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Boutique hotels provide people the chance to spend the night in a luxurious, comfortable environment that provides world class customer service. Although they are only a recent addition to the range of accommodation services, boutique hotels are becoming a hit among travelers and vacationers.

History of Boutique Hotels

Ever since the first two hotels of this kind appeared in South Kensington, London (The Blakes Hotel) and Union Square, San Francisco (The Bedford), the concept has increasingly caught the attention of many. The accommodation facility saw a rise in booking demand from both leisure and business travelers. The idea was to make the accommodation an important part of the trip, instead of it as just a place to spend the night. Since then, many entrepreneurs used the concept, and thus boutique hotels were born. In 1984, New York opened its first boutique hotel in Murray Hills.

Their Features

Although all boutique hotels vary in the way they are being operated, they all have things in common, which are what separates them from all the other services in the hospitality industry. Generally, this type of hotel creates an environment that emphasizes and values style and design. And this uniqueness is the key feature in all boutique hotels.

Each boutique hotel aims to stand out and avoid repeating the bland, conventional design of most hotels. Ideally, the chosen style should be consistent throughout all the parts of the building, from the front door to the rooms to the bathrooms. This helps in providing guests a hotel experience they won’t forget. It’s important for designs to match existing structures and features so that there is balance throughout the premises. With a carefully structured atmosphere, guests will feel surrounded by a grand, lush environment and not inside a normal hotel with some stylish additions here and there.

Most boutique hotels tend to be relatively smaller than those belonging to a chain. They also boast of excellent quality and service. Once customers make a request, there will always be someone to assist them. Staff members are trained to be considerate and polite without being pushy and rude.

Luxury for Less

Best of all, rooms at boutique hotels are offered at very friendly prices. So people have the chance to stay in style without having to spend much, which is partly the reason why they’ve become so popular. Travelers and holidaymakers will find the accommodation as fun and exciting as the rest of the trip.

Cagayan de Oro’s Boutique Hotel

It surely is fascinating to stay in this type of hotel. And now, Cagayan de Oro City’s residents and visitors will soon have the chance to stay in a boutique hotel as Ayala Land Inc. plans to build one here.

According to Jose Jalandoni, who heads the company’s new business and hotel division, Ayala is set to open five boutique-type hotels all over the country, including one in the City of Golden Friendship.

Jalandoni further said that the new hotels will provide an average of 150 rooms, all of which will cater mainly to business travelers. Apart from Cagayan de Oro, other sites are Davao, Alabang, Taguig City, Fort Bonifacio and North Triangle, Quezon City.

Aside from shopping malls, Ayala has been successful in other ventures like property development. With Ayala’s experience and expertise in the field, the upcoming boutique hotel in Cagayan de Oro will surely change the city’s urban landscape.

-by Gillian Abonitalla-
(Photos taken from webtradehotels.com and destination360.com)

The small city of Cagayan de Oro is evidently going through some major economic changes. Over the past few years, the city has experienced tremendous industrial progress. This industrial growth, paired with the city’s strategic location, has caught the eye of various investors and businessmen, as well as the internationally owned companies.

Recent news sources revealed that one of the world’s most recognized chain of coffee shops, Starbucks, has started scouting for potential employees to work for its soon-to-open Cagayan de Oro branch. This world famous coffeehouse chain, which is originally based in Seattle, Washington, plans to expand some more by establishing additional branches in several major cities in Visayas and Mindanao.

After seeing the Starbucks branches doing so well in Metro Manila, the company decided to establish additional branches in the Philippines’ fast developing cities. Although construction has not officially started yet, Starbucks is currently scouting for qualified applicants to fill in several important positions. In fact, the company has posted its ad for job placements at Jobstreet.com. Anyone interested can just log on the site to know more. This piece of information is sure to get lots of Kagaya-anons excited.

This planned Cagayan de Oro branch will be the first Starbucks branch to be opened in Mindanao. Although an official press release is yet to be made, Starbucks Cagayan de Oro’s rumored location will be just around the Limketkai Mall Area, specifically the site across McDonalds (the former Limketkai Parking Lot A).

As of today, Starbucks reigns as the largest coffeehouse company in the world. It owns a total of 16,635 coffee shops in over 45 countries. The Starbucks branches in the Philippines are currently operated by the Rustan Coffee Corporation. The Rustan Coffee Corporation, which has the license to run a string of Starbucks coffeehouses in the country, is a subsidiary of the Rustan Group.

-by Mara Tismo-
(Photo taken from businessweek.com)

The Philippines’ secretary of tourism, Joseph Ace Durano, believes that Cagayan de Oro City, as well as some of its neighboring towns, has the potential to become the country’s top tourist destinations. The tourism secretary says these areas in the northern part of Mindanao possess this potential, especially now that the commissioning of the Laguindingan Airport in 2012 makes it an international entry point.

According to Secretary Ace Durano, the overall fastest growing sector in the country is the adventure sports and eco-tourism. Ace Durano said so during a press conference that happened right after the 13th Kumbira Culinary Show at the Atrium, Limketkai Center. Ace Durano also thinks that at present, there is no region in the Philippines that can match Northern Mindanao, especially Cagayan de Oro’s niche markets.

