Wazzup Pilipinas!
The best bonus of the night after a sumptuous buffet dinner at Seasons restaurant of the Waterfront Pavilion Hotel was the overnight staycation where we were given two rooms: one for my wife and me, and another one for the kids.
The Waterfront Pavilion Hotel is quite familiar to me since I used to work at the Philamlife building just opposite it along the United Nations avenue. Formerly a Training Officer for Philamlife, I often pass by the hotel every time I report for work but I've never been inside it.
Now, I get to see the insides of the hotel for the very first time. They say a lot of changes has probably happened already after all those years since it was way back several years ago.
After an invitation to try out the new Italian buffet dinner they dubbed as "Friday Night, a Taste of Tuscany Dinner Buffet" held on October 23, 2015, we get to spend the night at the hotel itself. This was an amazing treat as this was the first time there was an overnight stay after a buffet review.
After checking in, the hotel staff escorted us on our way up to the 21st floor. It was called the Ambassadors Club floor where they had a lounge where they took us for the processing of our room registration. Now that is a lot more convenient instead of having us do it down at the reception area.
The nice lady calling herself Alex graciously assisted us when we requested to do the paperworks later because we wanted to catch up with the dinner buffet. Later I found out that her schedule was from 7 am to 3 in the afternoon. It was already 8:30 pm so it only means she's already on extended hours.
The nice lady calling herself Alex graciously assisted us when we requested to do the paperworks later because we wanted to catch up with the dinner buffet. Later I found out that her schedule was from 7 am to 3 in the afternoon. It was already 8:30 pm so it only means she's already on extended hours.
Greeting us at our rooms were complimentary bowls of assorted fruits, and plates of ensaymada pastries. Again this is another great way to make us feel welcome by providing treats that we will surely adore. Since we had two rooms, we were given two bowls of each.
My kids almost finished one bowl within the entire evening while watching their favorite anime shows on the large LED TV with cable TV connection.
There was also a personal butler assigned to us. They gave us a card indicating his local number that we can ring anytime we have special needs. Now that's service for VIPs.
The bedrooms were spacious enough for all of us. It had a queen size bed where all five of us can comfortably sleep in. But the hotel management preferred our comfort as a priority so they gave us two rooms instead. So my wife and I had the opportunity to sleep separately from the kids. Normally we are given connecting rooms every staycation but since all their connecting rooms were all occupied, we were just given the rooms next to each other.
My kids were all in favor of sleeping separately at their own room. My eldest son was enjoying the speedy Wi-Fi connection at the hotel, while my daughter was watching anime all night.
The large size bed was truly a heavenly place to sleep in. Everyone slept like we were comfortably in our own beds back at home.
My wife and I hardly noticed the years and are quite surprised how they've all grown up so fast. Time flies so fast. It felt like just yesterday when they were still all wanted to sleep on our beds. Now, they're quickly turning into adults and are even taller than us.
The children slept so soundly that we had difficulty waking them up the following morning. We had to request for a second card key to the room so we could open the door. Though they double-locked the door so we couldn't open it. It was a good thing that after a few minutes of calling, one of them finally awaken.
It's off to the Rizal Park with the Nyfti foldable bike for some photo ops. It's an opportunity to show off the bike as well as the Amihan Outdoors Hydration Pak backpacks. I'm promoting several products so the time and place were quite appropriate. Rizal Park was just a few steps away from the Waterfront Pavilion Hotel, and I really wanted to have the photo shoot at the site where the monument of Jose Rizal, our national hero was situated so it was a great coincidence we got invited there.
Biking every morning is a good habit that leads to better health. The Nyfti bike's foldable features allow you to easily carry it around for convenience and entry to any establishment. A perfect match to the bike is the Amihan Outdoors Hydration Paks are backpacks that allows you to bring water inside the bag up to 2 liters. The backpacks have hoses coming out from the bag and leading up front which you can sip for handless drinking.
