Expansions underway at Mariott Manila

MANILA, Philippines - New things are coming Marriott Manila’s way, and the hotel’s general manager Bruce Winton cannot hide his excitement.

“Marriott Manila is very excited to announce the development of the Marriott Grand Ballroom,” Winton began. “The March opening date for the Grand Ballroom is coming along very quickly. Right now, we are in the middle of its construction. When finished, it is going to be the preeminent hotel-meeting destination in the Philippines.”

The ballroom is the largest pillar-less ballroom in the country at 3,000 square meters. Winton said, “That is going to seat 2,500 to 3,500 guests for a seated banquet event. It will be able to accommodate over 4,000 people for a standing room only affair.”

An additional 28 meeting spaces of different sizes are also in the works, which can accommodate 10 to 450 persons.

“If you couple these new facilities with our existing hotel and meeting features, we have a pretty dynamic combination on our hands,” he said.

Another development currently underway is the construction of the Marriott West Wing, situated across the existing building. The West Wing, which will be the second hotel tower, will offer 228 premiere rooms.

“I can already tell you that the smallest room in this new wing is at 48 square meters. Our current deluxe rooms are 36 square meters, so imagine how big the new rooms will be. The West Wing will feature more varieties of suites,” he shared.

In addition, Marriott Manila is opening five new food and beverage outlets. Its signature Chinese restaurant, Man Ho, is deemed as “the leader in Chinese cuisine in the Manila market.” Just recently, the hotel introduced its new executive chef Law Wui Wing of Hong Kong.

“Now that he is around, expect authentic and creative regional Chinese dishes,” Winton said.

The general manager also revealed that the other new still-unnamed F&B outlets are a whiskey bar, a coffee shop, a noodle bar and a grab-and-go organic food café. He said, “Those last three outlets will be housed at the ballroom area and are expected to support the meeting facilities.”

Winton is hoping that the new ballroom and meeting spaces will attract both local and international markets, citing the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, exhibitions) segment as the largest draw. Within the local MICE market, the medical and pharmaceutical segments make up the strongest exhibition audience.

“This is Marriott Manila’s chance to reach the regional and international markets. We are leaving no stone unturned in making the grand ballroom known. That is why we created a position called director for Convention Sales to drive new business for us with the main focus on the domestic and international MICE markets,” he said.

“With these new developments, Marriott Manila is looking to be even more successful in the two areas it is known for: consistency and quality,” Winton concluded.