Grand Regal Hotel & Casino Guide and Review
The Grand Regal Hotel & Casino in Davao City presents a complex experience, with reviews ranging from highly positive to severely negative. While some guests highlight its value and certain amenities, others report significant issues with maintenance and service, particularly within the casino.
👍 The Good
- Room Comfort: Guests have praised the rooms for being large, clean, fancy, and comfortable, featuring soft mattresses, nice sheets, and hot showers.
- Excellent Amenities: The hotel boasts a fantastic pool and gym, which are noted for being clean and not overly crowded. The lobby is also described as great.
- Friendly Staff (Mixed): Some visitors found the staff to be very helpful and friendly, particularly in assisting with their stay.
- Casino Atmosphere (Sometimes): One reviewer enjoyed a fun 70s/80s dance party theme at the casino, creating a positive and memorable experience.
- Value (When on Special): When booked on special offers, the hotel can provide good value for money.
- Location: Its location is consistently cited as a positive aspect.
👎 The Bad & The Ugly
- Severe Room Issues: Multiple guests reported strong, foul smells (possibly sewage-related, linked to the pool area), non-functional air conditioning, old and smelly carpets, and even cockroaches in bathtubs.
- Poor Service Responsiveness: Attempts to contact reception for room issues often went unanswered or unaddressed. One shocking instance involved staff offering to clean a room with "cockroach killer and chlorine."
- Casino Shortcomings: The casino primarily offers slot machines and very limited table games (e.g., only one roulette table).
- Unprofessional Casino Dealers: One guest encountered a roulette dealer with a "terrible attitude" who was unhelpful and dismissive, leading to a ruined night and a decision to leave. There were also issues with unclear betting rules.
- Basic Breakfast: While tasty, the breakfast spread is described as very basic with few choices.
- Subpar Food: The tiramisu specifically received a scathing review, being called "awful" and "easily the worst."
- Poor Value (Without Special): Given the multitude of issues, some guests felt the price was significantly too high for the quality of the stay.
🎰 Casino Experience
The casino at Grand Regal Hotel presents a mixed bag. While one guest enjoyed a lively, themed dance party atmosphere, others found the gaming options severely limited to mostly slot machines and a single table game like roulette. A significant concern raised is the professionalism of the dealers, with one incident highlighting a dealer's poor attitude and lack of helpfulness, which negatively impacted the gaming experience and led to guests leaving prematurely. This suggests an inconsistency in service and management within the casino area.
🏨 Hotel Accommodation
The hotel rooms are a major point of contention. Some guests praise their spaciousness, comfort, and cleanliness, highlighting comfortable bedding. However, a significant number of recent reviews detail severe issues such as a pervasive foul, sewage-like odor throughout rooms and hallways, ineffective air conditioning, and dated, smelly carpets. Instances of cockroaches and non-functioning in-room phones further detract from the comfort and hygiene. The hotel's response to these issues has also been criticized as inadequate or even alarming (e.g., offering harsh chemicals for cleaning).
🍽️ Food & Amenities
The hotel's amenities, particularly the pool and gym, receive high marks for being well-maintained and not overcrowded, providing a pleasant leisure experience. The lobby is also noted for its appealing aesthetic. However, the dining experience is less consistent. While the main restaurant's food is described as "somehow good" and breakfast is considered tasty, it is also very basic. Desserts, specifically the tiramisu, have been critically panned.
⚖️ Conclusion
The Grand Regal Hotel & Casino offers a highly variable experience. Its strengths lie in its prime location, some well-regarded amenities like the pool and gym, and the potential for a comfortable room stay if issues are absent. However, the recurring complaints about hygiene (foul smells, cockroaches), room maintenance (AC, phones), and inconsistent service quality, especially within the casino and at reception, are significant drawbacks. Prospective guests should weigh these factors carefully, as a stay here can be either pleasant or severely disappointing depending on the specific room and staff interaction encountered.
Good value for money when on special.Large rooms, very comfortable soft mattress, Nice sheets. Clean with hot showers. Casino provided but only slot machines and one game type activity. Casino not worth visiting. Breakfast is very basic with few choices, but is tasty. Fantastic pool and gym. Clean and not hundreds using. The reason I would go back.
Visited on 4/26/25 at night. They had just opened the roulette table, and right away the experience went downhill. The dealer — a young guy with a tribal tattoo on his right arm and glasses— had a terrible attitude. Not sure how he expects to make tips acting like that.I brought a ₱900,000 budget but couldn’t even get through one spin. I asked for help (casinos here work differently and you have to buy chips at the cage), but instead of being helpful, the dealer acted like I was bothering him. Then I find out the minimum bet is per number, not table minimum — again, no real help from him.It ruined the whole night. I pulled my fiancée and mom off the slots. We had decent budget ready to spend, but after that, we were done. They seriously need better dealers if they want people to actually enjoy themselves.Also, the tiramisu was awful — easily the worst I’ve ever had.At least I left up a few thousand pesos, but that’s about the only positive.
Update, the foul smell from our room was the same smell you can grasp when you are on their swimming pool on the 5th floor. So I guess it's their sewage or what.AC not cold. Rooms and hallway smells off, I vomited after staying inside the room for 5 mins. Kept calling reception no action.Not worth ang for a 3k price, it should have been 1k onlyWe booked 5 rooms, all 5 rooms have issues. Phones not working, had to usey personal phone to ring reception.Edit: The carpet was too old and smelly. They offered to clean the room with cockroach killer and chlorine. Wtf! It would have sofocated and killed us.lmaoAlso, who would want to stay in a bath tub with COCKROACHES?this review was not made to damage the reputation of the staff but to let the owners know "DO BETTER".Update: 5 of us got moved to different rooms with even more issues. AC and smelly rooms still!If you are looking to relax, DO NOT BOOK HERE. Spend your 2k sa food, and 1k sa red doorz and oyo. Humot ug bugnaw pa.By far the worst hotel experience we have had. Honest review ra, no sugarcoating.Only pros is the location.
I am impressed with my stay at the hotel. The staff workers were very helpful and friendly in assisting me during my stay. The room was very clean, fancy, and comfortable. When I went to the casino they had a dance party theme from the 70s/80s and it was a fun atmosphere! It was a great experience
Today, I went there for a conference. But I've been here before with my sister to eat something in their restaurant inside. Their food is somehow good. The lobby is great. Their conference room is very cold haha