Friendly's Guesthouse - Review from Fiona Milnes

Benji is comfortable being the perfect host which I recognise also in myself and thus appreciate his open and flexible attitude whilst at the same time maintaining a comfortable and pleasing environment. Until I discovered Friendly's in Manila my visits there were never so pleasant staying in other, often more costly, but slovenly get-ups mascarading as pension & guesthouses - I never found one I felt comfortable in - and the cockroaches!!! So to me Friendly's is a bit like an oasis for me in the desert of noise, pollution, cosmetic gaeity, not to mention all that ugliness that makes me so sad and depressed: kids sniffing glue, young beautiful women on the arms of wizened or grossly obese aged men, the begging, etc etc, so not my scene at all. Those of us who travel alone tend to pay more per head per room than those sharing. Enjoy your stay there but don't steal the towels, cutlery, food, etc. and push the price up. I would hate it for this comfortable place to be outside my budget and in the end, we'd all miss out.