To start with my new blog entry today, let me ask you this:

"If someone invites you to have a FREE lunch in a 5 star hotel, would you come?"

My husband and I were walking around Station 2 of the Boracay Beach taking photos of everything that would interest us. That was the only day we had set for Boracay since this is actually just a side trip. The main reason why we are having this was because we are going to visit a Gamefowl Farm of Martin Escolin which is located in Capiz, Roxas. Anyways, we started walking along Boracay Beach at seven in the morning and there were already lots of people around, mostly tourists, some locals were spotted opening up their stores and stalls and since there were already guests walking around, there were also vendors offering their products and other guys offering services like parasailing, island hopping, helmet diving and lot more. There are actually lots of things to do in Boracay and I would love to do some of them but the time was not permitting us to do so.

We kept on shaking our heads to anyone offering these services as a sign of a "NO". We have no time and what we only have is a day to take photos and enjoy the beach. But we were not planning to say no to souvenirs so when one short guy came to us smiling with a bag on his shoulder and some stones with carved designs on them, we were not able to say "no" right away. I looked at these stones and recalled my Lava Stones which I purchased at the Cagsawa Ruins. I would loved to have those stones in our new craft slash souvenir slash remembrance shelf but then it was hold at the airport. But I can't ignore that this stone with a Boracay imprint plus a beautifully carved pawikan or turtle and so I asked how much would that cost.

Well the guy said he'll be giving it to us for Php 500 but I guess that is totally overpriced so I said no. He then immediately changed the price to Php 350 and I was confused how easily he was able to bring down the price to almost have. I still asked if we can have it for Php 300 and he agreed saying there are only three pieces of stones he has to sell and if I would buy it, he'll only need to sell two more pieces. I agree with him and I know how hard it is to sell but then the beauty of the souvenir was just mesmerizing and somehow it is telling me to bring it to Cebu.

But then I remembered the Lava stone and how it ended up being thrown at the Legazpi Airport since we don't have any check in luggage at all. I told the vendor about it and he said most of the tourists can bring it on their hand carry bags and he promised we can bring it. I doubt it and my husband feel the same but since we were really attracted to the stone, we bought it eventually. We then thought of sending it to us via LBC courier instead but then we thought we'll just try to bring it at the airport. We were both glad we got to bring it with us in our hand carry bag. It was inside the black dry bag and we also had wrapped it with our dirty shirts and short pants so I don't know if stones are really not allowed but it was able to get in!

However, we later discovered at the Station 1 that these souvenir stones only costs Php 150. We could have bought two pieces of these but then anyways, it's been done.

 

BABS THE OFFERRER

That was the story before another smiling local came to us and approach us with a paper stating about a "Complimentary Buffet". His name tag states "Babs" and overwhelmed with the fact that its a Buffet Lunch and it was Free and since I am a sucker of free items, I immediately said yes we will come.

That is Babs, we met him again at Astoria Current, Station 3

He then started elaborating it saying this is a free lunch and that this will be at Astoria Boracay Hotel. He even gave us a brief information of the hotel stating it has two branches in Boracay, one in Station 1 and the new one in Station 3. This is again a free one but there will be an orientation afterwards. I asked Babs if there's any hidden charges for this and he said this is totally free and that if we want, we would not be bringing any money with us at all so we can make sure we wouldn't be paying anything.

We nodded and filled in our names and contact numbers over. That was it and we both thought, we will have a grand lunch at this hotel which we didn't know yet at that point.

We returned to roaming around the beach. As per Babs, the buffet will start at 11:30am, our phone says its already 10:30am and we were still at the beach so we hurriedly went back to our hotel, took a shower and prepared for the lunch buffet.

 

INTRO TO ASTORIA BORACAY

Just a few walks from our hotel, we reached the Astoria Boracay entrance and it was a small entrance and lobby area but I didn't realize the inside has more space. I can't help but take videos of it.

Hubby and I were greeted by the front desk asking us how they could help us. I then presented the voucher and they immediately called someone via their radio handset. We were sitting at the lobby and waited for the person to arrive.

This guy showed in front of us and welcomed us officially to Astoria Boracay. He was very accommodating and was providing us with details on the buffet. We came to their open space with these wonderfully standing trees and that hammocks displayed right there made me want to really stay there and chill but we have to move on. That was a bit sad.

Chairs and Hammocks were really inviting.

Then my eyes widened when I saw these chairs and beach beds right at the side of the pool. I want to also lie down there while having my pineapple juice at hand. But we still have to move on. Just right at the distance, we can visually see the foods prepared and ready for lunch!

SOMETHING'S FISHY

This again is a free buffet but my husband had smelled something isn't right. The guy who accompanied us in this area had advised us several times that we should take our time and that there will be an orientation right after the buffet. Then I remember what Babs told us and I assured my husband this is just a marketing strategy perhaps.

Astoria Boracay. Nice pool!

Chill and have a great time.

But hubby still looked up for online resources on cases like this and viola! He did found stories online about this resort. Before we went on and take our food, we both read around two or three stories. All of these stories state like this:

"Someone offered us free buffet lunch/dinner in Boracay for Astoria. They mentioned that this is all free and that there will be a short orientation afterwards. They dined and ate but after the sumptuous lunch/dinner, they were brought to a room with so many people chatting and laughing, it was all noisy and made them feel annoyed at some point. Then they were introduced to someone who presented the orientation. After the orientation, they were offered membership packages for the said hotel. This is when the hard selling came, these agents are forcing them to subscribe for their packages. They said no but they kept on forcing us to join. They haggle and haggle until it was already three hours and they want to go out of the hotel. The agents won't stop offering until they paid the lowest option available. They ended up paying 25k for the downpayment and monthly fees. Now when they want to stop the subscription but Astoria didn't respond anymore to their concerns."

