Shangri-La Makati, Manila Pen among Asia's top business hotels: poll
DAVID DIZON / abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/12/2008 5:28 PM
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The Makati Shangri-La and the Peninsula Manila were ranked among the best business hotels in Asia this year, according to a Web poll by online travel magazine Smart Travel Asia.
Results of the 2008 online poll showed Makati Shangri-La and the Peninsula Manila ranking 14th and 17th respectively in the top 25 business hotels in Asia. A potential field of 800 business hotels in the region were included in the poll.
According to Smart Travel Asia, the poll results reflect the online voters' "substantial hands-on travel experience, word-of-mouth at dinnertime chats, as well as an idea of the brand drawn from advertising and editorial exposure in the media, which is mostly online." Smart Travel Asia is the region’s only dedicated online travel magazine with over one million readers worldwide.
Vijay Verghese, Smart Travel Asia editor, said voters in the annual travel poll took an average 15.5 annual air trips and earned $175,162 with roughly 60 percent based in Asia, 20 percent in UK/Europe and 20 percent in the United States.
The Peninsula Hong Kong was ranked the best business hotel in the region, up from its second best ranking in the 2007 poll. Last year's best business hotel, Island Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong, slipped to number 4 in this year's ranking. Six of the top 10 business hotels in the Smart Travel poll are in Hong Kong, according to the poll results.
According to its Web site, the Makati Shangri-La offers 699 spacious and beautifully appointed guest rooms and suites, each with views of Makati’s famous avenues and the city beyond. All guests of the hotel receive in-room high-speed Internet access and complimentary access to the hotel’s 24-hour fitness center.
The hotel is walking distance from deluxe cinemas, premium shopping malls and trendy bars and restaurants, making the hotel a prime location for business and family travellers from around the world.
On the other hand, Peninsula Manila public relations manager Joseph Arias said Peninsula Manila has become popular to business travelers because of its spacious lobby and excellent service.
"It's not just a hotel for the business traveller. It's a hotel for everybody who would realy go for excellent five-star deluxe service and that's what the Peninsula brand is known for. The Peninsula Hotel Group is a small group of select hotels in select cities so it's very conservative. It's more of really delivering excellent service of the highest standard to its clientele, the bulk of whom are business travellers," he told abs-cbnNEWS.com.
He said that aside from the lobby, the Peninsula Manila also has the Club, which is two business floors with its own lounge. Guests check in and out on the floor and receive complementary breakfast, cocktails and afternoon tea every day.
Arias said the hotel is reopening its Ayala Tower with 249 rooms in October. He said the major renovations will reflect the new "timely Filipino" style of the hotel compared to the neo-classical style of the past.
