Cheap Makati Condo Near Greenbelt Mall | The Beacon Roces Tower

Previously I did condo reviews of Knightsbridge and Gramercy which are perfectly located if you’re on a mongering trip and want to be right next to the red light district – the bikini bars on P. Burgos.

On this trip I found The Beacon Roces Tower, also on AirBnB ($35 off your first trip link).

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Checking in at Roces Tower

On previous posts readers commented that for long term living, the Philippines is better for normal girls / online dating, which I’d agree with. They suggested living further West (about 7km) near the Mall of Asia and the normal style nightlife on the Pasay seafront if I got bored of Burgos. E.g. at Sea Residences condo.

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Maybe I’ll try that area next time but this trip I decided to go halfway and stay somewhere in the middle. The Beacon Roces Tower is a short walk to the Greenbelt malls (700m), Glorietta mall (1.2km), SM Makati (1.4km), so a good place to live for meeting girls out and about and for Filipino Cupid dates.

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Route from The Beacon (bottom left) to P. Burgos (Gramercy top right)

And if you like walking as I do you can still get to P. Burgos in 30 mins (2.3km) instead of getting a taxi in rush hour. It’s a nice walk because you cut through the air conditioned malls Greenbelt 3 and 5, then use a walkway, an underpass, and pass the Ayala Triangle park. Not many roads to cross.

Studio Room

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The Beacon is a bit less fancy looking than Knightsbridge and Gramercy but still nice and modern, and the gym / pool are debatably better, both being a lot bigger. It’s also cheaper to lease long term, online I saw studio rentals for 13 – 22k pesos / month depending if it’s empty or fully furnished ($270 – $450).

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Manila style filing cabinet rooms

The AirBnB room I stayed in was $40/night. It was a bit small and claustrophic (25 sqm) but that was the same at Knightsbridge too. I got used to it after a while (and then flew back to Thailand where you get way better value for money accommodation and more square metres).

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There are two towers, Roces Tower has about 40 floors with the fitness centre on the 6th floor – with sauna, spa / massage, garden, kid’s playground, common area, pool and gym. The gym costs 100 pesos/day or 500 pesos/month. I didn’t mind that as it made the gym pretty empty. Also there’s a free water machine.

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Overlooking the Pasay Rd Skyway

The Beacon Gym

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Weights room

The dumbbells only go up to 50lb and but there’s plenty of weight plates to use with the barbells – way more weights than Gramercy or Knightsbridge. And three Olympic barbells, one on the flat bench, one on the incline bench, and one free for deadlifts.

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Distracted about to deadlift

Also lots of smaller curl bars and kettlebells. You can do curls while checking out the hot Pinays jogging down below.

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Running / cycling machines on the lower floor

The cardio machines and water cooler are on the lower floor and the weights up top, overlooking the pool and garden. Not as picturesque a view as Gramercy but there’s a lot more floor space.

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One thing it doesn’t have is a pull up bar, I saw some people improvising by doing pull ups on the stairs linking the two floors. There are three lat pulldown machines though.

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There’s one Zumba ball and a small area for that around the corner, Gramercy is better if you’re into that (tons of Zumba balls and a dedicated Pilates room).

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The whole gym is air conditioned and SMART mobile 3G worked well in that area. Just as well because unlike Knightsbridge gym there’s no wifi.

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Wherever you go something in the Philippines something is broken / under maintenance

Swimming Pool

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The pool is bigger than Knightsbridge’s. Gramercy’s is deeper and has the nice view overlooking the city, but also annoying staff ready to jump on you if you’re not wearing appropriate clothing. The Beacon Roces Tower is a lot more relaxed and chilled, with hardly anyone around.

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Early October when there’s a bit more rain and less Sun

The pool is free unlike the gym. Both are open from 6 to 10. Gramercy is better if you wake up at random hours and want a 24/7 gym and pool.

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Pool is too long to fit in one camera frame

Over the few days I lived there I never saw more than three people in the pool or five in the gym.

Children’s Area

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If the Nordette morning after pill recipe fails there’s a playground area for kids, and shallow pools.

Common Area / Garden

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I don’t quite understand what this area is for as there was no wifi connection that I could find, but you could have meetings or work offline down here I guess (no air con though). Knightsbridge is way better for common areas (with internet, A/C, computer terminals, pool table, football table).

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The garden is nice, bigger than anything Knightsbridge or Gramercy has. You can jog around a bit if you don’t like running on a treadmill in the gym.

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Sauna / Massage

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The Beacon has both a sauna (like Knightsbridge) and massage shop (like Gramercy). Again they didn’t seem very busy. And a locker room to store your valuables.

