Waterfront Lahug

I do not play casino as I do not know any of those games - except slot machines - but yes, I stayed at Cebu's Waterfront Hotel in Lahug, by course of necessity in my work ('wag na natin pag-usapan yan)!

True, it has been refurbished - the rooms I mean - and they look better than the previous state, though it's not as if they have made a major major sprucing up. In fact, all room fixtures including door knobs and locks, the switches, the bath tubs, the godforsaken ancient air-conditioning control (that you don't know if still really working) - are still the same! So what has changed, if at all? The wallpaper, I guess!

And the carpet, yes! Pinalitan, bakit di nalang kasi tinanggal forever and replaced with even faux wood or simple tile slabs? Uso pa ba ang carpet? Ayan, nakialam nanaman] Pero uso pa nga ba ang carpet?

I have stayed in this hotel a number of times in the past (when I was not yet a resident of the city), and I've been here in its grandest, ni hindi pa yata uso ang 'digital camera' at wala pang 'blog' noon hahah!

Look, the middle of the bed seemed to be depressed to a deeper level than the edges. To me that only meant luma na, overused I suppose. BUT, malambot and even more comfy to rest at! I liked it, honest!

Ah, now I remember.., that headboard was (originally) made of a native material like wicker. Rattan?

And yes I remember too. That TV box was also finished with that wicker material. They matched!

Hey I have another trivia. Not really sure, but when your TV is in a box like that, the sound gets better!

I once tried replicating that at home, and that's what I felt. The sound seemed to be coming from huge speaker boxes! Nice, especially for watching movies! That's probably why many hotels still have them!

If you were a kid in the '70s and '80s, you would know what those shelves under the TV are/were for. I will bet on that! Virtually all homes had those shelves then. For the Betamax that became VHS player!

Now I'm getting nostalgic! Those shelves (there would usually be two, at times three) were where you kept not only the players but also the rewinder and the VHS tapes, right? Then it evolved into housing the amplifier system.., later nakisingit na rin si Nintendo and those other game players.., after them it became the Laser Disk, that became the CD, then DVD, BluRay etc. players! Now.., yung singalong na!

Anyway, before we get out of topic.., this is generally how Waterfront Lahug's rooms look like now..,

Not much different from how it looked in the past. The native rattan style, just became wood, I guess!

Of course, if you have a 'city-view' room, it still has the same view.., though the skyline is changing..,

I predict, in the nearest future, that Barrio Luz slum will start dotting with high rise buildings!

Let us go back to my room.

Of course the desks look and feel still about the same. They're just newly varnished. Oh, di ba?!

Light or dark, I have a very strong bias towards wood and wooden finishes, that's why I like the totality.

Hey the coffee corner (mini-bar) still look the same. Parang nawala lang yung box of dried mangoes!

No, I was not craving for it (mahal kaya yan dito)! Napansin ko lang wala na ang yellow-and-green box!

The big mirrors are the same, the caja-de-hierro, the laundry bags, all the same!

The bathroom and its amenities are still the same, and not lacking naman. But the towels are new. Ye!

I said above, even the electrical switches are still the same (and now are brownish na nga)!

For some time now though, I have been thinking about that key-card slot on the wall. That reminder on the card, as far as I can recall, is unique only to Waterfront Hotels. I can't seem to fathom why it is so.

The advise reminds you NOT to remove that card from where it is. And it is not even your keycard. You didn't bring and put it there. It was already there when you entered the room. Why would they do that?

That is the reverse of what that card is supposed to function for. At least in other hotels!

In normal use (at all normal hotels in the world), you are supposed to insert YOUR key card (that one given to you by front desk, and the same thing that you used to open the door). The desired effect of that normal use is: it will cause the electrical power in the room to come alive. When you go out, you are to take it out of that slot since that's your room key, and it switches-off all the power in your room.

That's how it is used, or how it was invented to be used. For the hotel to conserve energy - because it cuts the power off when you go out - even if you forgot to pull or turn anything off. So safe na, tipid pa!

Now.., why is Waterfront telling us the other way around? Ayaw nila ng "safe na, tipid pa"?

Sabagay, hindi ka naiinis that when you go out while your gadgets are charging, hindi namamatay ang kuryente. But I am 100% sure, that's not what the hotel is concerned about! They could not care less if you are charging your gadgets or not! There must be another reason. That's what keeps me guessing!

The housekeeping boys and girls don't know the reason too! Hmm, ano nga kaya?

Ahh anyway, the elevator lobbies have also been spruced up..,

Maganda, although madilim pa rin! And look, me kortina-kortina pang nalalaman! Hehe gawa ni Lola?!

Tara tara, let's go somewhere else!