THE Philippines’ first and only premier hotel school in the country, owned and operated by De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), recently re-opened as Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle after extensive renovations and is now wowing members of the local hospitality industry. It used to be known as CSB Hotel.
While it is in a category of its own, being a hotel school that simulates a real hotel setting for the practicum requirements of the students of DLS-CSB’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management (SHRIM) and provides them with the opportunity to actually apply what they learned in the classroom, Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle stands at par with the best five-star hotels in the metro.
Committed to provide a world-class hotel experience to guests and students, the hotel has a luxurious, warm and friendly ambiance from the façade and lobby to the food and beverage outlets, gym, swimming pool on the rooftop and meeting rooms.
It boasts of 49 well-appointed, newly renovated rooms such as the Presidential Suite, One-Bedroom Suites, Deluxe King, Deluxe Queen, Superior Twin and Dormitory rooms that have been designed to be friendly to the physically challenged, particularly the hearing impaired and those in wheelchairs.
The rooms feature a perfect mix of light and earth colors for that relaxed, comfortable yet luxurious and “homey” feel. Providing an impressive view of the Makati and Manila skylines, the rooms are equipped with five-star amenities such as a 40-inch multimedia LED Smart TV, in-room safety deposit box, electronic make-up room buttons (that eliminate the confusion over whether the guest placed “Please Make Up Room” or “Do Not Disturb” on their door handles), advanced proximity card door lock system, and multifunctional MP3 dock.
Other room amenities include daily buffet breakfast, welcome drink for booked guests upon arrival, free local calls, daily newspaper, iron and ironing board, hair dryer, coffee and tea-making facility, individually controlled air-conditioning unit, use of gym and pool, and 24-hour wired and wireless Internet connection.
What’s even more interesting is that Hotel Benilde is starting a new trend by offering its mini bar free of charge. Guests can thus feel free to consume the items they find in the mini bar of their room, which is not the case in most hotels. “When guests check out, they will not be asked whether or not they’ve consumed anything from the mini bar. They will instead be asked why they did not consume everything on their mini bar,” Bro. Dennis Magbanua, FSC, president and chancellor of DLS-CSB, joked during the formal presentation of the hotel to media.
The interiors of the rooms have also been carefully planned out and executed to highlight space, function and sophistication unique to the brand, as intricately and meticulously designed by celebrated architects Manny Samson and Rogelio Villarosa.
Located at the corner of Arellano and Estrada streets in Malate, Manila, Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle also features two restaurants – Café Romancon at the lobby level, and Vatel Restaurant on the roofdeck.
Named after St. Benilde Romancon, Café Romancon is the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant which serves international cuisines in a modern casual dining setting. Open for both in-house and walk-in guests, it offers daily buffet breakfast from 6:00 to 10:00 a.m. and an international a la carte menu for lunch and dinner, while at the same time featuring regular food and beverage promotions.
Vatel Restaurant, which can be found on the same floor as the hotel’s swimming pool, is operated in partnership with Institut Vatel, an internationally known Hotel Management School based in France. The casual fine dining restaurant serves authentic Mediterranean-French cuisine.
Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle also comes with six event venues, with Halle de Aquitaine able to accommodate 250 guests banquet style and 400 guests in theater and cocktail style, while the five function rooms – Salle de Toulouse, Salle de Avignon, Salle de Bordeaux, Salle de Lyon and Salle de Marseilles – have been designed to fit 50 persons banquet style and 80 persons theater and cocktail style.
From being a hands-on training laboratory and hotel-school in 1996, the hotel, then known as Hotel CSB, opened its doors to the public in 1999, offering guest rooms, gourmet food and beverage, banquet facilities and other hotel services with the unique La Sallian flair. To keep up with industry standards, it has undergone a major renovation and rebranding through the support of the Lasallian Brothers. Being the trailblazer in tourism and hospitality management education, the hotel had to be renovated because, in the words of Bro. Dennis, it “needed to walk the talk.”
“We wanted to give SHRIM students the most realistic simulation that we could by providing them with facilities that are at par with industry standards. Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle will become the standard in all subsequent La Salle properties of the same nature, not only in Manila but around the world,” says Bro. Dennis.
Management of Hotel Benilde aims to attract more guests looking for an alternative ‘stay-cation’ destination, position the hotel as a ‘venue-of-choice’ for events, and make it function as a preferred learning institution for students who want a career in the hospitality industry.
(Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle is located at Arellano St. corner Estrada St., Malate Manila, with telephone number 230-5230.)
