Munchkin Mommy

Dondi, Abby and I were really looking forward to last weekend (Feb 4-5).  When we found out the exact date when Dondi will leave for his temporary intracompany transfer to the US (Feb 9), we agreed that we will spend our last weekend together in a hotel and our hands down choice was the Sofitel Philippine Plaza (formerly Westin Philippine Plaza).

Dondi’s officemate, Joy, is a holder of the hotel’s privelege card and gifted us with a "Member for a Day" voucher which would entitle us to a 50% discount on the hotel’s published rate for an overnight stay and 50% discount from the total food bill in all of the hotel’s restaurants.  Yipee!  We would be paying around Php 5500.00 for the stay which already includes breakfast for two.  That’s more than a thousand bucks cheaper than the hotel’s local resident rate of around Php 6700.00!

And so, at around 3pm on 04 February, Saturday, we were already at the hotel’s front desk to check ourselves in (we had confirmed reservations).  The gentleman at the counter, upon finding Dondi’s name in the computer, informed Dondi that the Duty Manager would like to speak to him.  Hmmm, what could that be about?  Is the hotel going to surprise us with a suite upgrade?  Hmmm.  While the gentleman was looking for the Duty Manager, a new set of Front Desk officers came for their shift and one of them asked if someone is already attending to Dondi.  Don said yes and in return, he asked why the Duty Manager would like to talk to him?  The lady behind the counter nonchalantly mentioned that the hotel is overbooked and guests, even the ones with confirmed reservations, can no longer be accommodated in the hotel.  They will have to be transferred to either Traders Hotel or Century Park Hotel.  I gotta give it to that girl.  She made it sound like it’s a most natural thing.   

"Whaaaaat?!"  My exact first thought.  "You gotta be shitting kidding me!"  My exact next thought, which was followed, in no particular order, by: "This couldn’t be happening!", "But we were so looking forward to this weekend!", "Should we go to the Makati Shang or the Manila Pen instead?", "How dare you ruin our plans!", etcetera, etcetera.  I was a thought bubble mess!  Finally, I blurted the words "Huwag kang papayag!" to Dondi.

Finally, JB Bautista, the Duty Manager arrived and invited Dondi to sit down at a rather comfy and cozy sitting area where cookies, coffee and tea were laid out.  From where I stood, which was a good distance from where Dondi and JB were talking, I could see Dondi nodding his head and making little gestures with his hands while he talked.  After a few minutes, Dondi called and signalled me to join them.  JB said his sorries and repeated the exact same explanation given by the lady front desk officer.  In my "not-so-friendly-mask", I told him the reason why we were there in the first place and so on and so forth.  His next words, most unexpected as they were, were music to my ears :  "I understand, Ma’am.  That’s why we’re giving you the option to stay at either the Century Park Hotel or the Traders Hotel, which is, ON US and we’ll give you a gift certificate for a FREE overnight stay with breakfast for two, which you can use anytime you wish."  The operative words:  "on us" and "free overnight stay".  "Take it! Take it!"  My exact new thought.  And so, in my most napipilitan look, I accepted, when in reality, I was giddy with excitement at the turn of events.  I could have as easily burst into song!

We chose to stay at The Century Park because we’re always at Traders every April and October during international trade fairs.  Unfortunately, all the rooms they reserved at The Century have already been taken.  And so we had no choice but to stay at Traders.  A coaster took us to our new hotel with a Japanese attendant to assist us, a concierge representative plus the driver.  We were, of course, still free to use the facilities of the Phil. Plaza and a shuttle service will be available to take us to and from the hotel anytime we wish.  A Phil. Plaza representative was stationed at Traders to make sure that the "transferred guests" can get to and from Phil. Plaza.  Oh, and we did take advantage of this privelege all right!

Tomorrow, we’ll make use of our free night, this time with a confirmed reservation by no less than JB, the Duty Manager, himself! :)  Call it divine intervention, feng shui at work, or just plain luck.  We were initially already too happy to be paying less than the local residents’ rate only to end up staying in a hotel for two nights for free!  That’s a cool Php 10,000.00 savings!  God manifested His goodness once more!