The Legend Villas’ old Filipino charm

The Legend Villas located in Mandaluyong City was built on the concept of old Filipino charm, anchored by a service concept called "Bisita sa Bahay’’ that exemplifies how guests are treated.

Legend Villas property manager Ginger King Villavicencio, said "We are a Filipiniana hotel. Other hotels in our category were conceived as typical high-rises with a modern, minimalist design and Zen surroundings. We wanted to go back to our roots.’’

She added, "Filipinos love good company and we anticipate things like whole families checking in or ‘barkada’ wanting to stay together in a room. We have prepared facilities for this kind of group.’’

"We have become known for our friendliness and service. Our returning clients have developed relationships with our guest services staff. Before our guests sits down, our staff already knows what they want to order, how they want it served, what specifications they want for their rooms,’’ said Villavicencio.

As part of the Legend Hotels chain, the Legend Villas is the flagship and the oldest among the properties at 14 years, she said.

On the other hand, Francis Patrick Favoreal, hotel business group senior assistant vice president of Legend Hotel International Corp. said "At the moment we have 1,500 companies among our corporate accounts’’ and we hope to increase that to 7,000 companies.’’

Favoreal said guests that return would be about 60 percent, mostly corporate clients, especially those within an eight-kilometer radius, like Globe Telecom, Unilab, Abbot Industries and RFM Corp.

"We have also begun to attract accounts from Makati, most of which are pharmaceuticals and telecommunications companies. Some clients have even come from as far as Quezon City, Sucat, Alabang and Laguna," Favoreal said.

He said foreign guests make up only about five to 10 percent of the total guests adding, "this is because we have focused on our local corporate and family markets."

"But we intend to address the foreign leisure market over the next two years,’’ Favoreal said.

Legend Villas, a three-storey hotel has six buildings that are comprised of guest rooms on the second floor and bi-level Villa suites which resemble a small townhouse.

The Villa Suites have guest rooms on the second floor, and on the ground level, they have a living area, dining room and a kitchenette.

It offers a wide range of room types to meet almost every possible requirement. There are 51 superior rooms; 12 premium rooms (with Jacuzzi); 12 deluxe villa suite; 11 premier villa suite (with Jacuzzi); 12 family rooms and 10 team suites.

The accommodations which includes buffet breakfast for all occupants, are priced per room rather than per person.

"Our coffee shop is called Lola Maria and has the essentials of home-style cooking. We would like to satisfy our guests through their palates," said Favoreal.

Favoreal said that hotel business is doing fine but bigger hotels really must be on their toes nowadays. It is a competitive industry. There’s a price war among the big hotels, just like last year.

"But we are still maintaining our niche. With the Legend villas, we are on a league of our own, the advantage of better positioning,’’ Favoreal said. (Lynda B. Valencia)