Giving Manila Hotel a personal touch

MANILA, Philippines - At the entrance of the Mabuhay Palace during the holildays, a Christmas tree greeted diners with Filipino-themed ornaments and the playful touch of a Santa climbing up a bamboo ladder at its base. Festive arrangements adorned the tables, lending even more cheer to the holiday layout of the restaurant.

These decorations that many would assume was the work of a professional were actually created by one of Manila Hotel’s best kept talents, a young waiter named Racky “Arvie” Deasis.

Relatively new to the hotel, 20-year-old Deasis started work on May 11, 2011 as a banquet waiter. Three months later, Mabuhay Palace’s executive sous chef Joie Candelaria noticed his magic touch when it came to decorations and arrangements. She gave Deasis his big break and took him under her wing.

“It’s my first job,” says Deasis, adding that it is an honor to be working in such a historic hotel.

Graduating with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management in 2010 from Iloilo State College of Fisheries, Deasis was both lucky and talented enough to stand out and be chosen for a position on the team of the Manila Hotel.

Though being away from his family, especially during the holiday season, is difficult at times, Deasis says he has always been an independent person and he truly enjoys his work.

While he still is part of the service crew, Deasis now does decorations and centerpieces for the hotel’s buffet and restaurants. Creating these decorations, he says, has been a hobby since he was a child, which he further honed in college when he became part of a catering service under the dean.

As a decorator for the Manila Hotel, Deasis had the unique challenge of recycling and repurposing old materials from the hotel’s past Christmas displays. The Christmas tree that he fashioned, in fact, is actually a long garland.

The creative young man says that his ideas are inspired by the raw materials that are given to him and he is challenged to come up with something entirely new out of used materials and old decorations that otherwise would be thrown away.

If given the chance, though, Deasis loves working with fresh and vibrant flowers.

Enjoying his stint in Manila and thankful that Chef Joy has discovered him, Deasis says that he is very happy working at the Manila Hotel.

In the future, he plans to strive harder to earn a higher position on the staff and ultimately to become a successful hotelier.

Meanwhile, he continues creating decorations for the hotel, giving the surroundings beauty and elegance, in the process giving the Manila Hotel’s ambiance a truly personal touch.