The Exchange Regency Residence Hotel: For Some Family Time in the Heart of Ortigas

We wanted a staycation for the family during the Christmas season but then our frugal spirit reminds us not to. Like most Filipinos, the holidays compel us to spend more as the noche buena and gift-giving season approaches. After some brainstorming, we finally settled with a hotel that has the following amenities:

Affordable– it has to be within the budget, and that means it’s okay if we don’t have a breakfast buffet. 🙂
Has a kid-friendly pool– we would like to believe that Tikoy is a water baby. He seems to have no qualms when we took him to the beach and pool before. So, we think a staycation isn’t complete without swimming time.
Close to business establishments– Since we are going during the Christmas season, we wanted a hotel that is walking distance to the nearest mall to avoid the heavy traffic.

With these qualities in mind, we finally chose The Exchange Regency in Ortigas after doing a quick research.

Responsive Hotel Staff

We checked in a few minutes after 2:00 pm. Due to the holiday season, the hotel is flooded with guests so it took some time for us to go to our assigned rooms. Despite the large volume of clients, the hotel staff was still collected and calm. When we asked to transfer the grandparent’s assigned room to another floor, they responded promptly.

Central Business District

This residence hotel is in the heart of Ortigas Center. This means that is close to high rise office buildings and condominiums. Since it is also in the central business district, it is surrounded by convenience stores, fast foods and the fairly new Ayala Malls the 30th.

If you stay at the hotel on regular days, there are dining areas (such as Tully’s Coffee, Benassi Alimento E Cafe, etc.) just outside the hotel. Despite the closed restaurants, the Ayala Malls The 30th is just a short walk from the hotel. So that’s where we had our dinner and lunch the following day. For breakfast, Abi and I walked to the closest Jollibee.

The Pool Area

The pool area was full of people when we went there few hours after checking in. The following day, Abi and Tikoy were able to go swimming.

Other amenities

As mentioned, the Exchange Regency is a residence hotel. This means that guests share the hotel’s amenities with those living in the condominium units. This is not really a problem, I think out of courtesy, we should just be mindful when we share the amenities with them.

Ginger Bread House

For their Christmas theme, the hotel chose the Ginger Bread House. The plants near the poolside were filled with large candy canes and the lobbies were decorated with ginger bread men and other sweets.

Reminders and Takeaways

There is a standard security deposit fee (PhP 2,000.00). Your deposit will be refunded to you in full when you check out, minus the cost incurred during your stay.
The elevators makes a creaky sound when we were there last time, I hope they have fixed the problem by now. It’s not totally scary, just bothersome.
The hotel is a bit old so you have to manage your expectations. I hope the pictures we posted here will help you decide.
All in all, the hotel matched with the amenities we were looking for. Plus, our baby Tikoy had a good sleep through the night so that is already a good deal for us. 🙂