The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases joins Kadayawan sa Dabaw 2012

MANILA, Philippines - Davao City finds itself at its liveliest every August when it offers a spread of activities to celebrate the Kadayawan Festival.

The festival serves as the Dabawenyos’ annual thanksgiving for the year’s blessings and bounty as well as an expression of their heritage and cultural diversity, with the main highlights such as the Indigenous People’s Grand Performance and the Indak-Indak sa Kadalanan (street dancing) happening on Aug. 17 to 19.

This year’s line-up of festivities is poised to move a notch higher, especially since the event coincides with the important Muslim festival of Eidl Fitr or the post-Ramadan.

The Ritz Hotel at the Garden Oases, according to resident manager Marilou de Ramos, is geared toward contributing to the excitement of this year’s festival. The hotel has come up with special treats and events for visitors to this southern metropolis this time of the year.

The Ritz Hotel at the Garden Oases has launched the Kadayawan 2012 deluxe room promo for only P2,012 which runs from Aug. 16 to 20.

The Kadayawan BBQ Night will be held at the Trellis on Aug. 17. Revelers can enjoy a night of acoustic music, drum-beating and fire-dancing up to midnight.

On Aug. 15, Ritz Hotel will host the episode of the regional morning program “Maayong Buntag Mindanao” over ABS-CBN. Anne Curtis and the guests of her “Anne Bisyosa” Concert, which is slated on Aug. 18, have chosen The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases as their official home.

Garden Oases Resort and Restaurant started its operation in 1995. The resort was popularly known to Dabawenyos as Garden Oases. In 1997, function halls were added as an important feature.

By 2007, the famous Grand Oases Convention Center was born to host conferences and accommodate 1,200 people in a theater-type atmosphere and into smaller group meeting rooms.

In March 2011, the expansion of The Ritz Hotel adjacent to the Garden Oases was completed to accommodate live-in guests. The convention center was integrated with the hotel, and The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases emerged.

The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases, steeped in contemporary Asian fusion design, has 88 guest rooms — suite, deluxe, standard — with essential amenities such as room safe, Internet access, cable TV, air conditioning, refrigerator, and mini-bar.

Business guests, meantime, can utilize the Executive Hall for gatherings and get-togethers. The rooftop affords a breathtaking vista of the cityscape, especially when observed at nighttime, and the view of the famous Mt. Apo.

Other facilities like swimming pool, spa and mini golf course are open to hotel guests. A newly built Garden Oases Restaurant is scheduled to open its doors in September. The pool, the convention center and function rooms are getting a facelift to complement each other.

De Ramos underscored that green practices are firmly in place in the hotel, which has wider and bigger room windows that minimize power consumption; room amenities are environment-friendly and designed to reduce room disposal and the use of LED technology lighting and heat-reducing windows in the lobby.

Still, there’s another thing going for The Ritz — its location. For any traveler who’s looking to combine business and leisure, location means everything.

The Ritz Hotel is situated in the heart of the city, along Porras Street in Bo. Obrero. It is surrounded by shopping malls and parks, hospitals, churches and other commercial establishments. The location is “very safe and secure,” De Ramos said.

“The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases provides its guests a balance of work and leisure. Aside from being a convenient place for business travelers, the hotel is now getting popular for leisure visitors because it makes shopping, sightseeing and dining in Davao City a (hassle-free and) worthwhile experience. Truly ‘the perfect place for life’s precious moments,’” De Ramos added.

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For reservations, call 082-224-1402 (to 03) or 082-228-6885 (to 87). Log on to www.theritzhoteldavao.com or e-mail at theritzgardenhotel@yahoo.com or sales@theritzhoteldavao.com.