A homely welcome at Mabuhay Manor

Returning Filipinos or balikbayans and foreigners married to locals who have gotten used to Filipino hospitality always go back to Mabuhay Manor in Pasay City to experience a "homey" welcome.

Guests just can’t forget how the staff of Mabuhay Manor–from the doorman, valet, housekeeping crew and restaurant servers– would keep on asking them how they find their stay at Manor and if there is anything else they need to make their stay more pleasurable and meaningful.

Even the welcome drinks that await arriving guests are truly Filipino concoctions. At the lobby, too, are board games – sungka, chess and mind puzzles that would immediately provide relief to the balikbayans and their visitors.

The complimentary buffet breakfasts are truly a Filipino treat – featuring cuisine they have long missed from their prolonged stay abroad.

"Truly Mabuhay Manor has succeeded in winning over the hearts and minds of the balikbayans and will continue to do so until the hotel becomes a by-word among Filipino workers and expats abroad," said Claudine Bernacer, guest services officer, who is among the first to greet guests at the hotel.

Bernacer said oftentimes, some guests would even put their feet on top of the coffee table at the lobby, "an indication that at Mabuhay they truly feel at home."

Actually, Mabuhay Manor has had very little exposure in local and foreign media but satisfied guests refer the hotel to their friends and relatives based abroad. Even the airport taxis and a team of Legendary Tours (the tour group arm of Legend Hotels International) greet guests at the NAIA and offer them Mabuhay Manor (20 minutes away) or Kabayan in Pasay or Cubao (35 to 40 minutes away) to the balikbayans. The cabbies and Legendary Tour promote Mabuhay as a "cheaper but more family-friendly alternative to the five-star hotels along the airport, Makati and Roxas Blvd. strips," Bernacer said.

"We market our hotel as a family hotel to our returning compatriots," she said.

Mabuhay’s guests are principally balikbayans, foreign individual travelers and OFWs, Bernacer said.

Most balikbayans, she said, look for a place that they can be at home with their immediate families upon arriving in the country. They usually come with several loads of baggages, which all our spacious rooms can easily contain without requiring additional storage spaces elsewhere, she added.

And since the rates are more affordable to the balikbayans – than the five-star hotels and comparable to the sleazy motels along the airport strip–Mabuhay Manor becomes a very decent option that they readily grab, she said.

Mabuhay Manor is part of the Legends International Hotel group of Wyden King, whose family also owns the Legends Palawan Hotel, the Legend Villas in Mandaluyong, Kabayan Hotel in Pasay City and Cubao and several other smaller (but definitely more profitable) inns and motels in Metro Manila.

Legend Hotel in Palawan and Legend Villas in Mandaluyong cater to the corporate and higher end tourist markets but Kabayan and Mabuhay Manor are definitely cut out for the returning OFWs and expats who make these hotels their first stop upon arriving and their last stop before departing for their foreign posts.