Diamond's a businessman's best friend

MANILA, Philippines - But of course, not a few businessmen — or busy executives — like to mix business with pleasure. And so, when they travel, they’d most probably pick a hotel that works for them while letting them enjoy life at the top. One place that comes very close to that description is the Diamond Hotel’s executive floor or the 24-carat Diamond Club. You can say Diamond’s a businessman’s best friend.

Welcome to the Diamond Club! Located on the 24th, 25th, and 26th floors of this charming hotel by the bay, Diamond Club caters to the busy lifestyle of business people. Making it its business to please — make that pamper — guests, the hotel offers a package of perks for those staying at the Diamond Club. Picture 54 well-appointed rooms and suites, including two Presidential Suites that boast a most phantasmagoric view of the metropolis, the Manila Bay, and its legendary sunset. Yes, you can have personalized concierge services from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call the concierge (please do) your personal assistant. You can request anything you like — for instance, booking your airline tickets, unpacking/packing your luggage (it’s like having your own butler), booking tickets to the theater or movies, making restaurant reservations, taking a tour somewhere. It’s all there. You just have to talk to one person.

There’s one-way airport transfer, too. Your room doesn’t only have a view (lots of it), it also has an i-POD dock, a 40-inch LCD TV, Lanvin bath and body collection to keep you bubbly, unlimited broadband access, exclusive access to Club floors. And not to forget, there’s the Diamond Club Lounge ready to dazzle guests.

Just so business guests don’t have to wait or line up — well, time is money — they can have an express check-in and checkout at the Diamond Club Lounge. A late checkout (4 p.m. instead of 12 noon) can be requested.

To further serve its business guests, the Club Lounge features the following services: fax machine upon request, free of charge; free local phone calls; complimentary use of the Diamond Club conference room for two hours; workstation with Internet access at the Club Lounge; unlimited broadband access in the rooms; free basic office supplies (upon request); complimentary pressing of one suit or dress per day; international and local publications in the rooms and Diamond Club Lounge.

Club guests really don’t have to go out of the hotel, do they? They can kick up their heels, relax frazzled corporate muscles, and entertain themselves as the Club Lounge makes available in the comfort of one’s room a Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS Lite, Sony PlayStation 3, OSIM iCare, OSIM uSqueeze, OSIM uPapa, or Hewlett-Packard Compaq laptop. The first two hours’ use is complimentary.

Located at the 25th floor, the Club Lounge is exclusive to Diamond Club guests. A sparkling new, bigger and better Diamond Club Lounge was launched a few weeks ago — more reasons to love this lounge and the lounge life.

“We wanted to give a different look to the lounge,” says Diamond Hotel general manager Vanessa Ledesma-Suatengco. “Before, the furniture was heavy and huge. Designed by Kristine Domingo Interior Design Consultancy, the new Club Lounge is lighter and a bit modern. Colors are brighter — in between green and purple and some neutral colors.”

“The transformation is extreme,” says Diamond Hotel director of sales and marketing Sunshine Robles with a smile as bright as sunshine.

“The Lounge being as old as the hotel (16 years), we thought it was about time we gave it a makeover,” Vanessa asserts. “We want to highlight to our valued clients that there’s such a thing as an executive lounge where they can have more value for the money that they pay the hotel as it comes with the package.”

“Before, it was only two or three bay windows; we knocked down one room to make it bigger,” describes the twenty-something dynamo Cecile Ang, president of Diamond Hotel. “We now have a smoking area, too, for those who just can’t stop smoking.”

“The new lounge measures about 240 square meters,” Vanessa tells us. “Every bay window is 40 sqm.”

What else is cooking at the Club Lounge?

“Yes, now we have a big kitchen at the Lounge,” Cecile shares the hot news. “The old Club Lounge didn’t have a provision for a kitchen. Before, it was so hard to cook or do something fresh if the guest wanted something a la minute. Now, guests can order a la minute as the Lounge already has a big kitchen that can probably cook anything they want.”

Teasing our taste buds further, Cecile adds, “Even the buffet area has been expanded. And we have a new executive chef — Nickolai Stoyanov who hails from Russia — who’s redoing the menus of all the outlets, except for Yurakuen where we have Japanese Chef Junichi Sekiyama.”

Note: Worry not, because Chef Nick is not touching — he wouldn’t dare — Diamond’s hottest-selling giant ube ensaymada, which, not a few swear, is the best ensaymada in town. A recipe of the hotel’s former pastry chef Joseph Dayrit, some 500 to 1,000 ensaymadas fly off the shelves of Diamond Hotel’s pastry shop every day.

“The Club Lounge serves breakfast from 6 to 10 a.m., coffee, tea, snacks from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and there’s a cocktail buffet in the evening where guests can have wine, liquor, drinks,” says Vanessa.

“So there’s something for guests practically the whole day, with the heavy bar chow offering hot items,” says Sunshine.

After Edgardo Berin, Diamond Hotel business development manager-corporate sales toured us around the suites on the Diamond Club and gave us a taste of the suite life, we proceeded to the unveiling of the new Club Lounge and sampled the cocktail buffet menu that awaits guests checking in at the Diamond Club. There was so much to fill our bellies and delight our food-loving hearts. First, the welcome canapés served at the Presidential Suite — tuna poke with avocado puree, chilled asparagus cream with roasted garlic sabayon and prosciutto crisp. Then we warmly welcomed the cold canapés at the Diamond Club Lounge — Norwegian smoked salmon roulade with dill cream, cheese and candied lemon zest; grilled shrimp with tropical fruit salsa; foie gras torchon with blueberry compote; black Angus beef carpaccio with chestnut and grilled pear. We just couldn’t stop filling up our little plates with these little treats to satisfy our big appetites.

Hai, there was a Japanese station, too, with quite a spread of ebi, tamago and tekka maki sushi and premium sashimi. Guests couldn’t help smothering their sushis and sashimis with wasabi, pickled ginger, and soy sauce.

The hot items were so hot they disappeared from the table as soon as they were laid down. We kept going back for the Philippine pork barbecue; pan roasted Chilean sea bass with tarragon cream, potatoes, and orange sauce; broiled shallot and leek stuffed oysters; braised beef short ribs and wild mushroom polenta; grilled shrimp and scallop brochette with fresh cilantro and chili.

All this the guests happily downed with drinks from Moet Hennessy who also provided the Moet pyramid glasses and buckets for the cocktails.

For a truly sweet ending to a most memorable evening, we indulged our sweet tooth with the toothsome array of desserts — mini rum baba aux fruit, strawberry dipped in chocolate, coconut crème brulee, mini chocolate moist cake, fruit financier, mini fruit tartlets, passion fruit panna cotta with blueberry compote, raspberry tiramisu, double dark chocolate mousse with rum, strawberry bavaroise with mango salsa, and freshly carved seasonal fruits.

Business with pleasure? This gem of a hotel can only say, “Be our guest!”