and now for something a little different...

Setting up and stripping down the ballroom at the Park Lane Hotel (Sheraton, London). A friend of mine used to work there, hence I have the link!!!

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The end of an era...

I was very sad to see the news today that Lord Forte had passed away.

One of my first forays into the hospitality business was with Forte...or THF (Trusthouse Forte - a rather old history of the company is found here) as it was then known (now I'm showing my age!!!)

Lord Forte was a hotelier of the old-fashioned variety and the hotels he originally purchased showed that. Unfortunately the company grew out of control and was represented at too many different levels of the industry which confused the public...Little Chef road side cafes to the George V in Paris...was just too great a variety for his corporate organisation.

They really don't make hoteliers in the same mold anymore!

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This weekend's FT

It always makes me happy to see positive coverage of Jordan as a tourist destination....this past weekend's FT had one good article in the magazine and one hotel review in the newspaper....

For the magazine article, click here and then click the graphics to get into the magazine, then type 50 in the page section at the top.....

And hat can only be described as a rather snide review of the Ishtar Kempinski at the Dead Sea....

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Manila for beginners...

This weekend I played host (briefly) and tour guide for a day to a friend of mine over from HKG for an interview.

I've learnt in the past that showing off Manila for a first time visitor means drawing a very fine line between the reality and the glossy sheen that can fool people into thinking that Manila is clean, organised and sophisticated...which can happen if visitors glide around Makati shuttling between their nice hotel, Greenbelt and Glorietta for shopping, nightlife and dining.

Given my visitor was here for an interview I also had to make sure she knew what the basics for shopping were like, supermarkets, chemists and bookstores being the priority....however, at one stage we did seem to get rather immersed in shoe shopping - which given where we were is probably entirely appropriate!

The day tour of Manila that transpired went something like this....Breakfast at the Philippine Plaza, Glorietta & SM Makati, Greenbelt, with lunch at the Museum Cafe, a quick stroll from the Philippine Plaza past the Coconut Palace, the Folk Theatre and the CCP (aka a whistle stop tour of Imelda's edifice complex, followed by a quick whip around Fort Santiago and Intramuros, a gander at the Manila Hotel, drinks at Cafe Ad, a gentle stroll through Malate (past the Hobbit House) to the Hyatt Casino for dinner at the Fireplace...

Fortunately for everyone, traffic was minimal (except for my trip from home to the Philippine Plaza..what the hell are all those road works on EDSA - it took about 45 minutes from my house to Makati!), taxis were all well behaved and weather was glorious....

And a few photos from the Philippine Plaza...

the ill-fated Manila Film Centre



Makati




Mall of Asia




The Manila Hotel

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Sometimes it's nice not to go out of town!!

I've seen a glut of films this week...4 in a week..that should keep me quiet for a while!

Saturday night was Borat...it is absolutely hysterical and at the same time shocking...I found it hard to think of a group of people he doesn't insult in the movie. I don't think I'l be recommending the movie to my mother...I could be wrong, but I think she may be a little 'shocked'! Sunday evening was Happy Feet...cute, but definitely for kids and not for adults, admittedly the only other animated movies I have seen have been the Shrek movies so I was expecting something like that, i.e. slightly more adult content; no matter, the penguins were cute and there were some amusing lines but that was about it!

After pottering around Manila on Saturday afternoon and indulging myself in some wishful thinking I wandered over to the new kid on Roxas Boulevard, the G Hotel (2090 Roxas Boulevard), as mentioned by Carlos last week. It's an interesting property and from a design point of view a lot of thought has gone into it...the property is completely black and white...from the carpets in the lobby, to the uniforms to the floor tiles. It's all very smart, but what worries me is keeping it looking smart - black is easily chipped and white is very easily dirtied as can already be seen around the property. The staff are very friendly and seem to be spending the majority of their time offering show rounds, on Saturday out of 50 rooms, 45 were occupied - not bad considering that they only opened on 17th November. There is a nice little cafe/bar on the 7th floor which has a nice breeze and a sideways-on view of the Bay. The basics of the hotel are very nice, but it needs a few final tweaks just to get it 'right'...

The coffee shop on the ground floor

the view from the bar/cafe (Mirage) on the 7th floor


The views from the function room on the 7th floor, actually a very nice room with a terrace running around the front and the side...perfect for a small wedding.





The pool, really quite small, but perfectly adequate and catches the sun most of the day, the first picture shows the cafe/bar just to the right of the pool.


And finally, the facade...

If you're planning on driving down there, the hotel has a huge parking lot just next to the hotel.

Sunday saw the day spent at Greenhills, the Island Boy from Cebu being in town and not having been to Greenhills for a long while! So lunch, shopping/pottering and a movie...the branch of Fully Booked at Greenhills is actually pretty good, I picked up a few books I had been looking for; I had always thought it rather small but had missed the areas at the back and the upper level!

Dinner on Sunday was down at the Bay at So Woo, a Korean restaurant at Harbour Square (opposite the CCP), food was excellent and the added bonus was sitting outside on the terrace overlooking the bay with a lovely clear night of stars and lights. A quick hop, skip and a jump over to the G Hotel to see how it shapes up at night...terrace still nice, but they seriously need to do something about the lighting at night!

So, all in, a nice relaxing weekend - nothing too stressful, just enjoying what Manila has to offer and enjoying the nice weather...the company helped too!

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