Home is Where the Music is

What do you do when you have 130 of the world’s best musicians as house guests?

"No problem," smiles Richard W. Riley, general manager of the Makati Shangri-La Hotel, which will be "home" to the musicians of the world-acclaimed New York Philhar-monic Orchestra when they hit town later this week.

Riley’s isn’t an empty boast, for in his 22 years in the hotel industry, he has taken care of some of the richest and "famous-est" in the world.

He delivered hamburgers to Pres. George Bush Sr. in China. He chatted with Michael Jackson in the service hallway of a hotel in Australia. He kept Elton John’s fridge in a Perth hotel well stocked with the world’s most expensive champagnes. He spent ten days on an island with the world’s greatest tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who performed in a concert at an exclusive tropical island resort hotel in Pangkor Laut, Malaysia.

So entertaining bigwigs, one may say, is not a particularly daunting challenge for Riley. But it’s not easy as pie, Riley clarifies. But he is confident; after all, he has been on top of some of the world’s best hotels.

Aside from the members of the orchestra, the hotel will also play host to 20-year-old Lang-Lang, the piano world’s newest superstar who is the featured soloist of the New York Philharmonic’s 2002 Citigroup Asian tour.

This is the second time the New York Philharmonic will be staying at the Makati Shangri-La. Their first visit was in 1998 when they performed for the first time in Manila.

"If the New York Philharmonic is going to be anywhere in the Philippines, it should be here at the Makati Shangri-La," says Riley.

So what do you do when you have 130 guests in your house? The room part, says Riley, is the easy part. "Since we’ve done the renovation, everyday, I’m being congratulated on the rooms. The rooms, I’m sure, will be as good or even better than any room they will have stayed in on this whole tour."

Makati Shangri-La recently unveiled 663 of its newly renovated rooms and yes, each member of the orchestra gets his/her own room. The new rooms have a streamlined post-modern feel. Features include fabrics in muted earth colors and Starcke-inspired accessories like chrome-stemmed light fixtures. An interesting design signature common in all renovated rooms is the dome ceiling that houses the area’s central light source. Of course, the rooms are equipped with all the modern conveniences required by today’s discriminating travelers such as broadband internet access, computer and fax machines and hands-free multi-line features.

Will Lang Lang have a piano in his room? That is a question, says Riley, he has considered. The hotel has two baby grand Steinways and, of course, the celebrated pianist is welcome to use them should he need or want to.

"Our role is to really just make sure they’re comfortable," explains the amiable general manager. "We have to make sure the food is good. They’re from New York so they know what the latest trends are. But we have new chefs and a new F & B director, so we are pretty trendy at the moment."

Other special preparations for the Philharmonic’s stay include a special brunch featuring a lot of Filipino dishes which, Riley says, should give them a sense of where they are. Also, a special check-in will be arranged for the group. "We want to get them into their rooms as quickly as possible. We will be doing a separate check-in for all of them. We will ‘in-room check’ a lot of them so that things will be more efficient. We will also be involved in their movement, making sure they get to where they need to go. We can’t have one bassoon getting left behind! In the end, we just have to make sure they’re happy and well-fed. Obviously, the better they feel about staying here with us, the more inspired they may be to play even better for the people of the Philippines."

More than the red carpet, it will be the warmth and comforts of home that the Makati Shangri-La will be rolling out for one of the world’s most distinguished orchestras. "We’re fortunate to have such talent come our way," says Riley, adding modestly, "We are just a hotel." – JVM Francisco