Plantation Bay Resort & Spa makes it to 2010 Conde Nast list

CEBU,  Philippines - For three years in a row, Plantation Bay Resort & Spa, a wholly Filipino-owned and managed resort in Lapu-Lapu City, has made it to the Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards for Top Resorts in Asia.

Plantation Bay shares the number 15 rank with a rating of 82.6 with the Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort & Spa also made it to the list this year, with the rank of number 14 and a rating of 83.2. Plantantion Bay and Shangri-La Mactan are the only resorts in the Philippines that were included in the list. In 2008 and 2009, Plantation Bay enjoyed the distinction of being the only resort in the Philippines included in the prestigious list.

General Manager Efren Belarmino said it is an honor to be included in the list for three years in a row. “It is not an easy feat to sustain because we do not know when these people come to the resort. This is a recognition that is very important to us, especially because we are Filipino-owned and managed,” he said.

Conde Nast Traveler is a US-based magazine. The website www.concierge.com, where the results of the Readers’ Choice Survey can be found, explains that every year since 1988, a select sample of Conde Nast Traveler readers are made to answer a survey through a questionnaire that is made available through a secure website. Each candidate was rated on a five-point scale: excellent, very good, good, fair and poor. Resorts like Plantation Bay are rated on activities/facilities, food/dining, location, overall design, rooms and service.

Sales Manager Stephanie Grace Trocio said that since these readers who take the survey do not make themselves known while staying at the resort, the staff are constantly on their toes to give the best service possible. “We just make sure that we are consistent in what we do, our products and services.”

Belarmino said the resort takes pride in the various activities that it offers to its guests. “We make it a point to keep guests busy and occupied. And we give them a lot of options.”

He added that aside from the usual beach and spa activities, the resort also has a firing range, a game room and open air shops that provide five-minute spa samplers, henna tattoo, fortune telling and T-shirt printing. There is also an ice cream bar and a buco bar in the resort.

Belarmino also said that the resort offers a Botanical Tour wherein guests get acquainted with the different trees and plants around the resort.

Aside from the different activities, Plantation Bay also strives to constantly reinvent itself. The resort is set to complete renovating all its rooms within the year and it recently opened Palermo Café Bar, a coffee shop that also has a tapas and pasta bar. The coffee shop is open the whole day while the tapas and pasta bar is open from 5p.m. up.

Plantation Bay will also be the venue of an international sports event, the Davis Cup, in March next year, wherein the Philippines will be playing against Japan.

It was Lapu-Lapu City Councilor Harry Radaza, the chairman of the sports and tourism committee, who negotiated for the event to be held in Lapu-Lapu City, with Plantation Bay as the venue.

Councilor Radaza said the resort will be reconstructing their tennis court to meet the Davis Cup standards while the city government will spend for the construction of bleachers that will sit more than 1,000 persons.

Belarmino said that this development will really boost the resort’s achievements. “Being included in the Conde Nast Readers’ Choice Awards again is an achievement and at the same time a challenge for us. This challenge comes with a promise to our clients and guests that we will always strive to be the best,” he concluded. (THE FREEMAN)