Staycation Files : Family Getaway at Marco Polo Ortigas Manila

Let's take a short trip down memory lane. Well, sometime in 2017, Paul and I had one of the best babymoons at the Marco Polo Ortigas Manila where we also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I remembered even writing about it and I quote,

"After all, this will be the last wedding anniversary where it's just the two of us. Next year, we will be joined by our beautiful twins so looks like it will be a family getaway from then on."

Three years after that memorable staycation, we found ourselves back at our favorite hotel in the city and yes, this time we have our twins in tow. Often times, we'd toy with the idea of take a quick couple-only trip and to leave our twins in the able hands of my parents and Yaya M. However, #momguilt never fail to take over and so I've chickened out so many times as I can't bear the thought of me being away from my twins for more than 24hours. I guess I'm just not ready for that. Any moms out there who can relate with me?

On the other hand, I also do like taking my twins out on a trip or on a staycation with us. Somehow, it gives me a whole new perspective of seeing what used to be just ordinary, everyday things. As a mom now, I look for amenities that can entertain my little ones. I'd choose activities that is well-suited for them and the food at meal times should definitely be child-friendly as top priority. Marco Polo Ortigas is one of the most family-friendly, child-friendly hotels in the metro that I know of. Let me take you on a quick "refreshers" tour around the hotel to show you why:

First stop is our room. For this stay, we got the Premier Room (Php. 8,600) which was also located at a corner spot so we get to enjoy the very big space allowing the twins to run around. I love how there aren't any sharp corners or fragile furniture pieces in the room so they can play around and I can still have that peace of mind that they won't hurt themselves. Our room is beautiful. Comfy king-sized bed, an extra bed for Yaya M and a nice couch by the window.

As expected, my little ones enjoyed playing hide and seek behind the heavy curtains. Normally, we would always keep a close watch on them in fear that they might hurt themselves. With the big space, we got that much-wanted breather as we relaxed and enjoyed our staycation while our kids played all day.



The first thing that we all noticed upon entering our room was this beautiful welcome platter from the friendly staff of Marco Polo Ortigas. It's a beautiful fruit platter with their homemade Zest and Zing chocolate placed on top. My twins excitedly screamed "WOW!" upon seeing this.

You can just see how happy they were as they're learning to identify different types of fruits so this immediately became a learning session for us. Of course their favorites were the banana, apple and orange. We were not able to consume the fruits during our stay and the housekeeping staff was so kind to wrap them up for us. Yay! These were enjoyed by the twins at home.

A few steps to the left was our mini bar. One thing that I always love about Marco Polo Ortigas is the inclusion of a Nespresso machine in the room. They will always provide 3 coffee pods and you can ask for more for a minimal price. Every time we stay here, I always make sure to enjoy an extra cup of coffee...just because. There's also a water kettle for you to boil your water to make a cup of tea or in our case, to sanitize all the eating utensils of the twins.

If you're feeling a bit famish, they also have a basket of snacks but these aren't complimentary so make sure to check the price list first because opening a bag.

Our room also has a wardrobe closet that has a foldable iron board, laundry bag, hotel slippers and a good amount of hangers. I like hanging up my blouses which I will be wearing later that day or the next day so that they won't look too wrinkled as opposed to leaving them in the bag.

Another main fixture in all hotel rooms is the wooden study table which Paul and I used to utilize a lot before where I would catch up with my blogging or he would do some work. Every since we have been going on staycations with the twins, we no longer bring our laptops with us as we ensure that our little ones get our undivided attention. So, this area normally is just filled with our gadgets and their tablet that plays their bedtime song. See how things have changed from pre-babies to present? hehe

Now, check out our beautiful bathroom. This is one thing that really makes or breaks a hotel review for me. I love hotel rooms with big, spacious bathrooms. A big plus also goes for those with dual sinks and separate toilet and bath. Someday, when the time comes that Paul and I will get to build our dream home, I will make sure that we will have two sinks and separate baths. Not that I don't want to get all lovey-dovey with my hunnie but I really do value my personal space and I like getting things done quick meaning the less waiting time required, the better.

Marco Polo Ortigas has one of the best hotel bathrooms in the city as it's complete with a bath tub, a shower area, a toilet with bidet, two sinks and all the necessary appliances like a heavy duty hair dryer. This is close to my dream bathroom and I will post a photo of it here to serve as a reminder of how I'd like my future bathroom to be someday. Oh, did I also mentioned that it's well-lit?

Beautiful and spacious room and equally spacious and well-lit bathroom? Marco Polo Ortigas, I'm giving you 5 twinkling stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!

We checked in after the twins woke up from their naps so as they were starting to get so excited to play in the room, we told them that it was time to go swimming!

You see, J and L are both water babies and they can stay all day in water. So, they quickly got changed, we blew up their inflatable car and off we went to the 22nd floor to check out the indoor pool. That's one thing that I love about this hotel is that you can go swimming no matter what the weather outside is. Also, as opposed to other indoor pools, this one is free of that strong chlorine scent. We had our family staycation on a weekend of as expected, the pool area was quite packed.

Nonetheless, we had so much fun playing tag and teaching them to float and kick. I can't wait for the time to come that they'd be ready to take swimming lessons, I'm super sure that they'll love it. I remembered how scared I was to swim when I was their age and I'm just so amazed at how fearless they both are. Thankful that they didn't took after my scaredy cat genes.

So there we were, playing and swimming for an hour. After which, we decided we have to get ready for dinner at Cucina! However, look for got hungry and asked for some rice crackers? Haha! Good thing we made sure to pack a box of rice crackers for them to snack on.

This was just the beginning of our weekend family staycation and we surely had so much fun! You've seen our beautiful room and their very inviting pool, in the coming days, I'll tell you about our meal at Cucina, one of my favorite international buffet restaurants in the metro.

So why go on a staycation? You see, I have big plans of going on lots of family trips with my twins or to even take them around the metro but even the recent spread of the Novel Coronavirus (NCOV / COVID), it's best to play safe and to stay indoors for the meantime. Luckily, the hotel has been taking extra steps to ensure the safety and good health of all their guests so we decided to just enjoy every minute of our stay at Marco Polo Ortigas for the entire weekend.

Marco Polo Ortigas is located at Meralco avenue corner Sapphire street, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.
Book your room now at their official website.