A sleek, elegant boutique hotel by the bay

SPIC-AND-SPAN, squeaky clean lobby. Photo by Amadís Ma. Guerrero, Contributor

A native of Lyon, France, the young and personable Yann Roche has worked in 5-star hotels in different countries in Europe. He is also something of a linguist. Apart from his native French, he speaks English, Spanish and Italian, and is learning Tagalog and Visayan.

FACADE of G Hotel Manila. Photo by Amadís Ma. Guerrero, Contributor

Sometime during his stints in Europe, he decided to come to Asia, specifically the Philippines. Why? “Because of the hospitality and the language,” he says. “Everybody speaks English here. A huge plus is the mentality of the people. I had good feedback from my friends in Dublin, Ireland. They said the Filipinos are very warm people.”

He arrived in the country last year, was based for a time in Cebu Waterfront Hotel (Waterfront has two hotels in Cebu, two in Manila and one in Davao City). And then—voila—he became hotel manager of G Hotel Manila by Waterfront, a sleek, elegant boutique hotel by the bay (5250888; www.g-hotel.com.ph)

LUNCHTIME at the cozy café. Photo by Amadís Ma. Guerrero, Contributor

The hotel has a tasteful, black-and-white design created by architect Jerry Contreras, with 48 rooms and 24-hour personalized butler service. There’s a Corporate Meeting Package (P1,350-P1,900 per person/net), an Anniversary Package, a Baptismal Package, and a Kiddie Package, among other services and features.

G Hotel Manila is promoted in booths at the Philippines International Convention Center (PICC), Facebook, Ensogo Shopping, and certain promos for a certain period. Soon the hotel began attracting foreign tourists and businessmen, among them Americans, Japanese, Chinese and Koreans.

HOTELIERS Jenelyn Bustillo and Yann Roche. Photo by Amadís Ma. Guerrero, Contributor

“We also cater to locals,” sales account manager Jenelyn Bustillo hastens to add. “We also have our share of government offices for convention.”

“Business is good,” says Roche. “We are making money. The occupancy rate is 50 percent during the rainy season and 60-70 percent during the peak season, depending on the conventions.” But he is not that satisfied yet: “I wish we had more business. Everybody wants more business, ’di ba?”

The hotel is focusing on service. Roche: “I’m very service-oriented. I want the guests to come back here when they travel. Because we will always have newer and newer hotels, so for me it’s excellence in service, personalized service. The 5-star hotel is what I know. I’m trying to raise my standards. It’s high standards I want to promote here.”

THE RECEPTION desk. Photo by Amadís Ma. Guerrero, Contributor

Then the hotel manager resorts to role-playing, pretending the interviewer is a guest who has just returned: “So welcome back, Mr. Amadís. Will you have steamed fish like the last time? People like to be recognized, they like personalized service.”

Roche finds the culture, the way of working, location in the Philippines very different from that in Europe.

“It’s an amazing experience,” he declares. “I learned a lot here. I have a lot of respect for Filipinos. They don’t complain too much, like Europeans. They’re dedicated to work. Some of my employees live in Santa Maria, Bulacan but they don’t complain. You won’t find that in Europe.”