By the Sea Resort Hotel does exactly what its name says. It sits on the bay side of the National Highway in the middle of Barrio Barretto, which means the bar strip is at the front door and the water is at the back, and most of its rooms have a balcony facing the bay. For a strip where half the appeal is a sunset with a beer in your hand, that is the whole argument.
It is a mid-sized, privately run beach hotel rather than anything resembling a resort chain: a pool, a stretch of private beach, a restaurant and bar that does breakfast on most rates, sea-view rooms with a fridge and a balcony, and staff who are used to long-stay guests. Ratings across the booking sites sit in the low-to-mid eights out of ten, and the pattern of 2025–26 reviews is consistent: good value, clean enough, great position, with a steady minority reporting tired corners, patchy cleaning and a restaurant that plays its music loudly — including, memorably for one reviewer, at breakfast. That is a fair summary of the place. It is a comfortable, well-positioned Filipino beach hotel, not a polished one.
Practically: you are on the strip, so you can walk to every bar in Barretto and back without crossing the highway more than once, which in Subic is a genuine safety point rather than a convenience — the road through town is fast and badly lit at night. Baloy Long Beach and the dive shops are about a kilometre north, a dollar by tricycle. The Subic Bay Freeport gate is fifteen minutes south, and Clark airport about ninety minutes by car, which the hotel will arrange.
The visitor question. Barretto hotels are small, privately owned and almost none of them publish a written policy; the local norm is that a visitor registers at the desk with photo ID and there is no charge, but a norm is not a policy and we are not going to state one we cannot source. We have it as “ask.” Message the hotel before you book if it matters, and read how guest-friendly works first so you ask the right question. Rates started around $50–70 (₱2,850–4,000) in August 2026, less in the wet months.
| Tier | Mid-range beachfront hotel |
|---|---|
| From | About $50 (₱2,850) a night with breakfast, Aug 2026 |
| Walk to the bars | None — it is on the strip |
| Pool | Yes, plus private beach frontage |
| Guest-friendly | Unpublished — ask at booking |
| Joiner fee | Unknown |
Pros
- + On the strip and on the beach at the same time
- + Sea-view balconies on most rooms
- + Pool and private sand behind the bars
- + Breakfast included on most rates
Cons
- − Cleaning and upkeep get mixed reports
- − Restaurant music can be loud, including at breakfast
- − Highway noise on the road-facing side
- − Visitor policy unpublished
