City Garden Hotel

In this age of global business competition when only the fittest

employes survive, few companies focus on the lot of the workforce, motivate it to do its best, and reward it with the best possible pay and work setting there is.

The City Garden Hotel – a very corporate firm in every sense of the word — is one such company that values its employes.

Arnold C. Tence, general manager of the property for three years now, personifies the hotel’s corporate dictum of the “golden rule.”

Not only he is pleased to lend his expertise to the company, but under its helm, he also thrives professionally, with the rest of its executives and staff.

Working for the City Garden Hotel owners, we gathered, is like working for a family head who treats his kids well. And so, the employes work hard and are loyal to the company.

“We’re like one big family here taking care of a thriving business” was how Tence described it.

True enough, the City Garden Hotel sports an enviable profile that is almost at par with the country’s leading chains of deluxe hotels.

Nestled on a very strategic location, the property at Makati corner Kalayaan Avenues sits side by side with the giant names in the international hotel business. Unfazed by the competition, it has an edge over its one-notch-higher neighboring properties – a homey set-up with world-class products, services and amenities.

Tence said the hotel’s market bulk consists mostly of Asians, the top three being Koreans, Taiwanese and Japanese, followed by Ameriasians, Australians and a sprinkling of Europeans. About 50 percent repeat guests keep it very busy even during industry’s lean months.

Like any value-laden investment, the City Garden Hotel is being constantly spruced-up and made-over. The owners are very much hands-on when it comes to product and service upgrades, revealed Tence, “to compensate for their clients’ loyal patronage all this time, because the owners want their clients to see where the money goes.”

“If you’re a regular here, you’ll notice that in every couple of months, we’d perk up the place and paint it anew. The smell of fresh paint would make first-timers think that the hotel is newly constructed,” said Tence.

Tence had his share of a very prolific hotel, resort and city resortmanaging career with the best names in the industry countrywide. His trade portfolio almost implies that he was born a marketing and management guru, making it easier for him to climb the trade’s ladder to success.

The young GM, who ventured into his present turf by chance, is a pre-opening pro when it comes to new hotels opening doors to the public for the first time. He is also a natural as far as his charismatic dealings with people is concerned. In nurturing relationships and listening to people, he said, one must have the attitude for it.

“The industry makes good use of your potential, it’s always about making a good image and getting things done the right way, especially for the first time,” said Tence of hotel pre-opening jitters.

Tence was also privileged to be a part of the City Garden Hotel preopening team. Since then, he has been so much pleased to keep an eye on the property’s steady growth. And still growing in terms of patronage, quality of service and product enhancement.

Invaluable credit, Tence said, goes to the owners, who never fail to address the needs of their employes since human resource is one-third of the equation for the business to succeed. “How their employes get to enjoy their work is always the company’s main concern.”

The very pro-family owners are quite easy to deal with. This was how Tence put it: “At the end of the day, it’s not just ‘how-much- money-did-we-make’ that matters. It’s also how well they have taken care of the family. This tells a lot about how they care about the employes. The formula is, if you make your staff happy, they will make your clients happy and both ends will make the business thrive and that’s beneficial to everyone.

The City Garden Hotel has two sizeable function rooms called Durban and Kalayaan that sit from 12 to 140 persons in classroom, banquet, theater and cocktail layout. The use of two rooms can accommodate more than 250 persons for cocktail.

Aside from the Le Jardin restaurant dishing out Asian and international favorites, the hotel has an al fresco version in Roofdeck Bar & Grill that spreads sumptuous choices of grilled and Mongolian specialties. At night, certified romantics will simply love its dreamy vista of the Makati skyline.

All of the City Garden Hotel’s 160 Italian themed rooms have cable televisions, IDD/NDD telephone systems with voice mail, high-speed Internet and fax access ports, well-stocked mini-bars, in-room safes, automated wake-up call, quick dial buttons, 24-hour room service and movie rentals.

The property’s urban space amply provides for health and other leisure spaces to give guests a most pleasurable stay — gym, whirlpool and sauna, heated swimming pool and Jacuzzi, shower and locker room, and the latest most-raved-about relaxing and rejuvenating outlet – the Orient Spa.