It is always a source of pride for me to be able to tell friends that my hometown, Cebu City, has many beautiful and excellent hotels to choose from. A recent visit convinced me that of the many, three stand out as the most customer-oriented, with the best facilities, and have more bang for the buck.
Marco Polo Plaza
I have always been a happy customer of Marco Polo Plaza even when it was still Cebu Plaza. I like very much its location, up in Busay Hills, far from the madding crowd, and the beautiful view that each of its guest rooms offers. The smiling staff always make me feel welcome…and wanted. It is such a delight to be served by people such as these.
The hotel recently completed the renovation of its 60 premier rooms and suites at a total cost of P100 million, just in time to welcome domestic and international travelers, now that quarantine restrictions have eased up. The newly refurbished rooms were conceptualized by the hotel’s management, together with Architect Dewey Santos of DSFN Architects.
Among the modern features the new guest rooms offer are: convenient wall outlets and a well-lit, large workspace outfitted with USB ports for multiple devices; high-speed Wi-Fi and plug-in panels; a 43-inch flat-screen TV with movie channels; and an in-room tea and coffee-making equipment.
The hotel’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Lara Constantino-Scarrow, says they are ready and eager to welcome back the traveling public, and excited to be able to offer the hotel’s facilities in their “new look” but still with the same, much-vaunted, uniquely pleasant Cebuano hospitality.
During my visit, the hotel’s occupancy rate was already on an upward trajectory, a very encouraging development for management and the Marketing Team.
More information on the hotel may be obtained through +6332-253-1111 or mpplaza@marcopolohotels.com
Bai Hotel
“Bai” is the Cebuano term for “Pare” and that’s how the hotel treats every guest…as a close friend, making me curious as to how the management manifests such a caring attitude toward guests in its services and facilities. So, when the opportunity presented itself, I made sure I had a good, close look at the hotel, its facilities, and its staff.
I wasn’t disappointed. I immediately noticed that no matter how busy the members of the staff were with their assigned duties, they still had genuine smiles on their faces and handled each guest as if he/she was the only one in the world.
The 23-storey, 668-room hotel is nestled between the bustling cities of Mandaue and Cebu. It has eight dining choices and 12 function rooms that can handle various MICE events. What really gave me a pleasant surprise is the hotel’s breakfast buffet. If I’m not mistaken, it stretches a kilometer long, with so many choices of culinary favorites – Filipino, Spanish, American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mediterranean, etc….and that’s just for breakfast.
I also enjoyed the hotel’s temperature-controlled swimming pool on the roof deck. I was able to use it and enjoyed my nighttime swim, with the panoramic view of the city’s glittering lights in the background. It raised my swimming experience, literally, to a higher level. I could have stayed on the whole night, but decided to give up such nocturnal dip, lest I be suspected of being a merman, straight out of fantasy books.
The hotel’s occupancy rate has been doing well these days, ever since domestic tourists decided to embark on revenge travel when quarantine restrictions eased up. Almost all guests were local “staycationers” from nearby cities and provinces.
More information on Bai Hotel may be obtained through +6332-342-8888, +6332-355-8888 or info@baihotel.com.ph
Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort
No visit to Cebu is complete without going to the beach. So, I decided to spend time at the most popular beach resort in the province. Located on Mactan Island, approximately 25 minutes away from the airport, the Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort is widely known for its special brand of hospitality – Amuma. It’s the Cebuano word for caring or nurturing. It describes how a mother takes care of her child through the years, or how one tends to her garden, for all the flowers to bloom.
I felt this right away the moment I checked in. The Front Desk clerk did her task expeditiously, with a very welcoming smile, and a gentle voice, as she called for the bellman to immediately take care of my bags and transport me smoothly in a golf cart to my reserved room which was located right on the beach. The check-in process took less than five minutes. Realizing the perfect location of my room, just as I wanted it, I started the following day early, with the resort’s sumptuous breakfast buffet, so that I would have enough time to laze in the sun and work on my golden tan.
What got me even more excited was when I realized there is the Bluewater Private Island, approximately a thousand meters across the beach, where one can stay in his own spot, undisturbed by the rest of the guests and staff, with a flatboat ready to transport me there at no extra cost. A slice of paradise, it was…and that’s where I spent the rest of the day.
Established in 1989, the seven-hectare, 190-room Bluewater Maribago is a member of the Bluewater Resorts Group, a wholly Filipino-owned chain of resorts known for its staff’s friendly, caring, and attentive service. The chain also includes the beautiful resorts of Bluewater Sumilon, also in Cebu, and Bluewater Panglao in Bohol.
What better way to spend a vacation than in the perfect ambience of a white sand beach and the refreshing sea breeze blowing in all directions, with a team of solicitous staff at your beck and call, ready to serve your favorite cool drinks in the blink of an eye! Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort is indeed the Cebuanos’ proud offering for the world’s beach denizens.
More information on this property is available through +632-817-5751 or maribago@bluewater.com.ph
For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com
YOUR MONDAY CHUCKLE:
A pair of cows were talking in the field. One says, “Have you heard about the Mad Cow disease that’s going around?” “Yeah,” the other cow says, “Makes me glad I’m a penguin.”