Cagayan de Oro's damp hotels

For those of you who don't know, Cagayan de Oro (or CDO) is a city in Mindanao, the 3rd major island south of the Philippines. My hubby and I travel within the Philippines quite a bit, mostly to serve and train church workers. It can be a very rewarding experience wrapped in less than sterile conditions. CDO is not a clean place and I found it necessary to check the soles of my shoes every now and then just to be sure I didn't step on something undesirable.

We stayed at Nature's Pensione -- a "faux" hotel, which my sis and I coined to refer to hotels with less than 1-star rating. It's dark, damp and all corners of the room unsuccessfully hid water stains that never saw the light of day. The beddings were 60 degrees off the white scale and the towels felt rough and worn to the core. And to think this was even a recommended hotel!

What I really ask myself many times is this: Why are most smaller hotels in the Philippines this much short of clean? Hubby and I even checked out another hotel nearby, just to see if we had better options, and ended up even more disappointed. No offense to our Chinese brothers but they are not exactly known for their cleanliness, right? I forgot the name of this Chinese-owned hotel but it was made to look grand outside (which is not surprising) and was priced much higher -- but looked even more seedy and damp than Nature's Pensione. The carpets were green (what's with the green carpets???), old, dirty and heavily stained on all corners. Yuck!!!

I wish I took a photo of the rooms. But then again, I think I know why I didn't bother.