The historic landmark Manila Hotel, the oldest premier hotel in the Philippines, made it to the list of Top 20 Southeast Asian Hotels in a poll conducted by international magazine Condé Nast Traveler. Earning a rating of 82.5 from the magazine’s 46,476 readers, who “elected 1,306 properties and places” for the 2012 Readers’ Choice Awards, the Manila Hotel sits on the list’s anchor position (No. 20). The Manila Hotel was designed and built in 1908 on an area of 35,000 square meters on Roxas Boulevard near the Manila Bay, under the supervision of William Parsons. It was meant to rival Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the President of the Philippines. It officially opened upon its inauguration on July 4, 1912, the same commemoration date of American Independence. The hotel recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. At present, the five-star white, green-tile-roofed California Missionary-styled edifice has 570 rooms that offer “the best westward view of Manila’s fabled sunset, the fortress of Corregidor, the poignant ruins of the medieval fortress that was Intramuros, and the palm-lined promenades of Luneta Park.” “The hotel of diplomats. a real slice of history, and the magic of the past haunts this hotel. You can watch the ghosts of a nation dance by to the violin music in the lobby while eating salted nuts and drinking San Miguel beer. Also one of the best spas in Manila. the only downside is I was assigned a room in an awkward corner of the building,” said a certain “B.I.” of Washington in one of the hotel’s reviews posted on CN Traveler’s website (http://www.cntraveler.com/hotels/asia/philippines/manila-hotel-manila-ph…). “Excellent, world class hotel. Beautiful lobby. Nice room,” commented Mary Farquhar of California. Two other hotels in the Philippines, Edsa Shangri-La and Makati Shangri-La, also made it to the list, which is topped this year by Amandari in Bali, Indonesia (94.8). This year’s Readers’ Choice Awards, which covered cities, islands, hotels, resorts, cruises, and airlines, is Condé Nast Traveler’s 25th annual survey. For the “Top Hotels” category, Condé Nast Traveler readers rated hotels in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Siem Reap, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Published by Condé Nast beginning in 1953 as a mailing sent out by the Diners Club, Condé Nast Traveler is an American magazine that lists locations that would take the card. It became a full-fledged magazine, The Diners Club Magazine, in 1960, then later took the name Signature. Condé Nast bought it in 1986, and relaunched it under its current name the following year. Last June, Cable News Network (CNN) International, in the article “Then and now: The stories behind Southeast Asia’s heritage hotels” written by Tina Hsiao and Jules Kay, cited the Manila Hotel as one of today’s seven “heritage hotels” in Southeast Asia, alongside Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, Thailand and Raffles Singapore. The Manila Hotel is the only hotel in the country cited by CNN International. Source:- http://goodnewspilipinas.com/2012/10/31/phls-oldest-premier-hotel-among-conde-nast-travelers-top-20/
I'd agree with that; only stayed there once but have eaten there a few times. The restaurant appears in my pet film, "Filipina Dreamgirls". Look forward to staying there again one day.
We stayed there for 2 night back in 2007 Had a glorious time, but it was VERY expensive at that time. I would also love to stay again soon. So would my wife We had a nice lunch but didn't experience dinner. Next time we will. PS: On second thoughts maybe we won't. We're both big big fans of Viking Buffet at MOA
Lovely place on the inside but a bit run down on the outside and not so nice in architectural terms on the outside. I must say on the occasion of this wedding I was not that impressed by the food, I have experience far better cuisine elsewhere in Manila for far less money and also had far better presentation. Saying all that it was a lovely night, nice wedding and nice experience.
If you want to stay there now, it will cost you between £125 and £451 plus taxes per night, room only.
I certainly wouldn't pay that price to stay in a place that reminds me of a Moscow underground station!
The Pan Pacific base rate for advance booking is PhP 7,700 i.e. about £125 so the same as the Manila Hotel base rate. The top rate is, I fancy, for the MacArthur Suite,, where Douggie spent the morning of the Japanese invasion vacillating and giving no orders, resulting in his B17s and B25s being destroyed on the ground.
Being a Railway Engineer and Railway enthusiast for over 30 years, I couldn't stop myself posting on this one. I place the Moscow Metro highly in my list of Wonders of the World. It's one of the busiest metro's in the world and is without doubt the most beautiful and interesting. Virtually all of the old stations were designed by the best architects of the day. Not just against practicality but also as an underground art museum. I spent 5 days just travelling around the system for fun. Fascinating stuff and some very knowledgeable, interesting and charming people. We're talking totally unique murals, decorations and ornate chandeliers. Wonderful Art Deco details, classic Baroque designs, intricate bas-reliefs, high arched ceilings, Corinthian columns, marble walls and .....................untold lavish touches. What joy!!! What memories ! Worth a king's ransom to spend quality time there. IMO Moscow Metro
