Springtime is a time for renewal at Binga Beach, a chance for us to grow and improve on what we’ve built up so far.
This year we’re making the most dramatic and impressive upgrades and improvements that we have done for a long while. From tip to tail, from head to toe, from root to branch we’re making Binga Beach better than ever before!
At the head of the charge is our highly professional new General Manager, Ace Fuentes, who brings 15 years of hotel and restaurant experience to the role. Originally from Kalibo in the Aklan province, he worked in that region’s most favorite destination, Boracay, for many years working his way up at some of the island’s most prestigious resorts and into higher and higher management positions.
From there he received a promotion to another location of the prestigious hotel chain in El Nido, which got him closer to us here being located in Palawan, which is much better than Boracay! Goodness gracious, here we have wild nature.
Ace Fuentes looking cool in the white shirt 🙂
So what are Ace and the team working on this year? Well first priority is taking care of the guests with great service, and with his exceptional customer service skills and training of the staff he has already garnered us a higher ratings average increase than ever in our history. This resulted in us regaining “Superhost” status on AirBnb, in addition to being a Guest Favorite. Ace has also rejuvenated the menu, and guests are loving the food more than ever.
Can check out some of our amazing recent reviews:
Next up is our facilities, including the rooms. We have repaired some roofs as our cogan and nipa grass roofs need constant renewal. We repainted and freshened up the walls in the units, which are of course always challenged by our proximity to the jungle and ocean. We added some new mattresses and all the linens.
An incredible upgrade has occurred at one of the greatest features on our grounds – the bridge through the mangroves on the way to the beach – which is a big favorite of our guests as they just couldn’t have expected to be immersed in such cool nature in such a way right in the middle of our resort.
Credit here goes to co-owner Phil and our favorite carpenter Leo who spearheaded the charge to get this massive bridge upgrade completed. Not only did they renew the bridge, which always needs it as the wood is continually affected by the humidity of the mangroves creek, they also raised the bridge by about 2 feet, enabling it to span farther up the creek banks and making the walk to the beach that much easier. They also slightly widened the bridge, making it easier for us to bring boats and beach chairs and more back and forth to the beach.
The bridge looks amazing, check it out here:
What else? Landscaping galore, lots of new plants and trees brought in to continually make the place more and more beautiful. And the fence has been nearly completely replaced, swapping out old bamboo with new to make it all look new again.
We made new beach chairs for the beach, refurbished some old ones with new canvas, and got some nice new beach umbrellas. These things take a beating out by the ocean in the sun and we have to replace them pretty regularly. Oh we also hung up a new beach swing and a cool hammock, fun 🙂
Also our boat, the infamous Elodie-Aurelia, got a new paint job, woodwork, and canopy. Looking sharp!
Next on the list? We are currently working on a massive upgrade to our solar power system, as we need more power than ever, as we add such things as more lighting around the resort, more fans, more refrigerators and freezers to serve more food to more guests, water pumps for better water pressure – and someday, but not yet (!) air conditioning. We really don’t need it, the sea breeze at night is great and you sleep perfectly without it,,, but those city folks ask for it :p So watch this space as we increase our power.
Also upcoming, a new marquee sign up front out at the gate. We need to look as pretty on the street as we do down by the beach!
Oh and we hope to add another unit (or 2?) this year so we can host even bigger groups.
So if you’re ever wondering to yourself, how is Binga Beach doing, is it on the up and up? Rest assured it is, we are, and you should visit again soon!