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Hotel News / Hotel Openings / Philippine Hotels / Regent Hotels / → All Tags

A Regent Grows Inside a Radisson?

By all accounts, 2007 was a banner year for Philippine tourism, with the number of foreign arrivals topping the three million mark (the previous record for yearly visitors was 1.9 million). According to Department of Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, 2008 promises to deliver even better numbers, with his department focusing on the "opening of new hotel projects and properties."

One of the most ambitious of these new projects will be the Regent Manila Bay by hotelier Carlson, bringing 5-star opulence to the Philippines.

The Regent Manila Bay will be part of a unique hotel-within-a-hotel development, offering luxury accommodations within the Radisson Hotel Manila Bay. The hotels will share a common structure but will have many separate amenities, such as driveways, entrances, lobbies, guest facilities and staff. It will also include a signature restaurant, lounge, fitness center and swimming pool -- all exclusively for the use of Regent guests.

The 80-rooms, including 10 "basic" suites, 69 executive suites and one presidential suite, all overlooking scenic Manila Bay, are expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2009.

A Regent hotel inside a Radisson? That's almost as crazy as the three-hotels-in-one that is set to open in Times Square. Almost. But we don't think anything is crazier than that.

Hotel Bars / Mandarin Oriental Hotels / Philippines Hotel Reviews / → All Tags

License to Chill at Martinis in the Mandarin Oriental Manila

Where: Makati Avenue , Manila, Philippines, 1226

In bar openings this month ... the new Martinis bar has opened at the Mandarin Oriental Manila in the Philippines. Situated in the Makati area, along with plenty of other nightlife, Martinis seems to be aiming for a pretty upper-class crowd; the General Manager said:

We designed Martinis as a premier bar and meeting place, where customers can listen to light jazz, relax, and enjoy a license to chill

Interior design follows a more or less art deco style and the baby grand piano in the middle is intended to up the sophistication factor. There are plenty of cocktails and of course, in honor of the name, a big variety of martinis--a few interesting sounding ones on the list include ginger martinis, sake martinis, dirty martinis and (the one we really want to try) choco-chilli martinis. Live music starts every night at 7pm and carries on until two in the morning so there are plenty of chances to check out Martinis, before you check out.

[Photo: Allan Reyes]

Related Stories:
· Mandarin Oriental Manila reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Mandarin Oriental Manila Opens Martinis [eHotelier]

Miscellaneous / → All Tags

Amazing Race 5 Hotel Update: Upgrading in Manila

Where: Corner of Ayala and Makati Avenues, 1226 Makati City, Manila, Philippines

The Coconut Palace, reportedly built by the shoe queen, Imelda Marcos, in an attempt to the Pope, was the pit stop for the penultimate leg of the Amazing Race 5. Apparently Pope John Paul II was coming to Manila and she ordered that this structure of mostly coconuts be built to house the pope.

These days the palace is no longer a hotel of any kind (despite its 7 bedrooms) and serves as a museum, a tourist attraction, and a venue for fancy parties.

After teams spent a long day of chasing an ox around a mud pit let's hope CBS upped the ante and put the contestants and crew up in a sweet Manila hotel like The Peninsula Manila.

The 498 room Peninsula Manila is really an upscale business hotel in the midst of Manila's busiest business district, and boasts free broadband in every room, so contestants could send an email home to their families.

Furthermore, the Peninsula is a five star hotel for right around $100 a night, and possesses some very good hotel security in Manila.  Sure you would have to take a taxi to and from the Coconut Palace, but we are hoping CBS greenlighted an all star hotel like the Peninsula for contestants to rest in before their final race leg.

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