Defining Filipino hospitality and new brand of hoteliers with Megaworld Hotels and Resorts

With 2023 giving everyone a fresh start comes the underlying question how do you define Filipino hospitality moving forward? Cleofe Albiso, Managing Director of Megaworld Hotels and Resorts, hints that industry practitioners are no longer just people who greet you upon arrival, check you in, and make sure your meals are served warm and according to your liking.

Now, “Filipino hospitality, through its trained practitioners, deliberately understand guests’ goals and curate a stay that’s safe, refreshing, and empowering”. Because of the Philippines’ rich history, its considerably easier for Filipinos to be sensitive to cultural differences making Filipinos the natural warm hosts that they are but beyond that, Cleofe adds “we aim to grow a breed of champions that helps you win the day’s challenges”.

Circle of Happiness

It all starts with culture! Cleofe perhaps is not in the mold of all bosses around. Beyond office hours, she engages in normal meals with her line associates – housekeeping or banquet food servers. Not all bosses will talk to their line associates after office hours or even bond with them over simple dinner, inquiring about the personal lives of their subordinates in the quest to understand them better.

Albiso shares “In a week, I usually sit down with someone I mentor,” she told the Manila Times. “I would pull in an associate I didn’t have any contact within the past that I want to get to know better. The wealth of personal stories is humbling! Behind the uniforms, they are children struggling for their parents, for their families and of course working hard for their dreams”.

Luckily, these close and personal encounters with line associates have caught appreciation since the start of her leadership working with Megaworld Hotels & Resorts as its Group General manager starting the last quarter of 2019. Until she became the Managing Director of MHR back in 2021, these huddles grew to become a practice for general managers in the properties as well.

Along with the pandemic also came the need to foster a brand of culture called the Circle of Happiness which harnesses the philosophy of love for oneself, family, work, community, and above all, God at the center of what they do. As per Albiso, this became the groundwork of making sure Megaworld Hotels & Resorts stay true to being a people-first company that raises a sound approach to taking care and training its associates, protecting the environment, and delighting guests. She may admit that the process may not always be as smooth on a day-to-day basis but learning from everyday birth pains has always been the best teacher for everyone.

Albiso celebrates the success of Megaworld Hotels and Resorts team. 2022 proved to be a promising year for Megaworld Hotels & Resorts.  In the same year, MHR also made more jobs available in the industry thanks to the opening of its newest gem, Belmont Hotel Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City Cebu with its 550 rooms. They also opened the Boracay Newcoast Convention Center with its 1,200 maximum capacity that makes the Island of Boracay better equipped and ready to host larger M.I.C.E gatherings.  In total there are 2,500 associates working across our properties that extend a rewarding to stay our guests

25^th Golden Mabuhay Awardee

There’s no doubt that Albiso’s influence amongst her family, peers, and in the industry has given her much respect from the people around her. The young executive takes a selfless and honest approach in her life, perhaps a product of growing up in the humble town of Toledo Cebu. Her father, Leo, was a security guard in Atlas Mining and her late mom, Fe, a housewife who ran a canteen concessionaire in La Salle.  Cleofe always makes sure that she imparts a piece of herself to everyone she meets. The effort she invests on her craft as a business leader and mentor for many has earned her the recognition receiving the 25^th Golden Mabuhay Award given by the Association of Human Resource Managers of the Hospitality Industry in the Philippines. This award embodies Cleofe’s resilience in leading the team to push on, yielding positive results, and being an instrument in providing jobs in the industry even amidst the pandemic.

She candidly shares that she has continuously faced challenges in life both personal and in her career. The biggest so far would have to be spearheading the decision to join the “Bayan Muna” movement by being the first hotel chain to execute becoming a quarantine facility for many outbound and inbound Filipinos to support the nation’s journey to recovery. As the largest hotel chain in the Philippines, Cleofe expounds “we took it upon ourselves to be part of the solution and grow our knowledge to becoming so much more than what our job titles are for”. She will not deny that she herself was afraid but then again there is no courage without fear. She narrates “we simply took it a day and a step at a time and lo and behold realizing we are almost at the hopeful end of things”.

Cleofe has always recognized God in all moments of her life. She shares that “it is in our brokenness that God reveals himself in our lives. It is also in our brokenness that we get to share a piece of ourselves to others that they may also learn and reflect on God’s divine work of putting people and teams together. To Cleofe, empowerment means rising above together by building each other through any challenge that may come our way.

Property Guru Awards: Best Operational Hospitality Portfolio

About the future, Megaworld Hotels and Resorts only sees more properties to open allowing the hotel management chain to serve more travelers in more destinations in the Philippines. Even before the new year, PropertyGuru Philippines Property Awards program declares Megaworld Hotels and Resorts, with the first ever “Best Operational Hospitality Portfolio” award for its hotels with 12 properties, 6 diverse brands and 4,500 rooms.

Now on its 10^th year, the award giving body highlights Megaworld Hotels and Resorts’ diverse base of properties strategically located across the different parts of the archipelago. Managing Director, Cleofe Albiso, said that “Our passion lies in bringing distinct travel experiences to every guest that stays in our hotels located in major tourist destinations across the country”. She further adds that “This recognition is dedicated to the management and the hardworking men and women of the country’s biggest operator and developer of 100% Filipino homegrown hotel brands, Megaworld Hotels and Resorts.

Today, travelers continue to enjoy stays in Belmont Hotel Manila or Savoy Hotel Manila within Newport City in Pasay across NAIA terminal 3, Kingsford Hotel Manila located in the Entertainment City of Paranaque, Hotel Lucky Chinatown in Binondo, Twin Lakes Hotel near Tagaytay, Eastwood Richmonde Hotel in Quezon City, Richmonde Hotel Ortigas in Pasig, Richmonde Hotel Iloilo in Iloilo Business Park of Iloilo City, Belmont Hotel Boracay or Savoy Hotel Boracay located at the Newcoast Boracay or even in Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown in Cebu.

Joining the line-up of properties is Belmont Hotel Mactan with 550 rooms located at the heart of Mactan Newtown, one of the townships of Megaworld in Lapu-Lapu Cebu. In 2023, MHR is also eyeing on opening 2 more hotels, namely the Chancellor Boracay with more than 500 rooms located at the Boracay Newcoast and Grand Westside Hotel with its 1,500 rooms at the Entertainment City in Paranaque making it the biggest hotel in the Philippines in terms of room keys.

With each day that passes, Cleofe shares that “we continuously plant our feet firm on the ground staying humble and grateful as we go through the noble craft of serving the nation and its visitors’ the quintessential Filipino hospitality we are known for and more for another 365 days and more in the new year.