditioned room and the first room assigned to us had a weak aircon unit and a very slow fan. With both gadgets on, it still took a long while for the room to cool. It is a good thing that we were given another room with a stronger aircon unit. The first room we had also had a small bathroom - you can't open the door the whole 90 degrees because it would hit the toilet. If you are a big person, it would take a lot of maneuvering to get inside the bathroom. The sink was also outside of the bathroom. The final room we got had a slightly bigger bathroom... as the sink was inside to begin with.

Hot and cold water would be for the shower only, because that is where the heater is connected. You control the heat by tinkering with the heater dials instead of the faucet (the way you do in some hotels).

Harolds provides each guest a towel and soap, which they will replace everyday upon request. You don't necessarily get a new roll of tissue the moment you check in, but you can always call in for more tissue from the front desk. You may also request for more hangers.

According to the more discerning Bee , the bed has nice sheets. I found the pillows soft but medium sized, and the mattresses were a bit thin although of a good quality.

The TV sets have cable, and I think their service provider is Skycable, which is the local service provider that has the most english language channels. The place has no problem getting a Globe signal.

You could buy a Haroldsmansion t-shirt if you want a souvenir of the hostel... or if you ran out of clothes to wear. He he.

Arranged Tours

Harold would tell you how to go to the interesting places on your own, but you may also choose to get his services.

Harold has a van with driver (Mang Danny), which you can rent for the day. The prices differ depending on where you intend to go, but you get the van for the whole day. If you like to dive, Harold could arrange a boat for you, which may include a diving guide/instructor.

If there are other guests going to the same place as you are, Harold may put you together in one trip so you could just split the bill evenly.

If you did not bring your own equipment, you can rent a snorlking mask and flippers at the front desk.

Harold's tour rates are a bit expensive, though not as expensive as those offered by travel agencies. If you asked the locals, you may get tips on cheaper deals especially if you are travelling in a group, since they charge for the use of the vehicle and a fixed tour guide fee instead of charging per head.

If you don't mind not riding an airconditioned vehicle, then I recommend you just take the tricycle to go around spots in Dumaguete City as they only charge PHP8 per head. It is adviseable to get a vehicle with a driver familiar with the roads if you are going to high places like Twin Lakes where the roads are tricky and could be dangerous if you made the wrong turn.