Apart from dominating the skyline of Cebu City’s downtown area with its majestic 21-storey building, Radisson Blu Cebu stands tall, as it continues to keep its promise of delivering five-star service to its guests, with such quality maintained even when the pandemic wreaked havoc on our tourism industry.
I’ve talked to some friends who arrived from abroad and stayed at the hotel to complete the mandatory quarantine period, and they were gushing over the efficient and nurturing service that the hotel’s staff rendered. These guests knew that the hotel, just like every other hotel in the country, had limited staff during the various levels of the government-imposed quarantine restrictions, yet, they did not feel that the staff experienced challenges in the delivery of service. The quality of service they received was still topnotch…and that’s what a hotel standing tall is all about.
Being the only de luxe international chain hotel in the city, Radisson Blu Cebu continues to get its fair share of domestic tourists, especially now that our country’s LGUs have made it easier for our countrymen to crisscross our archipelago. Naturally, the hotel is also looking forward to its share of foreign arrivals because our country has now made it easy for fully vaccinated visitors to spend their holidays here in our shores.
What gives the 395-room Radisson Blu Cebu an edge over the other hotels in the city? Aside from the international brand that it carries, giving it the prestige that fastidious travelers look for, it is also located right in the heart of the city. This gives the hotel guests easy access to tourist spots in the center of town. Of course, its being adjacent (and connected to a walkway) to the humongous SM City shopping mall gives those guests who are “blackbelters in shopping” a reason to smile about.
The hotel is also gearing up for the expected surge in the lucrative MICE events because its conference and exposition facilities are the biggest in the city. It has two ballrooms, ten meeting rooms of various sizes, and an outdoor space that is ideal for large al fresco gatherings.
I remember that sometime in 2018, I, as Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Philippines Chapter, was tasked by our PATA International Headquarters in Bangkok to submit recommendations for the venue of the global PATA Annual Summit which was to be held in Cebu City the following year. Since I have been based in Manila to close to half-a-century, I was no longer familiar with MICE venues my hometown could offer. I had to ask my Cebu-based friends to help me “look around” for a suitable venue for this big event which always attracts Tourism leaders from all over the world. With the help of our Department of Tourism, we found Radisson Blu Cebu as the perfect venue for the world event…and the rest is history. The PATA Annual Summit in Cebu had close to 500 international delegates from about 200 tourism organizations in 43 countries. The best part was that they all had positive feedback on the event and on the facilities and venue used for that annual get-together.
I had the opportunity to chat with the hotel’s amiable General Manager Bjorn-Henning Buth, Director of Sales and Marketing Marife Pepino-Yuson, and Marketing Communications Manager Ian Baol over coffee and I have to say that I could feel their excitement and enthusiasm. They enumerated the steps they have taken in keeping the hotel ready for the travel surge that the Industry is experiencing now. Needless to say, Radisson Blu Cebu will continue to stand tall, as it journeys through this new, brighter chapter of global tourism.
More information on the hotel may be obtained from www.radissonhotels.com/blu or through (032) 402-9900.
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