Fairways & Bluewater Boracay: Still Booking.com’s ‘#1 Most Booked Property’ in the country

Fairways & Bluewater Boracay has achieved an unprecedented and record-breaking milestone as it claims a seat at the top of the hotel sector in Boracay, and makes an indelible mark in Philippine tourism as well. The homegrown proudly Filipino resort brand is well on its way to reach the pinnacle of the hospitality industry after it was confirmed as the #1 most booked property in Boracay and the entire Philippines from the beginning of 2023 up to this very day by Booking.com.  Booking.com is the largest accommodation platform in the world with almost 17,000 listed accommodations in the Philippines alone. Considering that the global pandemic was just officially lifted in the Philippines in the middle part of the year 2023, and that the Resort is also still going through rehabilitation and re-building projects as a result of the pandemic that severely affected everyone, especially in the tourism industry, raking-in the highest number of travelers in the Philippines from the largest hotel booking engine for nearly 2 years now is indeed an achievement to be celebrated!

Booking.com has maintained a collaborative working relationship with Fairways & Bluewater over the last decade. The booking engine’s Account Manager in charge, Ms. Emmie Martinez, confirms Booking.com’s full support of the Resort’s objective to maximize production.  The Fairways & Bluewater team, over the many years, has been unyielding in its efforts to ensure that they implement only the best strategies and appropriate programs — this eventually resulted in the meteoric rise of Fairways’ production on their platform. The colossal increase of Fairways & Bluewater’s market share has enabled the Resort to achieve optimal guestroom occupancy and higher average room rates in the highly competitive tourism industry landscape both in Boracay Island and in the Philippines.

Fairways & Bluewater is a massive 80-hectare eco-friendly, sustainable multi-awarded resort paradise in a gated, self-contained, secure, private, and exclusive resort complex in Boracay Island. This huge resort complex in the island features over 850 well-appointed spacious guestrooms categorized into 18 room types, spread across more than 20 villas, each with a distinct element — some showcase modern contemporary lifestyle, while other rooms are set in old-fashioned, and charming villas that are set in a tropical island location, giving guests a more serene and relaxing paradise vacation experience, and their much-needed privacy. The resort is packed with a wide array of world-class amenities and facilities that were purposefully designed and carefully crafted to deliver a most ideal vacation experience at an affordable and accessible price point — a vacation that will be etched in the memory of both local and foreign travelers for a long time, if not a lifetime. The resort brand’s relentless commitment to provide guests with the highest value experience for their money and its superior overall product architecture has been validated by being the only 3-time winner of the prestigious international Condé Nast Johansens Best Value Experience Property in the entire Asia, Africa, Middle East & Oceania region.

Mr. Wilbur L. Chan, Fairways & Bluewater’s Chairman, shares that it is only when one deeply understands the behavior of the guests who want to experience Boracay Island will one be able to customize the products and services to the guests’ liking.  He said “There is no clear-cut rule or formula to satisfy a guest.  Hosting them and making sure that our products and services are attuned to their individualities is an art — we constantly make adjustments, we implement situational solutions, and we make unprecedented but effective actions. We take time to keenly observe our guests.  We actively listen to their inputs, and take them to heart — translating each reasonable and objective input into action plans that we can execute the soonest possible time.”  Mr. Chan, over the last 12 years, has been very hands-on and passionate about making sense of the guests’ individually unique expectations of their Boracay vacation and behavior in the island paradise, and takes them as his inspiration in creating more products, revolutionizing the service and refining existing features of the Resort.  He adds, “We are relentless in our efforts to find ways to improve our products, ensuring that we are able to align ourselves with the expectations and demands of guests — fully aware that what may be good for other tourism destinations may not be applicable in Boracay, thus the need to tailor fit and adapt. We make sure that our offerings are customized to guests of the world-renowned Island of Boracay — a uniquely beautiful island, deserves uniquely excellent products and exceptional service that Fairways & Bluewater can very well deliver. We push our limits and boundaries, courageously face challenges, and take our mistakes and imperfections as our guide to achieving greater things. To be the #1 most booked property in Boracay and the entire Philippines is a feather in our hat which we will strive to keep for as long as we can, and it will be a reminder to all of us in Fairways to be better than we were yesterday. There are no shortcuts to attracting more guests to experience Fairways & Bluewater. While most hotels resort to executing a price-drop strategy as a quick-fix solution that inadvertently damages their brand, we busy ourselves protecting our brand of excellence by adding value to our offerings, and enriching guest travel experience — the first-rate brand, product, and service is important to the new breed of travelers”. The Chairman also said “Timing is very important in our goal to make a difference in the tourism industry. We have to be as dynamic as the travelers are.  Either we go side-by-side with them or we go a few steps ahead, because if we don’t, we will surely regret that 1 second of lag time spent on unnecessary steps.  This is the mindset that helped us succeed over the years, and this is the mindset that we will keep to guarantee more triumphs not just in Boracay, but in the Philippines.”

Since 2018, Fairways & Bluewater has distinguished itself as the one and only hotel/resort in Boracay Island to achieve a triple-ISO certification all at the same time, achieving a complete Integrated Management System (IMS) in its first year of certification — a feat that not a lot of institutions who acquire ISO-IMS are able to do. The 3 ISO certifications were all conferred by a leading international certifying body based in Dubai who meticulously evaluated the organization’s operations, people, and facilities. ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certifications are guarantees that an organization is able to incorporate globally recognized standards for quality, safety, and environmental sustainability into its operations, organizational culture, and business programs and strategies. Every year since 2018, the Resort has aced the rigorously methodical internal quarterly audits and annual surveillance audits conducted by the certifying body — a clear evidence that Fairways is a professionally run organization and that its dedicated workforce is committed to excellence. Fairways & Bluewater proudly holds certifications on ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management System), and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health & Safety Management System).

