The New Boracay is Love!

Discovery Shores elevates Boracay 2.0 with its new Signature Suites — luxurious spaces with their own living and dining rooms and pool — for that perfect stay in paradise.

I’ve never unloved Boracay. Even when it was crowded and the beach’s edge was lined with green algae, even when I got caught in knee-deep floodwaters on a birthday weekend I spent there with friends, I was never sorry to be there. 

Even when people called it a “cesspool,” I thought it was still paradise — but yes, it could use a cleanup. Then it closed for six months on April 26 for rehabilitation with no one except residents allowed to come on the island.

I would see occasional pictures during the rehabilitation —White Beach was deserted, as if the parties whose music could be heard all the way to Caticlan never happened; the clear waters fringed by coconut trees looking so lovely like they were secret Christmas trees.

I missed Boracay even more.

Designed by Manny Samson, Discovery Shores Boracay’s new Signature Suites blend sea hues and wood, and play on surfaces that alternate between cool smooth and textured patterns.

It began to look like the first few times I was there in the late ‘90s or early 2000s. I edited and co-wrote the first coffee table book about Boracay, interviewing the Europeans who first settled there in the ‘70s before Filipinos tourists began traveling to the island. It was a time when the beach was so white you were practically blinded by it as if the sun was shining from under your feet. When people slept in nipa huts on White Beach, when there was no electricity or running water — and most important of all, they said, no taxes.

When we were doing the book, the paraws’ sails were hand-painted by local artists with contests held for the most beautiful ones. Then a few years later, those artistic sails were replaced with corporate logos and advertisements.

That, to me, signaled its decline, a commercialization of its waters, its very symbol — the paraws.

Fast-forward to this year, six months after Boracay closed and reopened on Oct. 26.

It looks like the paradise it was and meant to be. The new Boracay is love!  

The 11 new Signature Suites come in one-bedroom, two-bedroom and a grand suite.

So when Discovery Shores — located in Station 1, the quiet and fancy side of White Beach — recently invited media to the launch of its new Signature Suites, returning to Boracay couldn’t have been more perfect for me given my long love affair with it.  

“It’s a lot of changes, and I think it will be sustained. And I hope this period of adjustment will be used to train the people on the island, to shift the mindset — like doing away with plastics,” says Discovery Shores hotel manager Erwin Lopez.

Known for providing guests with an elevated experience and service from the heart, Discovery Shores changes the game 11 with its new Signature Suites. It can easily go toe-to-toe with the best hotels from around the world.

After all, Discovery Shores Boracay is an award-winning icon of Filipino hospitality, a beloved place of cherished experiences and warmth.  

Designed by Manny Samson, each suite has a living room, a dining room and opens up to a spacious balcony with its own pair of tanning beds and a private plunge/lounge pool. Depending on which side of the hotel the suite is, you get either sea or mountain views.

The living room looks out to the gorgeous sea.

The luxurious suites are done in a neutral palette with touches of sea hues and wood, and play on surfaces that alternate between cool smooth and textured patterns.   

The bedroom is expansive with a writing desk by the window and the en-suite bathroom is one of the biggest I have ever seen in a resort hotel, with a deep freestanding tub — and the super expensive Dyson hairdryer. That’s when you know luxury is in the details.

Guests can choose from the one- or two-bedroom Signature Suite or the Grand Suite. They also get to use the exclusive lounge The Great Room, which serves snacks all day.

I’ve always said that Boracay is a food trip. It’s always been a hotbed for one-off restaurants that end up opening in Manila too because of sheer popularity. 

Discovery Shores senior operations manager for F&B Julius Alegre says, “If you’re on vacation, there are two things that make it memorable: a perfect stay and perfect food. You have a very nice beach here, and the food scene is improving every year.”

Discovery Shores’ dining outlets alone are a food trip. They have Sands restaurant where we had a sumptuous lunch from all regions of the country —my God, the pork humba and Bacolod kansi were so good. At Indigo, we had a platter of grilled short ribs and lobster and squid stuffed with zucchini.

A Signature Suite’s balcony comes with tanning beds and a plunge/lounge pool.

But it’s the new Italian restaurant Forno Osteria that elevates the game. It’s equipped with a new Josper oven, a combination of grill and oven that the best chefs in the world love. Meat and seafood come out grilled and charred perfectly and yet retain their succulence.

Julius says there’s an ongoing discussion about replicating Forno in the Discovery properties in Manila and Palawan, and properties in Samal and Siargo that they are opening in the next two years.

There are several new rules on White Beach that make me love it even more now. One is that they removed all the barriers that restaurants and hotels used to put out for their beach dining, which made walking along Station 2 feel like a crowded city street. Two, vendors are no longer allowed on White Beach; they are now on the road behind the hotels. Three, they extended the easement from the water, from 25 meters to 30, which means most hotels have had to remove their beach beds. Four, you cannot access the island without a confirmation letter from a hotel.

Without the barriers, without restaurants literally claiming their stake on the sand — now Boracay is truly a public beach. And I love it!

For people who like to tan, Discovery Shores now does it with its signature service — their beach butlers lay out mats and towels on the sand for you, and even offer to clean your sunglasses. 

Julius describes the new Boracay as “parang Boracay 10 years ago.” During the island’s closure, he says, “If you went outside at 7 p.m., it felt like 3 a.m., it was pitch black, and that never happened it Boracay before. It took some getting used to.” 

Front office manager Rome Garcia says, “When Boracay closed, our staff went to our other properties, they didn’t stop working. We did lose about 10 percent to the cruise ships. A month before our reopening, 75 percent of all staff were there for the preparations. We have a very loyal clientele, families who book every year for Holy Week, Christmas and New Year. Before they leave, they’re already booking for the following year.”

Beach weddings are no longer allowed — you cannot put out even temporary tables and chairs — which were a big part of Discovery Shores’ signature experience.  At one point, they had a 227-guest wedding; and last year they had 62 beach weddings.

Today, they have a limit of 70 people for weddings with the reception held in their beachfront restaurants. It’s intimate, it’s personal, it’s beautiful in that you get to pick what and who’s really important to you.

The way Boracay should always be.    

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Log on to www.discoveryshoresboracay.com.

Visit the author’s travel blog at www.findingmyway.net and follow her on Instagram and Twitter @iamtanyalara.