Frendz truly lives up to its name in a way that you meet super nice people there and get to experience the island in a whole different level. I could say my trip to Boracay would not have been the same had i not chanced upon this hostel!
Back story: I was travelling a day ahead of my friends to Boracay so I had to book a really cheap place to stay. A friend mentioned Frendz Boracay had bed space for Php 500, and was located in Station 1 which was a breath of fresh air. (Station 1 hotels are usually more expensive because it's the more posh side of the island, near bars and luxury hotels. You usually get rates that low for bed space in Station 3 where the social life is dead.)
So I went ahead and wrote an email. I didn't have to follow-up as after an hour, they called me to confirm my booking. I had zero expectations and was expecting the place to be really crappy, given the dirt-cheap price point but was pleasantly surprised.
Accommodations for bed spacers were in all-boy / all-girl, two-storey nipa and wooden huts with 2 electric fans per person. The room was spacious and had cubbies where we could place our stuff. There were 2 girls on the first floor and four girls on the second floor and there was 1 bathroom where which we all shared. Beds were good and sheets were changed daily.
The common are has strong wi-fi connection (which was a godsend because I left tons of work back in Manila), pool / billiards table and bamboo chairs, hammocks and swings. The people there were super accommodating and would greet you with a smile. Safety is also not an issue here surprisingly. The girls in my room left their iTouch phones around, no biggie!
I was greeted with an ice-cold San Miguel Beer welcome drink by Reinhard, the owner. He introduced himself and he introduced me to the other guests in the hostel. Most of them were 20-something foreigners from Canada, England, Taiwan, US, South America etc who were backpacking through Europe. Everyone was so warm and friendly, it felt like I was in a dorm with like-minded adventurous people like myself. Lunch hour in the mess hall was a buffet of travel adventures and misadventures which made me feel super at home.
The up-side to staying in the hostel, especially if you’re traveling alone is that you meet really good company, hear awesome travel stories and have instant drinking/hang-out/shopping buddies. I heard a lot of them also got cheaper rates for outdoor activities like island hopping and snorkeling because they come in bulk and share the overhead charges.
I’ve stayed in luxury hotels in the island with faux hospitality—where hotel staff smile because you damn well paid for an exorbitant amount for it but it’s quite rare to find a place where you get to experience a community of travelers—like in that movie, “The Beach” sans the creepy campy behavior. This is a place where you have genuine conversations, enjoy the company of other travelers, a place where you meet real ‘Frendz.’
___ To answer some of the bad reviews about the place, I would just have to say it's all a matter of price point. If you're paying Php 3000 / air-conditioned room or Php 500 for bedspace in a resort in STATION 1 and expect accommodations to match the Shangri La, then there's definitely a rift in expectations there. To be fair, you should consider the place's good location, good service, excellent wifi connection and decent accommodations which are well worth your money. The hotel is also under new management and has a new owner, and didn't experience any of the bad comments previously posted.