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Steps up to the Beacon massage parlor

Girl Friendly

If they notice you walking in with a new girl they might quickly ask her to sign her name in the guest book, sometimes they don’t notice though. The Beacon security are pretty relaxed compared to Gramercy. There’s no mall connected to the building for sneaking girls in like Gramercy has though.

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One advantage over both Knightsbridge and Gramercy is people don’t need to use keycards in the elevators. So if a girl comes to visit you and you don’t meet her in the lobby, she can probably blend in and walk past security without being stopped, then make her own way up to your room without you needing to go down.

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MILFs in the lobby

Halfway Between Burgos & Pasay

The Beacon Roces Tower kinda gives you the best of both worlds, you can just about walk to P. Burgos (2.3km) to start the evening off with a bit of cardio and then get a taxi back when the traffic has died down. Perfect if you’re not going whoring very often and would rather live in the nicer Greenbelt area of Makati.

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Then you’re also a bit closer to the Mall of Asia and Pasay sea front promenade (4.5km) than Knightsbridge and Gramercy condominiums. Another good spot for those Pinalove dates. The Beacon is also a bit closer to the EDSA bars which have cheaper barfines than Burgos.

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Route from The Beacon to MOA 

AirBnB

This was the daily rental I stayed in for $40 with nice furnishings, PLDT wifi, comfy bed. I didn’t have to meet the owner, just turn up and put in a 4 digit code to open the room door. Or Google site:airbnb.com the beacon roces tower to find some cheaper listings, e.g. this one is $23 per day.

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If you’re new to AirBnb sign up here first for $35 off.

Location

Click here for the Google maps location of The Beacon Roces Tower condo. It’s right across the street from Waltermart Makati, which has a supermarket, department store, cinema, restaurants & Starbucks.

26 Responses

  1. -Cam says:

    If PI could just turn up the internet and turn down the rent prices it would be the new Thailand. Maybe if Duterte takes out enough “drugies” the rent will go down…

    • jspill says:

      Yeah, give it a few more years. They need to finish building the place too, it feels like there’s construction going on everywhere in PI.

      • thibault says:

        lol they ll never. its like that all over the third world, they begin cobstruction before securing investment, try to sell off plans to finish it. reality kicks in, market s not booming as they say, every one loses his job, manager leaves with whats left from advance money from early investors (remember, off plan) and the things stays under construction forever
        . until some new shark takes over and conduct the exact same scam, with new investors.

    • Reader says:

      In the PIs corruption is on a whole other level. Thais are corrupt but generally have reasonable margins in mind while in the PIs people in positions of power seem to be extremely greedy.

      Just look at that shit that went on at Aura because in the PIs greed has no boundaries:

      http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/05/17/13/road-dispute-mars-sm-auras-opening

      Stuff like that would never happen in Bangkok.

      As such electricty is one of the most expensive in the world and housing is really overpriced for what it is because of extreme levels of corruption. If you need to pay a shitton of people off for everything prices naturally go up.

  2. thibault says:

    the only important question after seeing your pics:
    in what measure do this girls dress lighlty because of the weather, rather than to arouse male interest.
    there s always a duality there, but i coe scratching y head about it.
    are the short shorts an accepted norm? do pinoy see it a slutty? you see the same thing with heels qnd its outrageous. but it may just, well… be hard to wear anything that is too hot.
    those women with their babies look like they cover more skin. its a hint. the skimpy outfit is frowned upon in asia, itsnot the caribbean even if they arre half latin in culture

    • kick2dante says:

      what sucks is when your at the mall and there is some high school aged girl dressed like that, you only see her from behind and are like hmm i should hand her my number, then you get around front and are like wtf are you doing! get away!

    • Anonymous says:

      I’m Filipina and I wear jeans probably twice in a year. Too hot to go around walking in jeans. But then again I’m in GSC right now which for me is one of the hottest places in the Philippines. When I go out seeing Filipinas in hot jeans and wearing long sleeves to boot, I’m like, what the? I’d be melting! Seeing the babies all wrapped up with hot hats, I just shake my head. Coming from Toronto, it took me almost 3 years to get used to the weather again. Yes, they do dress more conservatively here compared to the west, but, wearing shorts is not considered slutty. If one goes to the mall in a skimpy dress, you’ll definitely be stared at.

  3. thibault says:

    lol its very topical, “cute but severe looking receptionist” picture has halloween crap decorations in the background
    didnt know they celebrated this in theoretically very catholic culture, US culture permeates everything like in south america (chica vampiro anyone?).
    its quite positive as they speak english, but perhaps not as much if they eat crap and gain 200 lbs to look like their western counterparts….

