Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Makati Shangri La, Manila

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Status
  
Complete

Opening
  
April 27, 1993

Management
  
Alain Borgers

Type
  
Hotel

Owner
  
Shangri-La Hotels

Makati Shangri-La, Manila

Address
  
Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue, Makati 1200, Philippines

Makati Shangri-La, Manila is a 5-star luxury hotel located in Makati and one of the three hotels managed by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts in Metro Manila, Philippines. It opened on April 27, 1993. The hotel has 696 rooms and suites.

Contents

History

When it opened, the Shangri-La Makati was “one of the first international five-star properties at a time where few large chains were present in the Philippines capital”. It was developed by the Ayala family with an aim to keep the area as Manila’s luxury address. Originally it opened with 703 rooms over its 28 floors, at a cost of $118 million. It was the first new hotel in Makati in 17 years and featured the largest meeting spaces in the city.

The hotel has undergone several renovations over the years, including 3 restaurant overhauls and the refurbishing of more than 200 rooms in 2001 with finer optic cabling and broadband internet. The cost per room of the renovation was around $30,000. The entire renovation, which continued until the end of 2002, cost $130 million.

The Rizal ballroom was renovated in 2009. A second ballroom named “Isabela” opened in November 2013 with an aim to provide a modern event space with interchangeable furniture and audiovisual technology.

In 2010 the hotel embarked on a program called “Green Housekeeping” in order to reduce the use of chemicals and improve cleanliness, with initiatives like low-temperature washing and lower electricity use. The same year it was the first hotel in the Philippines to equip its concierge team with iPads.

The hotel achieves an average 80 percent occupancy, most of which are corporate clients such as the American Embassy.

The current manager is Alain Borgers, from Belgium, former manager of the first Shangri-La in Europe, the Shangri-La Hotel, Paris. He was also the GM of Makati Shangri-La in 1999.

Design and construction

The hotel was designed by Kanko Kikaku Sekkeisha, Yozo Shibata & Association (Tokyo) & G. Formoso & Partners (Manila), both companies of which have designed multiple Shangri-La properties. During the 2002 renovations, General Manager Richard Riley directed and designed the amenities. The design team included specialists from the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, including Bilky Llinas, Leese Robertson Freeman Ltd., Warner Wong, Wilson Associates, BUZdesign, Adam Tihany, and Alan Chang.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 696 rooms in 8 types, including 46 Deluxe Suites, 3 Specialty Suites overlooking Ayala Avenue, and 1 Presidential Suite, which measures 312 square meters.

Restaurants

Makati Shangri-La has four restaurants and a range of cafes and bars. It also has an in-house deli bakery and a satellite patisserie in nearby Greenbelt 5, “Sinfully by Makati Shangri-La".

Past the grand staircase at the lobby is Lobby Lounge, led by German Filipino Chef Dirk Fiedler. The 14-piece Maria S. Esteban Orchestra plays live standards in the lounge every afternoon. The venue was noted in 2013 for leading a popular phenomenon in Manila for people to drink British afternoon tea in the summertime.

Makati Shangri-La was judged the overall winner in the professional division of Chefs on Parade in 2011, the longest cooking competition in the Philippines, and awarded the COP Presidential Trophy.

The hotel's other outlets includes the Japanese restaurant Inagiku, Red, a fine dining outlet, the hotel's Pool Bar located at the fourth level, and formerly, Conway's, the hotel bar.

Events

The hotel has multiple ballrooms and event spaces, and continues to add more, including the Isabela, named after Spain’s Queen Isabela, in November 2013. The Isabela includes works of art by Filipino painter RH Lascano, and is designed by Hong Kong-based LRF Design.

Awards

Makati Shangri-La, Manila is regularly recognised as one of the leading hotels in Asia. In 2013 it was the only hotel in the Philippines to be included in the Expedia Insiders’ Select list, the fourth consecutive year it was recognized.

It has received the following awards from 2007-2013

  • Gold List, Condé Nast Traveler (USA), 2008–Present
  • Top 20 Hotels in Southeast Asia, Condé Nast Traveler Reader's Choice (USA), 2010-2012
  • Top 25 Business Hotels, SmartTravelAsia.com's Best Travel Poll, 2008-2012
  • Top 3 Hotels in the Philippines, TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice, 2013
  • Top 5 Luxury Hotels in the Philippines, TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice, 2013
  • Top 25 Hotels for Service in the Philippines, TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice, 2013
  • Philippines' Leading Business Hotel, World Travel Awards, 2007
  • References

    Makati Shangri-La, Manila Wikipedia