The hotel is located right beside the Manila Bay, a harbor that serves as the main port of the city.
It took around an hour and a half to get to the hotel from Makati, the city's financial and business center. Traffic was bad — hundreds of cars lined the streets of the capital.
On first impression, the hotel was opulent, with a regal exterior and bell men in uniform.
Like most places in Manila, there were security checks — all bags were screened in a scanner, and I had to pass through a metal detector. My vaccination status was also checked.
The Manila Hotel did not immediately respond to my requests for comment for this story.