Category: Travel & Lifestyle

bai Hotel Cebu is the biggest hotel in Visayas and Mindanao to date and also a culinary destination. The hotel changed the business landscape of both the city and the province when it opened.

As a first-time guest in bai hotel Cebu, one can easily feel the ambiance of “modern luxury and spaciousness.” Indeed, the biggest hotel in Visayas and Mindanao to date but also a culinary destination having 8 dining options including a fine-dining restaurant. Some of these are Café bai, Marble + Grain Steakhouse, and Ume Japanese Cuisine which are all part of the top 10 restaurants in Mandaue City. The Twilight Roofdeck Lounge + Bar on the 23rd floor gives you a 360-degree view of the cities of Mandaue, Cebu, and Lapu-Lapu.

“We are also proud to say that we have an advanced security system to ensure the safety of our guests and associates,” shared Alfred M. Reyes, General Manager and Vice President of Operations at bai Hotel Cebu.  Upon entering the hotel, guests walk through metal detectors while their baggage goes through the X-ray inspection machine. “Our glass windows are also coated with anti-blast films for additional protection. We also have a seismic accelerograph that detects early signs of an earthquake and a fire detection alarm system that is very sensitive and accurate.”

The hotel is mostly composed of glass walls to showcase the city and the harbor. It is the first property in Cebu that is environmentally sustainable by using low-emission glass windows that shield the interiors from about 30 percent of UV heat, thus saving electricity by lessening the use of automatic air conditioning units. With this concept, the hotel supports sustainable nature-based tourism.

bai Hotel Cebu is meant for business travelers who look forward to doing business in Cebu and leisure travelers who intend to visit Cebu and its neighboring islands. It is near the Mactan Cebu International Airport which is 25 minutes away, and the Domestic Port of Cebu which is 10 minutes away.

The hotel also has plenty of recreational facilities: a fitness center with a sauna, an infinity outdoor lap pool, and kiddie pool, and an in-house spa – The Spa at Cebu by RSpa. Serviced offices are also located on the 5th floor of the hotel catering to businesses that are looking to lease office space in a prominent location in Cebu.

More choices for travelers

Reyes said that bai Hotel Cebu changed the business landscape of both the city and the province when it opened. “Our 668 rooms, 12 event venues, and 8 dining outlets added more choices to travelers who come either for business, leisure, or both. Because of this additional inventory, Cebu is now able to accept larger demands of tourists—Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and others—as well as large-scale meetings, conferences, and events.

Being a culinary destination, it offers guests delectable choices. At Ume Japanese Cuisine, ala carte meals are specially prepared by its Japanese Chef. The Marble + Grain Steakhouse is its very own fine-dining restaurant, where they serve prime USDA steak. For those who would love to talk, meet with friends and pick up where they left off, they have a self-serving coffee outlet—Wallstreet Coffee + Bar. The all-day dining restaurant, Café bai serves eastern to western specialties and is the #1 restaurant in Mandaue today.

Aside from sponsorships, collaborations, social media, and tri-media advertising, they have a membership program, the bai Platinum Membership. Members get exclusive perks and privileges such as huge discounts on their food and beverage outlets as well as two (2) complimentary overnight stays at bai Hotel Cebu and a cash voucher on selected outlets. Members are also entitled to exclusive promos at bai Hotel Cebu and discounts on their partner establishments they could avail of year-round.

Customer First

 Reyes’ work motto is “customer first – I always remind my associates about that,” he related. “I am very hands-on. I walk around the hotel regularly, do ocular inspections. I dine in our outlets to check the quality of our food. I talk directly to guests to ask about their stay. I do not usually stay inside my office. I just go there when I need to sign documents.”

The hardworking GM has been in the industry for more than 30 years. He graduated from the University of San Jose – Recoletos and had two certificates for finishing General Management Programs from Cornell University. He worked in various properties locally and abroad. His most remarkable achievement so far in his career is being the first Filipino to open a 668-room hotel in the Philippines.

“We strive to improve every day by monitoring all online reviews published on the internet and taking necessary actions for those that need our attention,” explained Reyes on how they stay current in terms of hotel reputation management. “We keep good comments and reviews as compliments. We practice transparency within the team by having our general assembly every month. In these events, we update our associates about the hotel’s current standing and discuss different situations as well as strategies. We are very thankful that we are gaining popularity and getting positive reviews and recommendations even though we are just in the first year of our operations.”

Managing a huge property while understanding the millennial workforce plus the evolution of digital platforms and the rising demand of travelers make his day exciting and challenging. Cebu is becoming the next M.I.C.E. destination in Southeast Asia. Hotels and properties are taking advantage of this. “This is an opportunity and I am very excited and positive about it. This positioning of Cebu challenges me to be more creative in finding ways to entice clients and continuously learn and improve in my job. Working in the hospitality industry with passion gives you the drive to manage a property like bai Hotel Cebu,” Reyes quipped.

bai Hotel Cebu envisions itself to be the most preferred world-class Filipino hotel. To achieve this, Reyes and his associates continuously work together on making bai Hotel Cebu the number 1 hotel in Mandaue City. In the long run, it aims to expand within Visayas and Mindanao with even bigger properties in terms of space and rooms, and more amenities and facilities than the present.

bai Hotel Cebu is distinctively one which stands by its own magnificence.

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