  4. Squid says:

    Hey guys
    Jspill
    Dante
    Have you guys traveled around much in Asia?
    I was wondering if anyone has any suggestion on which Asian country has the women with the biggest boobs?
    I love Asian women with big boobs but they are difficult to find.
    Thankyou

  5. Squid says:

    Thanks for your reply.
    I read your detailed responses to the other gentleman’s comments.
    To clarify. I was looking for natural boobs on good girls.
    Not so interested in p4p.
    Asian women with curves in the right places are incredible!

    • kick2dante says:

      i would say thailand definitely has the most, but not going to be easy finding them on non pros who arent married or have a western boyfriend that bought them for her

      • Squid says:

        I prefer natural boobs. Girls with fake boobs are bound to be trouble makers.

        • kick2dante says:

          me too, i dont think the girls are more likely to cause trouble, i just think the boobs won’t feel as nice in my hands haha

          vietnam and phils probably have the biggest naturals in SEA, but the girls in phils that have them are generally thicker all around

        • jspill says:

          The higher number of available, single girls in SE Asia and ease of getting them into bed, more than makes up for Asians having smaller boobs on average.

          I’m pretty sure I’d bang way more girls with big tits here per year than I would in countries better for that, like Latino countries.

          Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket have ‘Hooters’ branches, you can check pics on Facebook.

          • Squid says:

            Yes. Latin America and Eastern Europe seem to be more about quality over quantity.
            You think it’s more common for girls to be single in SE Asia than in Latin countries and Eastern Europe?

            Dante. I agree. Naturals feel better!

          • jspill says:

            I think so, Asian guys are picky and there’s a large subset of girls that don’t get much attention – if their skin is too dark, or they’re nearly 30, or have a kid, they don’t even get a second glance from most guys.

            The guys that ARE interested, the girl isn’t interested in – lower class Asian guys have a reptutation for alcoholism, domestic violence.

            Then a lot of girls are interested in foreigners but can’t meet them because they’re shy / bad at English. So they’re single and looking.

            In western countries guys are more sex starved and will lock down a relationship, even get married, just for sex. It’s that or get laid like once a year. Way more options in Asia, the guys can be playboys, the girls have way less value so more will end up single. Supply and demand.

            Statistically the male:female ratio of population is better too. And add in that in Asian countries many young men are taken out of the playerpool because they’re conscripted into the Army, join the monkhood, or are gay / ladyboys (higher % than western countries).
            Some girls are dating lesbian tomboy girlfriends but not that many 🙂

            You’re right it’s quality over quantity back home, here it’s the other way around. There’s tons of hot but not that interesting girls, they’re fun and lovely but not much deep conversation even if you speak the language.

            Sometimes Thailand feels like the movie the Island, where a bunch of clones live in a society cut off from the world, are all super happy and good looking, but they come off as brainwashed and don’t know much about the world, like kids in the bodies of adults. Every now and then you can meet a chick that studied abroad or can think outside the box though.

  6. guy says:

    pretty sure front desk girl wants you dude

  7. randy roy says:

    Knightsbridge is also full of cockroaches and the management won\t do anything about it. Gran Marcy is too but at least they offered each occupant a free spray. you sound like a HO MAN for fresh poo skis … I was..BUT I AM A CHANGED MAN SINCE 5 DAYS AGO…. At 63 I got busted last week with a 30 year old…… and now I am on house arrest momma says.. also to teach me lesson she bought an engagement ring with the cash I forgot to grab so she walked over to century city mall and bought a 155000.00p engagement ring

  8. Guy says:

    Is it 100 PHP to use the gym or not? I have seen this on a few listings.

  9. Mark says:

    Would this be about as good as it gets for a condo near Greenbelt? Or is there an alternative within a 5-10 minute walk of Greenbelt with good facilities and relaxed security in terms of girls?

    • jspill says:

      there are others, Greenbelt excelsior condo I reviewed on here, same security no problem as long as the girl signs the guestbook, and its less of a walk than the beacon https://www.nomadphilippines.com/rooshv-forum-manila-condo/

      this mosaic tower airbnb listing looks great and is also closer than the beacon – https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/9484848

      the residences at greenbelt is another one it’s the most high end condo and is right next to greenbelt, but also the most expensive

      gramercy and knightsbridge i also reviewed on here they’re an enjoyable walk to greenbelt passing ayala triangle gardens park, not too far under 20 mins walk

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