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The Peninsula Manila Hotel, Philippines
Peninsula Hotels stand as a byword for quality throughout the world and the Peninsula Manila, affectionately known as the Pen, lives up to the name, sitting pretty on Conde Nast’s Gold List as one of the World’s Best Places to Stay (2007), and the only Philippine hotel to make it on to the World’s Best Hotels 2007 list.
This relatively low-rise eleven-storey edifice occupying prize real estate on Ayala Avenue is the Grande dame of Makati hotels, having opened in 1976. It sits within walking distance of the chic shopping and dining centre in the Greenbelt and Glorietta Malls.
The cathedral-like entrance hall sums up the while, oozing a conservative confidence an eschewing decorative ‘bling” in favor of acres of luxurious marble in neutral tones offset by verdant 7m high (23ft) Washingtonian palms. The soothing strains of chamber music or soft jazz float through the vast space – the equivalent of four storeys high – provided by the Peninsula String Ensemble or Peninsula Jazz Ensemble discreetly ensconced in the upper mezzanine.
The hotel has 451 rooms and suites designed with “Filipino elegance” the watchword. The Pen ran a nationwide photographic competition inviting images that epitomized Filipino life in all its many guises. The images of winners Jorem Catilo and Sheila Juan now grace the newly upgraded rooms (a programme started in 2006 and completed in 2008) along with carefully chosen rattan furniture in warm tones. There are elegant marble bathrooms, plus toys like flat-screen TVs.
Service is crisp and professional. This is a well-oiled, top-class team used to dealing with a demanding clientele. The hotel is a social hub of the city for business movers and shakers, for expats, for Manila social glitterati (It is one of Imelda Marcos’ favorite haunts when she’s staying in the city) and for travelers on the grand tour. There’s a real cross section of world population milling around the lobby on any given day.
(L. Bennett, Island Guide: Philippines, 2008)