I stayed at LA RESERVE during 5 nights, at the end of December 2011 and spent New Year's Eve there. I really fell in love with Boracay and with White Beach, but really not that much with the hotel itself.
Let's start with the good things:
* The Location is the best. La Reserve is in the best spot of White Beach and the beach is just a few meters away from your room. This is a must.
* The Breakfast and food are also quite good. Even if it's also true for most places in Boracay.
The bad things:
* The staff doesn't seem to do much when the hotel owners are not there:
No greeting in the morning.... no smiles.... no service at ALL on the beach side.... I have never seen that in the Philippines, where service is usually at the top.
The only staff really professional was the security people in my opinion. Always ready to help.
* The Room we got (Bollinger) was very small. The Double bed would almost take 50% of the room size (not including the bathroom on the side). In such a small room, you survive a few days but you try to spend most of your time out of the room.
At 103 EUR (130 USD) per night you can expect something better...
* The Beach side was a real mafia. Imagine the hotel has only 14 beach beds to offer, for a full capacity of 50 guests. You get there early and you realize that all seats have been reserved by friends of the owners, or regular guests, who show up a lot later ....
The Staff is the one reserving these beds. Make sure you are on the LUCKY LIST if you want to enjoy the beach side.
As a Conclusion, I would say I will not return to la RESERVE.
The RED COCONUT next door would have been a much better choice I think.