The country’s tourism industry has recently experienced a significant growth for the first quarter of 2010. As of today, the Philippines has been visited by around 1.3 million tourists, showing an average growth of 10.33% since 2008. As observed, the growth was more likely to take place during the first half of the year. Tourist arrivals in the Philippines’ top 16 tourism destinations nearly reached 4 million for the first quarter of 2009 alone.

According to the DOT secretary, one of the best strategies to increase visits to a specific region was to enhance its points of access. This may probably explain the addition of destinations to charter flights from Nanning, Shanghai, Kunming, and Guangzhou in China, as well as Kaohsiung and Taipei from Taiwan. The country’s Department of Tourism has made the right decision by focusing more on attracting potential tourists from several points of destinations that are around three or six hours away from the country, instead of merely relying on further investment to enhance the Philippines’ tourism facilities.

Secretary Ace Durano notes that a region can start focusing more on attracting tourists coming from the ASEAN region, as well as from Australia, Korea, and China. Aside from the benefits it can bring to the country’s tourism, the influx of visitors coming from these areas will also do well for the country’s economy as these areas are among the world’s fastest growing markets.

Secretary Ace Durano also adds that the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East AEASN Growth Area can turn out to be a favorable market, especially with the recent appointment of Catalino Chan III as the BIMP-Eaga sub-country coordinator for tourism.

Malacañang’s “Holiday Economics,” which is all about long weekends, as well the fare war that going on between domestic carriers were both attributed by the tourism secretary, saying that both factors encouraged quite a number of local tourists to book flights and travel. According to him, these factors have contributed a lot to the substantial increase in domestic tourism. Statistics shows an average of 20% increase around the second quarter of 2009.

Aside from these factors, a bunch of “zero air fares” promotions also encouraged foreign travelers to maximize the number of destinations they can go to within the country by reducing their overnight stays at their initial destinations. This led to an increase in the foreign traffic by an estimated 6%.

As for Cagayan de Oro’s potential to become one of the country’s top tourist destinations, Ace Durano has attributed much of this to the city’s strategic location. The fact that Cagayan de Oro is right in the middle of the 600-mile ICT channel, known as the CyberCorridor, gives it a full advantage.

Additionally, the city is also attracting more and more foreign and domestic cyberservice providers, which includes software development, contact centers, medical and legal transcription, as well as other back office operations.

-by Mara Tismo-

Poi, a specific dance form that employs the use of weights tied on the edge of a tether, is a rising trend among many Kagay-anons, especially the dance enthusiasts. Usually, among Kagay-anon Poi dancers, the weights on these tethers are lit. These skillful Poi dancers then swing their tethers to rhythmical patterns, producing a fiery display of lights.

This form of dance originated from the culture of the Maori people from the Aotearoa, the island now known as New Zealand. The word “Poi” is used by the Maori people to refer to a ball tied to a cord. The Maori people use to incorporate Poi in the celebration of their traditional ceremonies.

In its earlier days, this Maori dance form was practiced for the purpose of enhancing dance and rhythm. Over the years, this exotic dance form started gaining popularity in different parts of the globe through fire spinning. The technique was spawned when the traditional poi dance form was merged with modern day dance parties. Eventually, poi enthusiasts began to incorporate other tools such as flags and LED, which allowed them to express and execute the beauty of Poi without having to deal with the environmental and health risks that come with spinning fire.

Poi are traditionally made with natural fibers such as Raupo and soft fabrics. However, varieties of Poi have emerged over the years. Nowadays, Poi can be made of a variety of materials including sponges, plastic bags, as well as knitting wool.

It doesn’t really matter which type of material is used to make Poi, so as long as the material used provides a user friendly experience to the Poi dancer, and as long as the Poi itself is made to project a highly visible appearance. Aside from material, a Poi can also be shaped into various forms ranging from round to egg-shaped.

Poi handles are also made in various forms. Some Poi are made with simple knots in the cords’ end, while some are made with looped handles with rings, swivels and small balls.

The widespread adaptation of Poi has led to the discovery that the swinging techniques used in Poi bring several benefits including enhanced wrist strength, flexibility and improved coordination. The mastery of basic Poi moves is claimed to improve a person’s self-esteem. This is probably one of the reasons why a lot of people, including Kagay-anons, have become addicted to it.

In fact, a group of young Kagay-anons have gathered to form Poi CDO in order to promote the interest in Poi among the city’s locals. For the summer season, these Poi dancers are holding a series of Poi workshops. Anyone interested to learn the prerequisite moves to fire spinning and Poi dancing is free to join them.

The workshops will start on April 12 and will end on May 29. The expert fire spinners of Cagayan de Oro will provide lessons from beginner to advanced levels. Anyone interested in joining the workshop can register at the 3rd floor of G/Link, #83 Pabayo-Gomez Streets, Cagayan de Oro City.

-by Mara Tismo-
(Photos taken from firewhip.com, kwmagic.com and dancesouthflorida.com)