MANILA, Philippines — Even before the pandemic, many Makati City residents were saddened when two of the city’s biggest hotels and heritage landmarks designed by National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin – Mandarin Oriental and InterContinental Hotels – were demolished to make way for Ayala Land Inc.’s redevelopment plans. 

Last year, another beloved five-star hotel, Makati Shangri-La, shut down after filing for bankruptcy due to travel bans and financial burdens caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid these tragedies that alarmed heritage conservationists, however, there is a beam of light. 

Filipino hotel chain Seda recently announced that by 2024, the flagship Seda One Ayala at the EDSA gateway to the Makati financial district is expected to open at the former site of the InterContinental Manila.

Revenge travel as well as the resurgence of business travel have prompted the addition of over 500 more rooms to Seda’s portfolio on its 10th anniversary. 

“Homegrown brand Seda hotels is swiftly bouncing back in the post pandemic era and will soon add another 550 rooms to its portfolio by mid-2023,” according to Andrea Mastellone, Senior Group General Manager of the Ayala Land chain with 11 hotel properties nationwide. 

Mastellone told Philstar.com in an exclusive interview that their hotel chain survived the pandemic by instead of laying off staff, they offered alternative livelihood like food delivery and resorted to cost-cutting measures such as getting rid of extra lighting fixtures and renovating their amenities to maximize the natural lighting, ambience and skyline views of the hotel’s business district locations.

This time around, Mastellone said the new work-from-home arrangement has become a challenge for enticing the expats back to their hotels. He, however, hopes that by adding more hotels and rooms and renovating old ones, the hotels would become more attractive for “workcation” for both business and leisure, and more business people would see the hotels as places where they can stay both for work and for enjoying the company of their families and friends.

While many hotel expats have returned to their home countries due to the pandemic, Mastellone, who hails from Italy, has decided to stay in the Philippines and with the hotel chain ever since it opened its first branch in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City. He told Philstar.com that what makes him stay is because among the many countries he worked in, Filipino hospitality really stands out.

Although Filipinos and Italians are known to be both family-oriented, in Italy, he said, whenever he comes home in Italy, there is not much fanfare from his family. A family member would just normally wait to fetch him from the airport. In the Philippines, in contrast, he noticed that family members normally don’t only welcome back their loved ones with banners and garlands; they even cook up a feast for them.

Likewise, in Italy, he said that when guests wanted to leave, hosts just would bid them goodbye. But in the Philippines, when guests said they’d like to go, the homeowner would beg them to stay for a day or more.

Many Filipinos might not be aware about these Filipino touches in hospitality, he said, but for his expat eyes, these are very unique, which is why he has been trying to inject these in their hotel chain, for example, for giving their guests a warm welcome not only with garlands and drinks, but also with a swarm of greetings from their staff, just like when they are being surrounded by family and friends in the airport.

Similarly, the chain has been promoting Filipino arts and crafts by filling its properties with furniture and artworks from some of the country’s top artists and interior outfitters like Kenneth Cobonpue.

The Seda hotels in BGC, Quezon City, Makati, Nuvali, Cebu Business Park, Cebu IT Park, Lio, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Davao are all committed to operate sustainably. Mastellone revealed that the company has shifted to source electricity from suppliers that provide renewable and green energy, thus reducing its carbon footprint. Its BGC property even has an electric vehicle charging station as part of an Ayala group initiative. 

The company counts among its corporate social responsibility efforts a program with the Philippine Eagle Foundation to preserve this endangered species. This commitment led it to adopt a Philippine Eagle, which has been named Mayumi. 

In fact, the Philippine eagle named Mayumi, will be the chain’s new brand ambassador and will be featured in the brand’s promotional and other materials. 

Just like the company, the Philippine eagle is uniquely Filipino and representative of the strengths of this country, Mastellone enthused.

“We want to create greater awareness for this majestic bird species found only in the Philippines and to see it flourish.”