Fairways & Bluewater is also the first and most significant partner of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Boracay Island, advocating environmental sustainability, preservation, and restoration. The Resort promotes responsible tourism by reducing dependence of single-use plastics, among others. It has been an early advocate until the present day of the HOPE in a Bottle and HOPE in a Box country-wide movement championing sustainability and supporting local communities in various areas of the Philippines to build more classrooms in remote areas. Fairways & Bluewater is also known for its 12-year-old War-on-Waste Program where employees embark on clean-up drives within the resort and in various areas in the island aiming to build more awareness in the community on preserving the environment. At the 2022 Condé Nast Johansens Awards for Excellence in London, Fairways & Bluewater was one of two property finalists in the category Best for Green Practices & Sustainability in the entire Asia, Africa, Middle East & Oceania region owing to the resort brand’s vast conservation efforts.

Fairways & Bluewater has long been a premier destination of choice in Boracay Island, and fast becoming a preferred destination in the entire Philippines. The Resort is loved by guests the world over also as shown by those who also generously share on reputable online channels their genuinely rich experiences during their stay in the resort. As a result of the high quality of products and services that Fairways offers, the resort brand has earned excellent guest review scores and customer review awards from various online travel websites and platforms such as Agoda, Expedia Group, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and the like. The resort brand’s ideal location on the quieter and more serene side of the island offers a different Boracay experience that is more relaxed, more comfortable, more intimate, more private and exclusive, thus showcasing Fairways & Bluewater’s signature tropical island-feel paradise vibe.

Dually crowned as the Philippines’ Leading Beach Resort in 2021 and 2022 by the World Travel Awards, and the Philippines’ Best Golf Hotel for 9 years straight by the World Golf Awards, Fairways & Bluewater boasts of world-class amenities and facilities such as the island’s only 18-hole par-72 championship golf course, 7 swimming pools, and numerous restaurants and bars around the sprawling resort, each with specially-curated menus with dishes personally awarded the stamp of approval of Fairways & Bluewater’s Chairman himself.  The out-of-the-box and daring Kudetah District – a flagship entertainment area in the resort rivaling Bali and Phuket– with its restaurants and bars offering international delicacies, gigantic jacuzzi tub, and neon night safari attraction, has become a popular place for nightlife, gastronomy, and epic foam parties happening 3-times a week held at the Ventana pool overlooking the majestic Sibuyan Sea.

The Resort provides access to a private beach where one can spend a sun-kissed day – affording the same, if not better-quality, experience than Boracay’s famous main beach, complete with turquoise waters and powdery fine sand sans the noise and crowds. The large open space by the beach, and numerous convention and banquet facilities within the Resort offer ideal venues for wedding proposals, wedding ceremonies, wedding receptions, corporate events and large convention activities. The Resort has expertly accommodated large corporate events and functions multiple times a year. Just a few months ago, the resort hosted, among many other reputable organizations, the UNILAB Group’s annual kick-off rally with multiple daily functions and events graced by more than 600 attendees in the resort paradise.

“The journey of Fairways & Bluewater is not without any trials and blunders. The road is not smooth either. But the passion and commitment of everyone in the organization to achieve the goal to be #1 and to be excellent led to where we are at this point. All the members of our organization are the biggest reason why we have achieved so much — they make things happen.” says Ms. Catherine Marcelo, First Vice President and General Manager of Fairways & Bluewater. Ms. Marcelo shared “Every day is a struggle to keep up with the demands of meticulous and discerning guests, and our employees have been successful thus far in being able to satisfactorily handle their needs by showcasing their professional skills and character, and sincerely warm and authentic Filipino-style hospitality.” She adds further “It is important for everyone to stay focused and be genuinely engaged and involved in our journey to success. Our Chairman, Mr. Chan, embodies total engagement and involvement, as he personally goes down to the ground level to give his personal touch of excellence — from styling the rooms, curating menus and dishes, designing amenities and facilities, and re-invigorating what we already have — and this motivates us to drive full throttle towards being the best. Even the improvements in the landscape set-up all over the Resort and the beautification of its roads and public areas are personally drawn up by the Chairman based on how he envisions them to be, making sure it adds value to our products and provide visual satisfaction.  There will always be slip-ups every now and then, but through the able leadership of our Chairman, Mr. Wilbur Chan, we rise from each fall, stronger and wiser, in a snap. Our Chairman’s vision and go-getter trait inspires us to never give up, and to always find a solution, and explore new things, instead of sulking or wasting time and resources on complexities that could have been simplified, which would lead to productivity”.

As they soar high in the tourism industry, Fairways & Bluewater also invested in giving back to the community through civic activities, partnerships with non-profit organizations, and government agencies for advocacies that benefit target groups. The Resort’s General Manager, Ms. Catherine Marcelo said “As we progress, we want others to move forward too.  We play an active role in supporting a privately-run foundation that takes care of underprivileged children and women in the mainland of Malay.  We share the talents and skills of our Fire and Rescue team with those who need assistance. And we continue to provide free water supply to the hundreds of residents who reside near our property. We also make sure that we support the community programs of the local and provincial government as we continue to find ways to help in uplifting more lives in our community.”

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This article is brought to you by Fairways & Bluewater Boracay. 

ADVT.