It pays to get personal in hospitality sector

At Anya Resort and Residences Tagaytay, guests are made to feel like they never left the comfort of home. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

If a hotel or resort wants to stay on top of their hospitality game, the best strategy they can employ is personalization—customizing even the seemingly tiniest aspects of their service to their customers’ needs, to make them feel like they never left the comfort of home.

It’s a strategy that helps Anya Resort and Residences Tagaytay attract and build a loyal client base, says its general manager, Mikel Arriet.

The luxury resort hidden in Tagaytay’s hills makes sure they know what you need by asking you even before you arrive, through the “Anya Experience Menu,” which they email right after you make your booking.

The menu is a form that allows you to indicate, for example, what kind of scent you would like inside your room, if you would like help unpacking your things, if you are celebrating an occasion during your stay, or your preferred spa and restaurant booking schedules.

“There are a set of questions for you to answer, but at the end you can specify other needs. If you want to surprise your husband with a certain brand of wine once you get there—we can do that for you,” Arriet says. “That is what differentiates us from the other resorts [in Tagaytay].”

Developed by Roxaco Land Corp., one of the companies behind Batangas luxury destinations Peninsula de Punta Fuego and Terrazas de Punta Fuego, together with VJ Properties Inc., Anya sits on a seven-hectare patch of greenery in a quiet neighborhood in the city.

The area is isolated enough for one to enjoy Tagaytay’s cool and tranquil environment, but is also very accessible from the main highways.

With its warm hues and lush garden, Arriet assures customers that a stay in Anya will always feel like one is coming home—a home with a heated pool and two restaurants, one of which serves steak and paella.

“Welcome home,” in fact, is how guests are greeted once they enter the resort. The reception area is called the Living Room. For those who want to enjoy the comfort of their bed immediately, there is an option to just complete the check-in process in-suite.

“In Anya, we equate luxury with time. So the time of the guests is very important. From the time they arrive to the time they leave, we make sure everything is hassle-free and quick,” Arriet says.

And then there is one’s Anya Experience Team—a group of staff dedicated specifically to you, to respond to whatever you need.

Arriet assures us that Anya’s brand of service is genuine, but isn’t too saccharine or overwhelming. “Personal, but not invasive,” he adds. “You will be very comfortable with us.”

Mikel Arriet

As general manager, Arriet brings to Anya over 20 years of experience working in the hospitality industry—15 of which have been spent here in the Philippines. Hailing from Spain, Arriet is a hospitality management graduate of Cornell University in the United States.

He started his career as a sous chef in Ibiza nightclub El Divino, transferring subsequently to different hotels on the island, and rising to the position of executive chef.

It was in Club Punta Fuego where Arriet kicked off his career here in the Philippines.

He joined in 2004, still as executive chef, and then became its operations director seven years later. He last sat as its general manager in 2016 before moving to Anya.

Under his direction, Anya’s mission is “to be recognized as the most preferred Filipino luxury hotel brand providing genuine and limitless hospitality in a serene environment, by creating the most amazing moments for our team, guests and business partners.”

The resort has already made a name for itself globally, as it has been included as member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, one of just over 500 luxury boutique hotels accepted into the exclusive organization.

Anya is the third one in the Philippines to receive such honor.

Arriet says the resort has been enjoying 20-percent revenue growth every year for the past three years—and he is excited to see how else he can contribute to its development, especially in terms of sustainability.

“When I came here to the Philippines, I said I would stay one year … and then another, and another, until finally I just stopped counting,” he says.

It appears Arriet, too, has found his home away from home in Anya.