EVERY Christmas season, Baguio City becomes more crowded because a lot of Manila folks flock to the City of Pines to get away from the traffic, the crowd and the pollution in the metro. If you’re planning to do the same with your family, it’s best to book your holiday home now, and Le Monet Hotel at Camp John Hay promises to be a good place to stay.
Named after the great French impressionist painter Claude Monet, Le Monet has created a cozy, comfortable and enticing environment for its guests to indulge in. Located inside Camp John Hay, which is perhaps the only place in Baguio now where you can still find lush growths of pine trees the way they used to be, Le Monet Hotel treats its guests to the natural fresh scent of pines and sweeping views of vast greens and trees both in front of it and at the back. Truth is that when you sit right outside the veranda of your room, you look out straight into the picnic area of Camp John Hay. And if your room offers a garden view, you look out to vast greens and trees that have remained relatively untouched at the back of the hotel.
The rooms themselves are inspired works of art. The look of all 70 rooms of the hotel is modern and the layout is functional yet artistic. There are 19 suites ranging in size from 355 to 538 square feet, with the most exquisite being Respire by Le Monet Executive Deluxe Suite and Family Suite. But even the regular rooms come with the LMH Grand Bed, which features pillow-top mattress, triple sheeting, plush pillows and a luxurious down comforter that makes snooze time extremely comfortable. The modern bathroom never fails to draw oohs and aahs, as it comes with a push-button thermal toilet and a small bathroom TV complete with remote control.
Each room is also equipped with a 32-inch LED Internet TV, individual refrigerator and mini-bar, an in-room safety deposit box with electronic key-lock facility, IDD/NDD telephone facility and Wi-Fi capability.
The hotel itself boasts of an indoor heated swimming pool, which is perfect for the cold climate of Baguio, plus a spa, the Vida Verde Spa, at the basement level for guests who want to go for a variety of treatments for detoxification, relaxation and nourishment, such as massages, facials, manicures and pedicures.
While Le Monet Hotel offers in-room dining, it’s still a great dining experience to go down to The Lobby to dine leisurely, especially during breakfast time. Breakfast is buffet, and its piece de resistance is the hotel’s Eggs Benedict. Yes, you can approach the egg station and ask the chef to make an Eggs Benedict for you. Baguio’s best breakfast can be found here, because the buffet offers everything you’ll ever look for in a breakfast buffet—pancakes, French toasts, fresh garden salads, fresh fruits, garlic rice, omelettes, soups, noodles, the quintessential bacon, hot dishes, cakes, even freshly made strawberry yogurt and detox water (infused with lemon, cucumber and mint leaves). The hotel’s Breakfast Buffet, which is very popular in Baguio, is open to the public for Php495.
For lunch, The Lobby offers an a la carte menu, which is even more impressive because it includes creations by celebrity chef Robby Goco and a whole new menu created by chef consultant Marie Jo ‘MJ’ Camarista. The best-selling items on Chef Robby’s menu are still available because Le Monet diners love them a lot. A number of them are international fares, lots of salads that take advantage of the fresh produce available in Baguio, and Filipino comfort foods presented in a contemporary way.
Diners who frequent Le Monet Hotel also avail of special food promotions such as the Eat All You Can! offering at The Lobby, which has a Japanese Dinner Buffet for Php650 every Friday and an International Dinner Buffet for Php550 every Saturday.
The hotel’s Merienda Madness, an Eat All You Can offering every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., also commands a good following. It provides an awesome spread of pastas, such as Penne Carbonara and Spaghetti Pomodoro, and native delicacies such as Pancit Luglog, Maja Mais, Ube and Cheese Puto, Pichi-Pichi, Choco-Cheese Mamon, and Buchi. If you try everything on the merienda buffet, you’ll end up feeling like you’ve had a good and filling lunch or dinner instead of just merienda.
More than just the food, the well-appointed rooms and the high-tech facilities meant to ensure a comfortable stay for guests, Le Monet Hotel encourages its guests to simply live the moment and enjoy the experience of being in Baguio. There are lounge areas, where guests can just sit and relax, read the newspaper and engage each other in light conversation; and paintings by the masters, such as Ang Kiukok, hang on the walls for everyone to appreciate. Guests can also simply take a leisurely walk around Camp John Hay or take the electric-powered shuttle to get to nearby community malls, dining areas and duty-free shops.
The possibilities are endless!
(Le Monet Hotel can be found at Ordonio Drive, Camp John Hay, Loakan Road, Baguio City; with telephone numbers (+6374) 661-0202 to 08, and 0917-5267049, Manila Sales Office: 26 Tomas Morato St., Brgy. South Triangle, Quezon City; with telephone numbers 373-3333 local 201 to 204 and 0917-5640727.)
