Family Bonding Time at Dusit Thani Manila: A Truly Memorable Staycation

Wazzup Pilipinas!

One of life's simplest pleasures is spending quality time with the ones we love. There are a lot of amazing things that can happen when the family has opportunities to do meaningful things together. Family bonding time strengthens the relationship even further to a level that each and every family member will cherish forever. As they say, "The family that _________ (fill in the blank with anything you want) together, stays together."

It is totally heart-warming when you can easily connect with your kids who appreciate the value of close family ties. I believe that children that do not have a sense of family values are more likely to be influenced by friends that do not necessarily have their best interests at heart. It will always be up to the parents to model expected behaviors inside the family circle and with others in the community, of which the children will eventually emulate. To spend a more intimate weekend with the kids would be the best way to show that spending time with them was truly something special and memorable.

This is the reason why I quickly grabbed the opportunity to bond with the kids after I got an invitation to spend the weekend at the luxurious Dusit Thani Manila. My wife and I were very grateful that we will be able to get the chance to take the time off from our busy schedules, and most of all, spend quality time with our children.

The majestic golden view of the Dusit Thani Manila hotel

Our family staycation starts with our children admiring the golden lobby of the hotel. The children were at awe with the stunning ambience highlighted by the elegant huge golden posts prominent upon entering the hotel. You can see the posts' reflections on the floor offering a majestic view of the lobby.

The taxi dropped us off at the side entrance near EDSA so we didn't get the chance to see the front driveway. When we got to the hotel at around 1:30 pm, we decided to sit down for awhile somewhere near the bar located at the main lobby. We knew that the check-in time was at 2 pm so we still have time to relax. Like most Filipinos who are very fond of taking photos, we took some to immortalize the day.

I actually have a lot of photos I wish to share with my readers so I'm making our family staycation story a series of blog posts. Meaning, this will be just the first part of our overnight stay at Dusit Thani Manila. The family staycation was just an overnight but we did a lot of activities within those few hours of stay at the hotel. Dining at three of its restaurants like dining at the Benjarong Royal Thai Cuisine Restaurant for dinner, buffet breakfast at Basix Restaurant, and lunch at the Umu Japanese Restaurant. Trust that it was a very special and memorable family staycation that we would be happy to do it all over again soon.

The front desk of the hotel was also shimmering in gold hues

  
What surprised us was when they installed a portable red-carpeted ladder which later we learned was intended for our youngest son. They said they want our child to experience checking in by himself and sort of give him the special VIP treatment.

A red-carpeted ladder designed for the kids

Miss Melanie welcomes my son at the front desk

Though I think my 10-year old son was too big to use the ladder. But he still used it just for the fun of it.

My son signing the check-in form

He was asked to sign the form, and with very little hesitation, he did. Knowing my son, I can feel that he liked to have been treated that way.

My son's signature on the check-in form

You can see a glimpse of his signature on the form. He is only a grade five student but he's even more mature and less shy compared to his older brother.

Miss Melanie giving my son the crown and elephant stuff toy

However, when he learned that there was going to be a crown, a stuffed toy and some candies for him, he did feel a little awkward. Unlike other kids of his age, he feels he is too old for such pampering.

You can see how awkward he felt at first but he is just like that. You'll see later how he loved to wear that crown again

The front desk staff volunteered to take a photo of him from the front desk. I didn't realize he was actually taking a photo of all of us so I was looking at my son instead of the camera. But I guess my two other kids knew they were taking a photo of all of us since they were all looking at the camera.

My youngest son, Hansel Kyro, very pleased with his goodies

My youngest son actually enjoyed the experience. I can sense he felt really special that day because he wore that crown even inside our hotel room.

My wife and three kids having complimentary welcome drinks

The hotel also offers complimentary welcome drinks for everyone upon checking in. We all chose to have chilled orange and mango juice drinks to refresh us.

Mix of chilled orange and mango juices

A view at the lobby were we had the complimentary welcome drinks

Doing wacky poses before going to our room

Before entering our room located at the 12th floor, we decided to have some fun along the hallway going to our hotel room. You can see that my kids were game doing wacky poses. There are more photos like this coming soon.

Our hotel room. They have both smoking rooms and non-smoking rooms

What was very convenient about Dusit Thani Manila hotel was that it was very accessible even by MRT so if I needed to immediately go anywhere around the vicinity along EDSA, I can quickly go to the Ayala MRT station which was just across the hotel. It was also at the heart of the Makati Commercial and Business district so you can go shopping, watch a movie, watch a theater play at Onstage just at the Greenbelt 1 Cinema, dine at your favorite restaurants scattered all around the area, plus a lot more other activities conveniently accessible.

Before entering our room, I will hold the story for the moment as there's a lot more wonderful photos to share. I really do not want to make the story such a long one so the rest of my story soon on my next blog posts.

Read more about our family staycation as I promise you it was a lot of fun for all of us, and will surely be an interesting read for you guys too.