Innovations101: Hotels
The
Apo View Hotel
The Apo View Hotel is a 4
star luxury hotel in Davao City. It is located at Bonifacio St, Poblacion
District Davao City. It is 20 minutes’ drive from Davao International Airport.
It is a walking distance from Gaisano South Citimall, a variety of dining
establishments both local and international, the Pasalubong Center,
Cinematheque Davao, MuseoDabawenyo, local street markets, City Hall, and the
popular People’s Park.
The hotel has 151 rooms
furnished with decorations that reflects a blend of Filipino and modern art.
Every room includes attached bathrooms, satellite television, IDD telephone,
voicemail, radio, refrigerator, mini bar and 24 hour room service. The hotel
has well equipped business centers suited for business travellers.
In 1948, the world was
recovering from the ravages of World War II. The Pamintuan Family built a
modest lodging facility, with fifteen rooms and one restaurant, for businessmen
and their families who were exploring the city and were looking to rebuild their
lives. It is the first hotel build in Davao City.
We, together with my friends, visited Apo View
Hotel. We never thought that we are allowed to go inside without anything to do
there. We just simply enter and the security guards checked our bags. I observed
most of the area of the hotel but found nothing of noticeable problem. I found
that, especially in the lobby, it is a bit boring compare to other hotels I
visited or I already been. I thought that people prefer to stay to the other
place than Apo View Hotel. The lights in their hallways seems creepy. Maybe
they need to change the shade of the light they are using. Their swimming pool
area seems creepy too and it is under maintenance. And I came up with an idea
to upgrade some of the hotels’ main asset. The room to attract more customers
and give a considerable change towards its asset.
I thought that using a phone for services is
maybe too old for our generation nowadays. A little bit of change on the phone
used to order foods or ask for services into something more high-tech. This
works as a normal menu but engraved in the table beside your bed with
interaction of touch screen to scan each page of the food menu and services. It
will show the menu of the foods available on the hotel and also the services
they can ask for. There is a tab like 6”x 4” sized window menu, touch screen
interactive. It comes with a lock button, function like a really normal tab, to
avoid kids to play with it.
Then I thought of something maybe impossible to
happen. For the rooms, the Weather Simulator, this works with the interaction
of walls and air conditioner. The simulator is placed on the table beside your
bed. You will choose a weather either Sunny, Cloudy, Snowy, & etc. The
walls will match the chosen weather then the air conditioner, for instance
Snowy, will adjust to highly cold temperature, letting you experience like a
real snowy surrounding. It is maybe comfortable for anyone who will stay there.
Other people from other country like to those who came from cold places, may
not use with the temperature of our country. Using it, they can now experience
their countries weather. It is also a good experience for those people,
especially children, who want to experience a four season country that
Philippines cannot give.
The
Royal Mandaya Hotel
The Royal Mandaya Hotel is a premier hotel
located at downtown Davao City specifically at Palma Gil Street, Poblacion
District. It consists of two similar buildings designed in Neo-Islamic
architecture. A nine storey each in height with 220 elegantly designed suites
that provide a panoramic view of Mount Apo, Davao Gulf and Metro Davao. It was
built on 1992 with only 20 rooms by Colonel Emilio D. Escandor. Built for his
wife,Violeta, to express his love.
The Hotel has food and beverage outlets located
in different floors. The Kamayo Cafe, which serves a buffer of delectable
international cuisines at the ground floor. The Pasag Grill, which offers
seafood and grilled fares at the third floor. The Summit Bar at the eight
floor.
It has 200
guestrooms well designed with modern amenities. Every room has IDD and NDD
telephones with voicemail, Cable TV, Minibar, hair dryer, electronic bedside
control panel and door lock system, outdoor swimming pool and jacuzzi, spa and
gym, 16 hour business center with private conference room, open and basement
parking, 16 hour laundry retail shop, Safety deposit boxes, 220-volt 60 cycle
electricity.
I visited Royal Mandaya Hotel together with my
classmates. As we went inside, I was amazed by their beautiful lobby. We also
tried to use the elevator. We went to different floors to check on every
hallway. Then later on, I found out that their elevators has a limitation which
it only can carry eight person per elevator.Even we all have different weights
as long as we are eight on the elevator already, it will now then alarm. So I
thought maybe they can upgrade their elevators especially that a lot of people
went there for conferences.
The hotel is generally wonderful and
fascinating. Anyone who will know about the Royal Mandaya Hotel, I know they
would like to book a room immediately, especially tourists or visitors. One way
of booking is online, but online booking is not so suitable on mobile because
it needs a browser and it consumes much ram. The best and efficient way is by a
mobile application booking. It consumes low ram and rarely gets to hang. It
will show the available rooms on the hotel. In this application, you need to
input needed information to ensure you can pay the room, such as bank account,
credit card & etc. then you got your own reserve room after arrival
