A Night in Copacabana Apartment Hotel

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Copacabana Hotel Apartment is one landmark that I usually look at whenever I pass along south EDSA. I never knew back then that it will have a connection to our wedding. Copacabana Apartment Hotel is the place where we stayed in the night before our wedding day.

Weeks before our wedding day, Lei and I searched for hotels where we can do our pre-wedding preparatiosn. We visited Herald Suites, Avitel Hotel, and Copacabana Apartment Hotel. It is Copacabana that impressed us the most that’s why we booked it.

Copacabana Apartment Hotel. (Source: PCG Auxiliary)

We were allowed to check the rooms during our visit and I was impressed. What I liked with Copacabana Apartment Hotel is the space. Since it’s an apartment hotel, Copacabana’s rooms are spacious. The rooms have dining area, kitchen, living area, and, (of course) bedrooms.


For me and my family, we booked the 1 Bedroom Suite while we booked the 2 Bedroom Suite Deluxe for Lei and her family.

We got the promo rate of 2,975 pesos for the 1 Bedroom Suite. However, Copacabana allows only 2 persons for that room so I had to pay 650 pesos for the extra person. Mother and Little Sister accompanied me in my overnight in this room.

Our bedroom in Copacabana Apartment Hotel.

Our room have a small table, where we ate our very late dinner, and the sofa is just close to it.

I will never forget that night I spent doing the last-minute preparations (seating arrangement for the reception, guest cards, and the program for our wedding reception). I sleept around 3 AM and woke up around 5 AM.

The kitchen is on the other side our room. It has a stove, water heater, and refrigerator that contains the money trap of canned soft drinks, bottled water, etc.

See my bed?

Lei, the Biyenans and, our make-up artist stayed in the bigger 2 Bedroom Suite Deluxe room. We paid the 6,800 pesos promo rate for this room. Their room also has kitchen, living area and dining area.

Lei brought three of her pamangkins because Copacabana don’t charge extra payment for kids.

Lei's bedroom. Look at her wedding gown.

Lei’s room is bigger because this is where they did the make-up and photography.

Some Criticisms about Copacabana Apartment Hotel

I have few negative comments to this hotel, and the first of it is about the receptionists. It seems like the receptionists don’t know how to smile. They are not outright rude but I can see in their body language that they’re not “customer friendly”.

The next worst negative comment is about their “promise” about photo-shoot inside the hotel. During our first visit, we asked the receptionists if photoshoot is allowed inside the hotel, particularly at the lobby. They just answered “yes”. I asked them again about it on our wedding day and their answer is “no”, specifically at the places outside of our room.

I get mad at this sudden prohibition. Good thing that our photographers were not daunted by this turn of events and took our photos and videos at the corridors and stairs of the hotel. They even took photos and videos of Lei at the lobby and the hotel people were not able to stop them.

My last negative comment is the noise in our room. I know that many people book Copacabana Apartment Hotel because of its convenient location. The hotel is just beside EDSA and few minutes away from SM Mall of Asia (SM MoA) and the airport.

A view of EDSA from our room in Copacabana Apartment Hotel.

The consequence of this convenience is the noise from vehicles, particularly the buses, running in front of the hotel. Loud hoots from buses outside will be enough to wake you up. Guests are warned that Filipino bus drivers are very inconsiderate with their horns.

All in all, our stay in Copacabana Apartment Hotel was OK despite of the negative comments that I had. I recommend this hotel for soon-to-be-wed couples who are looking for a place to stay before their big day. The good thing about Copacabana Apartment Hotel is the big rooms. The bellboys are helpful and courteous too. Copacabana Apartment Hotel allowed our photographers to come in but the problem is they tried to prevent our photoshoot from happening.

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Visit the Copacabana Apartment Hotel website for more info about this hotel.
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Wedding Prep: Finding a Hotel

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Our house in the province is very far away from the church where we will hold our wedding. It is impractical for us to prepare ourselves (outfit, flowers, and make-up for the bride) and then travel for so many hours to our wedding. We were, then, forced to find a hotel where we can do our pre-wedding preparations.

The hotel that we were looking for should be within our budget and have rooms that are spacious enough for my bride, her bridesmaids, our mothers, our make-up artists, and all the photographers who will cover our special event. Of course, the main factor is that the hotel is just few minutes away from the church, including the journey through the possible congested traffic.

Three hotels fit in our criteria and these are Herald Suites, Avitel Hotel, and Copacabana Apartment Hotel.

Herald Suites

The first hotel that we visited is located along Don Chino Roces Avenue, near Don Bosco Church in Makati. Herald Suites, as the receptionist told us, is catered more for businessmen because of its proximity to Makati Central Business District. But they assured us that they can allow make-up artists and photographers. They also allow photoshoot and video-taking in the rooms and the hotel lobby.

Lei liked the hotel lobby. Unfortunately, we were not able to check their rooms so I cannot comment about that.

Visit the Herald Suite website for more info.

Avitel Hotel

The next hotel that we visited has a very crowded lobby. This is understandable, however, because Avitel Hotel is a budget hotel. The receptionist that entertained us was not sure if the make-up artists, photographers and our many visitors will be allowed in Avitel Hotel. I think she’s hesitating maybe because it was the first time someone asked wedding-related use for their rooms. Also, the Avitel Hotel is so crowded that our crowd will make the hotel more crowded.

So, in the end, we didn’t consider Avitel Hotel as a place for our pre-wedding preparations.

Copacabana Apartment Hotel

The last hotel that we visited is Copacabana Apartment Hotel, located along EDSA beside Heritage Hotel. This is the hotel that we selected because it fulfilled all of our criteria. I will talk about this hotel in the next blog post.
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