Green is the new color of hospitality

MANILA, Philippines - While the country can boast over 36,000 square kilometers of immaculate, turquoise coastlines, each one punctuated by a landmark resort that proudly bears our cordial spirit, our emerald landscapes offer a new, breathtaking view to our typical sun-burnt, saline-heavy travel pursuits. Deep between Pampanga’s legendary Sacobia River, the mystical silhouette of the Arayat, and Southeast Asia’s emerging international travel gateway, Clark International Airport (DMIA), the fog rises to reveal Green Canyon Resort, a refreshing lifestyle destination whose ecologically-sound practices and enriching experiences make the dime-a-dozen seaside hotel turn green with envy. 

“The location of the resort is fitting for the fresh-themed resort because  of the tranquil mountainous landscape with the river flowing though the area. We had to work around the green landscape to uphold the natural green look of the area,” says brand manager Abel Jose.

The family’s fresh entry to the hospitality industry could very well mean changing most of its established rules, where novel experiences replace traditional resort features, practical, cost-saving construction techniques are traded with painstaking sustainable architecture and design, and conventional comforts are traded with innovative relaxing luxuries. “Green Canyon Resort provides an inspiring setting for anyone interested in exploring their creative side but it is also a place to escape the hassles and deadlines of modern city life, to connect to nature, and rejuvenate,” Abel Jose adds.

The 72-acre resort turns to customary wisdom that built the world’s foremost civilizations, where the thriving environs of the Sacobia River, Pampanga’s main bloodline, inspire life, growth, and development. Once battered and bruised by the same environmental embrace that now encourages it, Green Canyon Resort turned the lahar-embattled area into a one-off terminus for the green-minded traveler.  “All the elements of this eco-touristic and art destination work together to create experiences that are enriching and appealing to visitors with diverse interests,” notes Abel Jose. Starting with its repurposed store-keep, now a stunning 51-room resort residence, Green Canyon turned the design world’s trendiest buzzword — “upcycling”  — in to a punctuation.  

“This former industrial warehouse was converted using reclaimed and recycled materials. The place has a welcoming and home-away-from-home charm,” shares Abel Jose. From the specially handcrafted furniture, posts, and lintels fashioned off reclaimed wood, the stately wine bottle chandelier highlighting the lobby, its river stone borders, artisanal ceramic flooring, antiquated brick pathways retrieved off defunct sugar mills, to its expansive solar-paneled roofs, the Green Canyon Resort eco-lodge serves as the keystone for its other conscientious developments around the property.

Yet, none of the tree-hugging, hut-dwelling vibe in here, Green Canyon Resort still makes luxury its main selling-point, only more sustainable. Proving that good taste can very well be ecologically-sound as well, Green Canyon Resort turned to the working hands of renowned artist and furniture designer Niccolo Jose in bringing to life bespoke features that are cleverly peppered throughout the resort.

“When we started with the project, we began with our genuine love for nature and art. We did not want to follow a trend, we wanted it to be a standard. With the resort’s magnificent landscape, any artwork or cultural artifact we add to the place is naturally highlighted, and as artist, art is appreciated more when you  are in nature. There is art in nature and nature in art,” explains Niccolo Jose when pried of his “eco-art” objective. The result is a prolific anthology of specially-crafted furniture pieces that offer a unique statement to all of Green Canyon Resort’s 51 rooms, art pieces of wooden portraits and sculptures that add to the resort’s stirring landscape. Yet, of course, in the true discipline of sustainability, the Portland-graduate fine artist turns to the land’s local communities to better realize his verdant vision.

Its neighboring Aeta villagers lent their might in providing the resort its trademarked rip-wrap parameter fence fashioned off volcanic bedrock. Niccolo Jose went as far as training local craftsmen, ones who were accustomed to making their native bamboo huts into creating his unique furniture pieces from reclaimed wood — from cutting, shaping, staining, to assembling. A remarkable declaration of this is the rhythmic and dynamic J-bench serving as stellar centerpoint to the resort’s gift shop.

This paralleled penchant for nature and art serves as a springboard for other experiences that are inimitably akin to Green Canyon. “Apart from exhibits and showcases of various art collections, we are currently discussing a series of art workshops suitable for beginners and  professional artists. We  already have beautiful painting outdoor locations which will undoubtedly serve  as inspiration for artworks. Our main goal is to provide a place where creativity is encouraged and nurtured. I believe everybody can be an artist and we want people to come here and discover their inner artist,” Niccolo Jose explains.  

 Green Canyon serves up plenty of other experiences for your weekend encounter. From its Asian/Fusion benchmark restaurant Palette, its bar and lounge Boulders, to the rugged and rustic griller Shed, Green Canyon extends its naturalist philosophy for wandering foodies. “People will find that we highlight our slow-cooked cuisine and health-conscious selections in our resort, though we do accommodate people’s comfort food cravings as well. Many of our items are “farm-to-kitchen” and freshly-made for guests daily. All our items are highlighted with beautiful colored greens and are personally-crafted for  our guests as to highlight the artistic part of our cuisine,” Abel Jose shares. 

And if its lulling respite proves monotonous for the stress-wielded urbanite who choose to opt less of its “digital-detox” offerings, one can venture out for Green Canyon’s rich assortment of recreational activities that despite their adrenaline-fueled temperament still maximizes the great outdoors. Just an unhurried foot stroll around the resort’s expanse proves rewarding, what with hanging bridges, interactive art installations, and breathtaking views on every corner awaiting the cardio-conscious. Those wanting to burn some rubber while inhaling the fresh air can opt for the resort’s four-wheel ATV tour instead. And yet for the leisurely set whose main idea of refreshment involves huge bodies of water, Green Canyon Resort has two specialty pools, the Symphony and the Wave+Water, to cool them down, especially with a fruit shake or a massage in tow.

In best enjoying Green Canyon Resort’s diverse offerings, Jose advices to book in advance to better design your green getaway. “We accommodate guests with various personalized services so they can feel right at home,” he quips. Of a sunrise or twilight picnic for two or a milestone banquet for two hundred, everything, it seems, is possible in this warm and welcoming canvas of experiences.

Green Canyon Resort indulges our travel whims. Where you can trade your usual view of skyscrapers for towering hardwoods, the honks and beeps of tragic traffic with chirps of birds and river hums, your fast food with farm fresh offerings, and your everyday agenda for something a bit on the artsy side, Green Canyon Resort shows that a rewarding retreat could very well be all you need.

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Green Canyon Resort is located at San Vicente Road, Clark Special Economic Zone. For information, call  +63 45 499-1381 or email info@greencanyon.com.ph. Special introductory room rates are available until its formal opening on September 2014.