For the CEO in each of us

First-time guests will marvel at how schizophrenic the Corporate Executive Orient Suites looks – schizophrenic in a good sense, that is. The beige facade seems serious, solemn and, er, too corporate. Inside, though, is a different story altogether. As travelers enter the CEO Suites located at Jupiter street in Makati, they will find themselves transported to a hotel akin to those quaint and picturesque ones in Venice or Barcelona – particularly the hotels near the Las Ramblas Square, along those meandering Spanish side streets teeming with artists, acrobatic gypsies and other interesting individuals. Boutique hotels, they are called. If huge hotels can be considered too sterile and monotonous, boutique hotels like the CEO Suites are quaint and picturesque, and with quirky decors, unique ambience and intimate atmosphere as well.

"Our hotel was designed for business travelers," says Josefina Formoso-Quimson, chief operating officer of CEO Suites. "We wanted to come up with a hotel that is cozy, homey and with a personalized ambience. Other hotels may have more space, but ours offers more privacy."

The boutique environment is known for anticipating hotel guests’ needs and desires, rather than merely responding to them, not to mention having really interesting themes. One boutique hotel in New York has a library theme; another is modeled after Star Trek’s USS Enterprise. The CEO Suites, which was built four years ago, is not unlike an art gallery. The padded and mirrored hallways are punctuated by arresting artworks – from abstracts to figurative paintings, from surreal meditations to impressionist squiggles. The suites are named after famous painters: the Manansala Suite, Juan Luna Suite, Pablo Picasso Suite, etc. There is a slew of visual candy in there. Add to this the fact that CEO Suites is ingeniously designed. Not at all surprising since its owner is an interior decorator.

"Angelita Bondoc-Flores, the owner, has been in the business for over 40 years," Quimson shares. "But her dream has always been to put up a small hotel where she could show her talent in interior design. And she’s an art lover as well; she put up the paintings so that tourists will be able to encounter Filipino art."

The owner has been known to putter around the hotel, arranging tablecloths and rugs, mulling over every detail. "When Mrs. Flores gets bored," says CEO Suites general manager Adonis Flores, "she changes the overall look, the theme of the rooms. For her, a personalized touch is very important. And the changes happen more than quarterly since she gets bored easily."

The hotel is far from being lackluster, what with its compact yet opulent rooms (26 guestrooms and four suites, each equipped with a microwave oven, a kitchenette with utensils, a dinette and a VCR player, aside from the usual amenities), eye-catching (never kitschy) decors, meet-me rooms (for convenient get-togethers); and a wellspring of entertainment. The CEO Suites also has the Casablanca Theater, which lets guests watch celluloid classics (from brawny Terminator to feel-good Driving Miss Daisy) in a plush lounge complete with a huge TV screen and Sensurround speakers. And the roofdeck has a swimming pool and social area, an excellent venue for banquets, debuts and such. Of course, there are function rooms, a coffee shop and a business center. In the case of the CEO Suites, everything is in its right place, as art-rocker Thom Yorke of Radiohead once sang.

But there is no resting on proverbial laurels for the boutique hotel.

"We are planning to relaunch our coffee shop, and we’re thinking of calling it the Barstowe Café," says Quimson. "We want to turn it into a coffee and dessert establishment. We are also going to hold parties once a month at the roofdeck. Just subdued parties and not noisy ones, mind you, since our aim has always been to provide a cozy and homey place for business travelers. They have simple needs, and if we’re able to satisfy them, then we consider ourselves truly successful."