Fort Iocandia

A friend and I recently took a PALakbayan package tour to Ilocos Norte with accomodations at Fort Ilocandia. What a rip off! The place is outside the town and not accesible to other transport. There are no taxis or jeeps or tricycles to use to get out touring. It is too far to walk to town. Their transport services are a rip off at 800 pesos an hour for car rental. They also have a 5 person minimum for every tour. We were desperate to visit Vigan and had to pay the equivalent of 5 persons on tour. It cost PHP4500 for two of us for only 6 hours. It isn%26#39;t possible to see every place listed on the itinerary. For the money we paid we were provided an old sedan, driver and guide. If you go over the 6 hrs thats PHP800 per hour. For the Laoag City tour they wanted 3750 for 4 hrs. This is robbery! Lucky we had connections and called someone in Manila to arrange. We only paid PHP1000 for a jeep to drive us as much as we wanted and for as long as we wanted in Laoag, Batak and Paoay. So buyer beware. If you stay here you are at their mercy. The hotel staff had the attitude of civil servants- nothing could be done nor did they want to. Even the manager of the place whom we complained to was equally non-customer service oriented. If you go to Laoag there are so many nice new hotels in town. Best to stay in town so you can move around freely. If you don%26#39;t have your own car, then you are limited to the hotel%26#39;s few lame food outlets. Who ever heard of chicken wings with thousand island dressing? Thats what my friend got at the hotel bar.

Hotel facilities were run down and old. Unless you are here for the weddings they seem to specialize in, there is no life at the hotel. Casino was limited to a few machines and SO boring. A rat ran accross the main room of the disco/karaoke/chinese restaurant of the place as we came in to check it out. Absolutely no life in any of their food and drink outlets. Even the so called outdoor activities were dead. No takers for their overpriced facilities.

Fort Iocandia

Hi. My family will be going to Laoag soon and we will be staying at Fort Ilocandia also. I received confirmation that they their Car Rental really charges big-time. However, no chance for us to change our plans :(

Thanks to your warning, we%26#39;d like to be more proactive in preparing for our short vacation and NOT be charged with exorbitant rates. I was wondering if you had the contact information of the jeep owner we can talk to for similar arrangement. YOur sharing of this info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Fort Iocandia

thanx for the warning!!! we will also be going there by april and it was the only hotel that our agent can book. so no choice,,, if there%26#39;s by any chance that u still have the contact info of the jeep service kindly send it to me... hoping for your response