The main reason why I picked Gran Prix Hotel & Suites Manila out of the countless hotels near the US Embassy was because of their super affordable rates plus its convenient location. Booking with them was a no-brainer with Agoda.com. Checking in was also pretty easy even though I wasn't able to bring a printout of our hotel voucher. They simply asked me to forward them a copy of the booking confirmation email I received from Agoda. Easy breezy.

Trying to be practical, we didn't want to splurge on some fancy accommodation when we just wanted a place to stay for the night before our US Visa renewal interview and also a safe place to store our belongings because the USEM won't allow any electronic devices (cellphones, game consoles, tablets, etc.) inside their premises. Gran Prix Hotel & Suites Manila was the perfect place that addressed our needs. Our reservation even included breakfast all for only PHP1,455.00 ($34.36). By far, the cheapest rate for a hotel that is walking distance to the USEM.

As a provincial girl, going to the capital scares the hell out of me. I'm not kidding. Though I love Cebu City, (I was born there and lived there for a few years on my own after graduation) it's still not as urbanized as Metro Manila. Honestly, big cities scare me. Although I felt at home when I visited New York City, but that's an entirely different story, or country if you know what I mean. I called the hotel around lunch time informing them we would be arriving in the evening and asked about airport transfers. They called me back informing me that it will cost PHP750 to send someone to meet us and drive us to the hotel. So I told them we'll just take the airport taxi (which cost just PHP530 to Ermita).

Anyway, I researched and printed a map just to make sure we don't get lost and the taxi driver won't take advantage of us. Google Maps to the rescue!

Google Maps gave us the WRONG address! PAK!

It turns out, WE GOT LOST no thanks to Google! Grrr... We even turned on the GPS on the iPad so we can see the blue dot move as we drive towards the hotel but alas, the address that the map gave us is not right! We had to walk 3 blocks until we finally found the hotel. The security guards around the area (the ones at BDO and from 7 Eleven) don't even know where the heck Gran Prix Hotel is located! WTF. I should have trusted Agoda's map because they were spot on. I really thought Google knows everything. Oh well.

Correct address provided by Agoda.

Gran Prix Hotel after all is just 3 blocks away from the US Embassy! Our interview was scheduled for 7:30 AM so leaving the hotel at 6:30 AM gave us ample time to get there and the lines outside weren't so crazy yet.

Now onto my hotel review proper. Sorry, I just had to narrate the whole experience. :)

The reviews you'll find in Agoda are horrible! And I mean, when you read them, you'll think twice about booking with Gran Prix Hotel & Suites. But the daredevil in me told me I must find it out for myself and add my honest unbiased review. So I'm going to give it some justice. I read that the rooms are actually located on the 5th and 6th floors on Tesoro Bldg. The room they gave us was on the 3rd floor. Getting a magnetic card key to room 301 was a surprise. Our room was pleasantly very near the elevator, too. Some people said the walls are really thin so you can hear noises outside your room and true enough, I could hear the housekeeping roll their service trays or guests with their trolleys as they pass our room, but I couldn't hear any of our neighbors' kalandrakas.

Added bonus!

I really didn't expect to get any shampoo, toothbrush/toothpaste, or soap but hey, they're there! Though we didn't use them, these were beyond my expectations. And then there were two (double sized) beds! We slept in one.


The foam mattress I think had some kind of leatherette cover on them beneath the thin bed sheets. They sort of reminded me of tourist/cabin beds on a big boat. The pillows were also old I guess. They smelled funny, like pillows from my childhood that were made out of doldol, which I think is some kind of silk/cotton in English. The blankets were pretty thin so we had to turn off the split-type Samsung a/c around 4 AM because it was too cold even at 24°. We had a flat screen TV in the room that came with a lot of channels (more than I'm used to here in the province anyway!). Not that I watch TV really, because I just don't.


They provided slippers, again I didn't expect this, as well as hangers inside the small cabinet. So this was pretty cool for Noodle Boy who is used to hanging all his clothes. The outlets were also very conveniently placed between the beds, on the bedside table, so with charging our gadgets we had no problem.


The bathroom was huge!!! I read this in one of the reviews so I was anticipating for it. The heater actually worked so it was very good to have but the cover of the drain in the bathroom was broken and I had to put it away or else I might cut my feet on its rusty edges. Noodle Boy didn't have any complaints, except the fact that the mirrors were placed so low that he said he understands why many foreigners commented negatively and felt the room is mostly designed for Filipinos/Asians. The mirrors for me were perfect. Tee hee.


Oh, the best part of the our room is the FREE WIFI access! I know, I know. I feel lost when I'm offline. LOL. So this was really nice and if you ask me, I think the speed is pretty decent. No complaints there.




You'll find the restaurant at the topmost (7th) floor with a roof deck outside. Breakfast was much anticipated for me because I know they would be serving silogs, and I do enjoy a good Filipino breakfast especially if there's Pampagueño tocino!

I love tocino!!!

Overall, I would recommend staying at this hotel if you're in town for a US VISA interview. It may not be the best one there is out there, but now I can say, as per my own experience, that it's clean, very affordable, and super close to the US Embassy. Padre Faura Street is straight to the entrance of USEM. We only needed a place to crash for a couple of hours for our US visa interview. So what more could we possibly need?

My Rating: ★★★☆☆

Gran Prix Hotel & Suites Manila
Tesoro Building
1325 Mabini Street
Ermita, Manila, Philippines

Phone: 3533323
Mobile Number: 09322216206
Email Address: gpsalesandmarketing@gmail.com