Who says Valentine’s Day is only for lovers? With my romantic Valentine stationed in far away Brazzaville (the French Congo) in Africa, I’m opting to spend my Valentine weekend with two of my best lady buddies, who flew in from New York City recently to escape their unusually harsh winter.
“Without our husbands around, what do we do for the coming Valentine weekend?” they asked.
“Leave it to me, the master planner, to organize a weekend the three of us will enjoy,” I bravely volunteered.
We have been friends long enough for me to know that the kind of weekend they would love should include: Plush hotel accommodations — preferably out of town — and with a resort/spa; a day of exercise and pampering at the hotel spa; exciting dinner shows at a five-star hotel with excellent food and good company for dinner.
Because the show I booked for the three of us on Feb. 13 is StarBall, the international dance competition that Michaela “Pinky” Puno chaired and organized, I had to choose a hotel that was far enough to give them that “out-of-town” ambience yet near enough to drive to Makati Shangri-La, the venue of StarBall. Tagaytay is definitely too far, so that left me with only one option: a hotel in the Alabang area. I could think of no other hotel expert to consult but my friend Arthur Lopez, who recommended the Bellevue Hotel, a five-star hotel nestled in the heart of Filinvest City.
A tour of Bellevue Hotel confirmed Arthur’s recommendation. Bellevue has five-star appointments with 224 deluxe and suite rooms, modern communications and banquet facilities, superb dining outlets and its very own Spa Club with fully equipped gym, spa and salon. I knew right away that my friends and I would enjoy the spa area with its excellent menu of therapeutic massages and body scrubs. I booked the three of us for three different scrub combos: a chocolate scrub (with a chocolate wrap and deep-cleansing facial with rejuvenating therapy); Sensual Therapy (a chocolate scrub, eye-care treatment and 20-minute head therapy); and a rose-petal scrub (which includes an anti-aging facial and 30-minute pili oil massage).
To give me the choice of what suite to book, the hotel’s front desk manager, Edgar Silvestre, showed me around the new Tower Wing, which was just opened recently. This new wing has 459 rooms, making it the biggest five-star hotel in the area. The rooms and suites are clean-cut but luxurious. The décor of the new wing evokes a sense of timelessness because of its eclectic interiors of rich oriental design mixed with postmodern interiors. The architecture was done by architects Esteban and Gavino Tan, with interiors by architect Arlen Mendoza, the same team that did the stately first tower.
We bumped into the resident manager, Jeffrey Enriquez, at the Vue Bar on the 22nd floor, which boasts a breathtaking view of the metropolis and a two-story wine cellar. It offers a main bar, a dance floor for those who want to dance, and a state-of-the-art sound system. For Valentine’s, you could choose to be serenaded inside the main bar or have a little privacy at the mezzanine. One also has the option of dining under the stars at the al fresco area of the bar. Mr. Enriquez introduced me to their award-winning chef, Swiss national Nick Anderson, who promised to create new and exciting dishes for Valentine weekend, when BelleVue Hotel has a special promo from Feb. 12-15.
If you book in the Tower Executive suite, which costs P20,100 net, you enjoy all of the above with some additional perks: complimentary sparkling wine, gift certificate for an overnight stay in a Tower Deluxe room, complimentary one-hour mixed Swedish-shiatsu massage per couple, and a 15-percent discount on the Valentine concert.
The Valentine concert on Sunday, Feb. 14, features the composer and singer with the coolest voice, Jose Mari Chan, who will serenade his guests with his classic love songs. The guests — singer-actress Karylle, daughter Lisa Chan Parpan, and Jennifer Uy — complete the show’s lineup. Joe Mari Chan is one of my favorite singers, so I booked the three of us to watch his concert.
I look forward to experiencing the BelleVue experience with my lady friends during Valentine’s Day weekend. With a state-of-the-art gym, a spa with well-trained masseuses and aestheticians, chef Nick Anderson’s excellent cuisine in their food outlets, and a Jose Mari Chan concert as an extra bonus on the evening of Valentine’s, we could not ask for more.