If you came to Boracay for its busy nightlife, and want to stay very close to the action, then the Red Coconut Beach Hotel is the place to go. Located right in front of the famous White Beach, and in the heart of Station 2, it is one of the best places for those who wish to enjoy Boracay’s outstanding nightlife to its fullest. While it’s by no means a quiet and peaceful resort, the rooms are far enough so that you can also get a relatively good night sleep.
The Philippines department of tourism gave Red Coconut a 4 star rating, but we honestly feel that’s a bit of a stretch. We want you to be aware of it, so expectations are managed correctly. It’s far behind other 4 star hotels in Boracay, such as Coast for example, in terms of facilities and amenities. It does, however, offer rooms that are all very big, well furnished and clean. When you also consider the attractive prices they are sold at, you’ll understand why we feel it’s a very good choice for accommodation.
As with most resorts in this country, service is good and is characterized by the famous Filipino hospitality and friendliness. Don't expect too much personal attention here though.
The resort has a very nice swimming pool, surronded by a beautiful, small garden area. Everywhere we went to was clean and tidy. The rooms are also cleaned daily, and we didn't notice anything wrong with any of them.
Rooms are very big and the beds are comfortable and soft. Some of the furniture however, looks to be a bit outdated. There's also serious problem with getting WiFi signal at the rooms, so your'e better off just chilling by the pool or at the restaurant when you want to browse the web or chat with your loved ones.
This is certainly one of Red Coconut's strongest points – it has a very nice pool right at the middle of the hotel, very close to all rooms. The pool is large enough so that it never feels crowded. This resort is also right at the beach front, and you can have your breakfast while watching the beautiful White Beach.
The prices here are very competitive compared to other, similar hotels in Boracay. You get a large pool, great location and nice rooms for a relatively low price. However, there are no facilities other than the pool. We consider the Red Coconut to be one of the better deals in Boracay at the moment.
There are 2 main things that make us really recommend Red Coconut. First, it has an amazing location and you’ll be close to everything you need, so if you want to move between places all day it’s a perfect place to set your base at. Secondly, it’s also one of these resorts where you really feel fine just chilling at the hotel itself. It’s great to know that you can back in the afternoon, after a long day of day tours and attractions, and have a nice place to just hang out and relax for a some time before you have your dinner.
We are so wary of tourists traps in the Philippines, that when we saw a 4 star resort in station 2 offering such low rates we were immediately doubtful. Too many times we, or people we met, have fallen victim to false advertising here in the Philippines. We were certainly relieved to see for ourselves that this wasn't the case, and Red Coconut actually delivers a very good product overall.
That said, we still feel like they can do better with managing guest expectations beforehand. First of all, this isn't what most people would expect out of a 4 star resort – while it's cozy and fun, it's not extravagant in any way. If anything, it makes you feel comfortable and at home, but not like your having a luxury experience. Secondly, it's important people realize this place is close to all the nightlife venues – so having at least some noise is unavoidable.
Tripadvisor users rate this with 4 stars out of 5, and the 28th overall pick among all Boracay hotels. No less than 88% of guests said their stay at the resort was "above average". What people mostly liked was the location and the swimming pool. The breakfast buffet was also very well liked, even though the lunch and dinner got mixed reviews. Most common complaints were regarding the weak WiFi, and having no elevator for the higher floor rooms.
Over at Booking.com we found 444 reviews with an average score of 8.1. This is quite similar to Agoda.com's rating which is 8.2, but over there you have no less than 1686 different reviews. We tried our best to go over as many of these as we could, so we can get a good sense of what this hotel is about. Almost all guests liked the location, the pool, the staff and of course the fair price. Complaints we noticed were mostly about noise, WiFi and the food got a lot of mixed responses as well.
Red Coconut has some distinct advantages, that make it worth your money:
Still, there are some things you must be aware of before booking this hotel:
There isn’t a spa at the hotel, but they do work with an external salon. All you have to do is let the receptionist know what type of massage you’d like, and within 10-15 minutes you can have it in your room. The good thing about that is, it reduces the costs considerably. For an hour-long treatment you can expect to pay around 10 USD. Since there are no other facilities such as a gym or a game room, the swimming pool remains the only attraction inside the hotel during the day.
All in all, the Red Coconut offers a great budget option for people who want to stay at a prime location. The rooms are great, and the service is good. While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to honeymooners or families with small children, it’s a good choice for young people and large groups of friends. Solo travelers can also blend in well here, since the Coco bar is a great place to make new friends. To sum it up, if you want to party and enjoy Boracay’s nightlife, you will not be disappointed by this hotel.
This is the most basic room type at the resort, and at 28m2 it’s substantially larger than at most other hotels. It comes with 1 double bed, and an extra single bed can be added upon request.
The Deluxe category is actually divided into 2 : Pool Side and Main. The main Deluxe rooms are larger (30m2) and come 1 single and 1 queen size beds. The pool side room is only 20m2 and only has room for the queen size – but it’s right next to the pool.
The Premier Rooms all have a great view of the ocean, and a nice small private balcony. The room itself is 30m2 and comes with 1 queen size and 1 single bed.
This is a larger version of the Premier room, with 39m2 of living area, including a nice balcony. The downside is there’s no view of the beach. The room comes with 2 Queen size beds.
This is a 2 floor room connected by an indoor staircase. It’s designed to accommodate up to 5 people, but since there’s only 1 bathroom and total size is just 30m2, it can feel a bit crowded. The room comes with 2 single and 2 queen sized beds.
This room is 39m2 with a nice private balcony, offering great view of the beach. It has a king size bed and can easily accommodate 2 adults. An extra bed can be added upon request.
Only one of these is available, it’s 45m2 of living space with a large private balcony outside. There’s one king size bed, so it’s recommended for 2 adults, but an extra bed can be brought upon request.