Since check out time was still at 12 noon, we dedicated early morning to bike around Rizal Park. I brought with us a Nyfti, a Filipino brand of foldable bicycle, and another Filipino brand, the Amihan Outdoors Hydration pak backpacks, which were specifically designed for bikers. I was also wearing the cool PhilBike Expo 2015 shirt from Team Manila. We are also dubbed as the Pambansang Blog ng Pilipinas so everything was quite appropriate with each other. Since all brands are proudly Philippine made, it was a great opportunity for photo shoot with the Rizal monument as background.
Breakfast was again another festive moment as another buffet featuring splendid breakfast choices where available for our consumption. Similarly, we couldn't manage to taste everything on display so we opted to pick those that we rarely eat back at home. Still, I preferred to try also the all-time favorites just to compare how good they are.
We especially loved the pastries like the Cinnamon Rolls, Blueberry and Choco Danish. The Dimsums like the Ube Siopao and Meatballs were superb. My kids loved the Eggs Benedict so much. I would always have the omelette where I get to choose which ingredients I want for the filling. My kids say the Boneless Bangus, and Corned Beef where great with rice. There was my favorite "taho" created from soya beans, and the crepes with peaches topped with choco syrup.
My kids also experimented on drinking a mixture of orange and calamansi juices. The combined juices tasted fabulous.
I had to leave the hotel for a while so I could anchor our Vigattin Radio show at Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 990 AM. Our show is every Saturday from 10 to 11 am at the radio station at the 2nd floor of the Media Resource Plaza building in Pasong Tamo, Makati. Thus, I travelled from Manila to Makati where my guests were already there when I arrived.
When I came back to the hotel after the radio show, we requested for a late checkout so we could still visit the 5th floor where the pool and gym were located. Some of us dipped on the pool for a few minutes, while the rest were trying out the gym equipment.
We went back up to rest while others slept for a while before finally going back home at around 2 pm. The trip back home was a bit tiring but all of us had smiles on our faces for another memorable hotel overnight experience.
Breakfast was again another festive moment as another buffet featuring splendid breakfast choices where available for our consumption. Similarly, we couldn't manage to taste everything on display so we opted to pick those that we rarely eat back at home. Still, I preferred to try also the all-time favorites just to compare how good they are.
We especially loved the pastries like the Cinnamon Rolls, Blueberry and Choco Danish. The Dimsums like the Ube Siopao and Meatballs were superb. My kids loved the Eggs Benedict so much. I would always have the omelette where I get to choose which ingredients I want for the filling. My kids say the Boneless Bangus, and Corned Beef where great with rice. There was my favorite "taho" created from soya beans, and the crepes with peaches topped with choco syrup.
My kids also experimented on drinking a mixture of orange and calamansi juices. The combined juices tasted fabulous.
I had to leave the hotel for a while so I could anchor our Vigattin Radio show at Radyo Inquirer DZIQ 990 AM. Our show is every Saturday from 10 to 11 am at the radio station at the 2nd floor of the Media Resource Plaza building in Pasong Tamo, Makati. Thus, I travelled from Manila to Makati where my guests were already there when I arrived.
When I came back to the hotel after the radio show, we requested for a late checkout so we could still visit the 5th floor where the pool and gym were located. Some of us dipped on the pool for a few minutes, while the rest were trying out the gym equipment.
We went back up to rest while others slept for a while before finally going back home at around 2 pm. The trip back home was a bit tiring but all of us had smiles on our faces for another memorable hotel overnight experience.
By the way, most of the photos and videos used in this article were taken using the Alcatel One Touch Flash 2 - the best smartphone as of now for mobile photography. It's 13 megapixel rear camera is an amazing feature of the phone putting "mobigraphy" above a notch compared to the rest out there.
Thank you very much to the Marketing peeps for the invitation to visit the Waterfront Pavilion Hotel. It was another great staycation for the entire family. We hope we could visit again soon.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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