Customer Rating:  
Summary: Very poor
Comment: I have to agree with the two previous reviewers: this is one of the worst guidebooks I've ever used, and certainly well below the usual standards of the Rough Guides.
So much of the information on hotels and restaurants was just plain wrong. Obviously, I know that things change - businesses decline and close, cooks move, management changes, places renovate - but I have never come across so many evident mistakes in one book. It wasn't just that recommended restaurants no longer existed, but hotels listed in the budget category in tbe guide turned out to be the swankiest places in town, streets described as being "lined with bars" were residential and deserted, the centuries old cathedral bell tower in Dumaguete appears to have moved from one side of town to the other...
Given the level of errors, I'd have said that the author couldn't have visited the country, except for his wide-ranging knowledge of offal (a tip for breakfast at the abattoir in Merida, anyone?). And of course, if he'd done his research on the internet, at least there'd have been the chance of getting hotel prices roughly accurate...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Worst guide book Ive ever used
Comment: Ive been using Rough Guides since the beginning, back in the 80s and this is by far the worst Ive ever used. We bought it because it was the newest available, but the Jens Peters book was far more accurate. Prices are out by over 100% in some cases, proofreading is dreadful and places are often in the wrong position on maps. We booked a hotel in Dumaguete on the basis of it being an 'author's pick', having been described as 'hacienda style with a swimming pool'. Our room turned out to be a windowless box, and the only place where there could have been a swimming pool(which obviously never existed) was a defunct conference centre. The Philippines is a wonderful country and deserves a good guidebook. This , most certainly is not it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: No good
Comment: I just got back from 2 weeks backpacking my way around North Luzon and Palawan. The book had nothing good to say about the town of Subic, so I skipped it, but everyone we met afterwards was amazed that we didn't stop to see the place. It failed to mention the best/only place to stay in Tabuk - the Davidson Hotel, a surprising omission.
The cultural information/background was good, but this book put me off the Rough Guides and in future I will stick with "the other" famous brand of guide books.
It may be printed in 2007, but seemed a bit out of date for me.
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