After reading these stories, both my husband and I started to feel that this free buffet is indeed a trap! That made us want to go out and just leave the buffet but we had signed up a specific form earlier asking for some of our details. We then ended up with a plan which is to stick with not purchasing their offer. We will have to stick to the "NO" response and that we had not brought any money with us at since Babs said it in the first place.

 

THE SUMPTUOUS LUNCH BUFFET

In fairness, we had a good lunch, the food at the table were as follows:

1. Braised Beed with Hickory Barbecue

2. Breast Chicken with Red Capsicum Sauce

3. Fish in Dashi Broth

4. Buttered mixed Vegetables

5. Pomodoro Pasta

6. Salad

7. Variety of Desserts

 

And we have to be honest that we both loved what we had eaten on that buffet. There was also bottomless iced tea served for us and was quite cool that the servers would have to keep an eye on our glass and fill it up once it gets halfway.

My own plate :)

There were more people coming in aside from us and there were even a family of three, they were also from Cebu or perhaps somewhere in the Visayas since we speak the same dialect. Then there were also others who were basically from Luzon since they speak Tagalog or perhaps from another part of the country.

Anyways, this was a great lunch and we were both satisfied with what we had eaten but still at the back of our minds, this is too good to be true. If this is a free lunch buffet for a great hotel like this, there will be something in return that they need from us and that is something we have to be careful about.

As for the disclaimer of the blogs which we have just read earlier, we should not get into something which we couldn't afford. We both had agreed that we should stick to our plan which is the "NO" plan!

Since we were no longer eating, we agreed that we proceed to the orientation part. We had to prepare ourselves for that though.

GOING TO ASTORIA CURRENT

For the presentation part we have to be transferred from Station 1 to Station 3 where the new Astoria Hotel is located since the orientation area is located there. We felt like VIPs since we were transferred via a Van and we were the only passengers inside.

It took a good ten minutes ride from this hotel to the next one. Unlike the first hotel, the one from Station 3 was a bit far from the main road, we passed by different hotels, restaurants, we passed by D'Mall, we also saw passed by a place which looked like a market before we finally reached it.

The entrance area as well as the front desk is far bigger than the previous hotel. I thought my camera was recording when we were on our way to the orientation area but then I later learned it was actually not set to recording.

But glad I was still able to take a video of the remaining areas. Check this out:

 

ASTORIA CURRENT

This is how they call the Astoria Hotel in Station 3, this is the new one and as you can see from the above video, it has way better swimming pool. Bigger and more luxurious. It got an aquarium kind of swimming pool but it is also beach front so one can choose which one would you like to enjoy, beach or pool. At that time, the wind was very strong that it would be better to stay at the pool if I was the one to choose.

A kid looking at the blue waters of the pool

I was definitely blown away by the Aquarium like pool which this resort has. I also wonder how it looks like when at night. As per the person who had assisted us, it has lights which gives the pool a beautiful effect.

The dining area is also way bigger and there were more people around as well. I guess they have invited more guests here. There looked like more food too in this area.

From the second floor, we can clearly see how great and luxurious this hotel is. From the dining area, one can take the stairs to the second floor while there is also another stair which can take one to the beach front.

Part of the orientation was for us to be shown to their show room. This is a studio type room with two beds, a semi kitchen, LED tv and a shower room. It really look very luxurious.

THE HARD SELLING PART

My husband and I were indeed right with our guts that this is really a trap and glad we were able to read some blogs before we came into this area. One of the things that we had noticed was that these guys were passing us to agent to another agent.

In fact, we can't recall how many people had managed to entertain us. But we finally met Babs again at Astoria Current and asked us if we had already taken our dinner. We nodded smiling and we were not showing obviously that we know what this is all about.

The presentation was done at the second floor. Here's the view.

So finally we were introduced to the agent who handled the presentation. I am not really good at remembering names so I can't tell that guy's name anymore but I remember he has braces and that he was a lively person.

It starts with him frankly stating this is a selling portion where he'll be selling the subscription for their hotel packages. I appreciated his honestly though but if this was advised during the first encounter with Babs, we would definitely not be seeing this guy right here. But anyway, we have to just finish this and stand with our decision that we won't be paying anything.

Inside the room, we found lots of other people being presented at the same time by other agents and that there were really noisy chants and laughs here and there.

He then introduced us and gave us a history of the hotel. He gave us a brochure showcasing how their hotels look like. He then started giving us the pricing of their packages. We said no and gave him the impression that we can't afford this but then he kept on pushing on the thought of vacation, the luxurious one which we are really not giving in to that thought. He kept on talking and talking about it.

Two hours had passed and we still are not giving in to his offer. He can't make us give in so he eventually asked his colleague to help him. However, this colleague wasn't able to also help since again, we had stick to our aim which is to keep saying "No".

Eventually, after more than two hours, they had given up and let us go out of the room. It was a frustrating event and although we were glad we had a free lunch, it was still not a good experience to be trapped by a free lunch.

After this event, we thought that was the only hotel which is doing this but then as we were passing by the beach front area, we were approached by a Henan staff and was told about their free dinner. We immediately shook our heads and told them that we are not interested with this.

I am sharing this story so that other people who are visiting Boracay specially the first timers to be aware of this trap and so they won't be forced to pay just like the others who had been forced to do so.

But if you'll be trapped just like us, just ensure that you won't be getting or subscribing into something that you can't afford and remember:

"If it's too good to be true, stay away from it."

Copyright 2016 Jean Beltran-Figues.
All rights reserved.