Picasso No

I hereby rescind anything nice I've said about the Picasso hotel here in Makati City. (That's the benefit about being always right is that I can change my mind and still be right.) Sure, they occasionally impressed me with some little bits of service here and there, but at this point I wouldn't recommend that anybody ever stay here.

First of all, there's the internet connection. Or, rather, lack thereof. Or, rather rather, occasional lack thereof. But it's more than that. I realize this is a third world country and all that, but the behavior of this network is just ridiculous. Behaviors I've observed on this network include:

• The internet connection is really slow. Not just bad internet connection slow, but Northeastern When Napster Came Out slow.
• Sometimes it fails because the internet connection goes down, but sometimes it fails because the wifi goes down. A lot of times, actually. There is no excuse for that.
• Two devices on the network can see each other. This is a security hole for guests.
• When two devices on the local wifi talk to each other, the connection is as slow as the internet connection.

I'm probably much more disturbed by all of this than most normal people. But that's not all that's wrong. Apparently this hotel finds it necessary to use power tools every morning. All over the place. Outside, inside, etc. I've seen other people checking in and asking if it's quiet, and the employees assure them that their room is "on the quiet side" of the hotel.

They are liars.

The hotel is a construction site. It doesn't look like a construction site, it just looks like a hotel. But don't be fooled by the lack of an actual construction site. It's in here somewhere. Everywhere. Hidden. And it will make itself known in the morning.

Additionally, and this is a very recent development, for reasons unknown to me the ventilation in my room isn't working. I think. Or something's wrong with it. My gut tells me that there's an air filter that needs to be changed, but this came on suddenly. I can't even quantify it as a problem to request attention, it's just... somehow wrong. Basically, being in the room makes me horribly sick. Going outside or going anywhere else makes me slowly get better. But as soon as I'm back, it's like that day I spent here with the system turned off. Sick.