Balai sa Laiya Resort Batangas

The Balai sa Laiya Resort is located right next to Tivona Resort, which is next to Acuatico Resort, all along the Laiya beach strip. The receiving area is open and pink. Guests can casually sit anywhere. Often there's no one on the desk as all visitors are expected to make reservations first. (strictly NO walk-ins!)

The grounds of the resort are all sands, some parts mixed with soil and grass.

Tamarind trees are all over the place. Dining area is on the 2nd floor of the main structure with tower:

Rooms are designed in clusters, scattered in the area:

Parking under the trees is the place to be. Balai shares parking area and entrance gate with Tivona Beach Resort. Owners are said to be related. The resort has a small gate leading to Laiya beach:

Beachfront rooms with own bathroom. Small gate with stairs and stone wall as resort boundary:

Resort beachfront. Early morning, seashell vendors would come and offer their products. Some even present certification of authenticities to prove their pearls are real:

These may be Tivona rooms or not. Balai and Tivona has no separation line:


BALAI SA LAIYA Standarad Room


Seaside room costs Php2050/person (triple sharing) for overnight accomodation, not including meals. The walls are of native materials, the floor is concrete but covered with half-bamboo strips. Beds are bit standard, not like a fat mattress. Half-sized body towels are provided per guest.

The room is very small. Upon entry, one can stand in the middle of the sliding door (at the back) and beds (at front). A tiny space for going to the bathroom and reaching the aircon and table lamp beside the bed. There is a personal veranda with seats and a table.

A wall fan is available if aircon is not preferred. Some personalized soap and shampoo sachets are included in the bathroom:

The bathroom has a high ceiling with GI roofing, for a more authentic effect perhaps. There is hot water (heater), no bidet. The stylish door uses rigid tree branches for lock:

Lavatory with mirror. Balai House Rules:

Anecdote
The day we arrived at the resort, we didn't have any reservations. Which was stupid on our part, although we called and called (and called) the reservation number for the resort and it's always busy or unavailable. We figured what the hell and just go. At the resort, they refused to give us a room because management wanted the room+meal package, and they couldn't provide us food because we had no reservation. Meaning they did not anticipate our arrival and had no food for us. It was really unfortunate coz we know food is great in Balai. The front desk gave us a leaflet and then went on her way, left us there wondering like fools. There is one contact number we found which wasn't in the resort website: Manila office cell# 09216065572. This is only used for booking confirmations. We practically begged if they will let us stay overnight even without food. At first, they said no, because of a million reasons. Finally they agreed to let us stay. They then offered an ala cart menu, and food suddenly became available. The staff were super nice once the management agreed to let us stay. The management (in Manila) makes all the decisions, including the additional Php350/person as 'entrance fee', which is not in any of their Rates list. They gave us a rate of Php2500 for the room + Php 600 for using the aircon, on top of the 'entrance fee'. It was ok. We just had to pay the price of not having a reservation. The landline phone (on their website) allegedly rings 'off the hook' and only one person answers, makes bookings, and everything in between. Hopefully they can at least buy a new sim card so guests have the option to call anther number, or please hire another person to take reservations! The Acuatico Resort down the beach accepts walk-ins by the way, but we liked the beachfront room Balai gave us. And we had all our meals in Acuatico anyway.

RATES

A LA CARTE MENU:



GOING TO BALAI SA LAIYA:
The long road from San Juan, Batangas is paved and lined with trees. When the end of concrete road is reached, the beach resorts are nearby. Guests will pass by residential houses:

Mind the chickens on the road as they do not move when vehicles pass. The resort entrances are winding and secluded. Just follow the signs as most are next to each other:



CLICK here for the official website of Balai sa Laiya