A recipient of the Five-Star Award by Forbes Travel Guide for three years straight, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila has placed not only itself but the Philippine hospitality industry at par with the best hotels around the world
On its fifth anniversary, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila has secured, for the third time, the Five-Star Award by Forbes Travel Guide—a recognition of the hotel’s impeccable service and outstanding facilities. This success is grounded on the collective effort of the staff and management, headed by veteran hotelier Frank Reichenbach, who has been in the industry for more than 40 years.
Reichenbach, who won the General Manager of the Year in the 2016 The Hotelier Awards, credits Marco Polo Ortigas Manila’s third win to the consistent training and dedication of the associates. The hotel follows Forbes Travel Guide’s standards to ensure the highest quality of service.
“We have our hotel managers on duty every day from 6am-11pm. They have a Forbes Travel Guide-inspired checklist in their hands. They monitor so we get results,” Reichenbach says. “Every day, we do an internal review of our processes and service. Our training is continuous, and ever since, it has become a part of our routine.”
For winning the prestigious title three times in a row, there must be pressure for Marco Polo Ortigas Manila to keep getting the award. However, Reichenbach sees this pressure as a challenge to improve, something that can be advantageous. “Forbes Travel Guide does its own reviews. The reviewers come incognito and they pay like regular customers would for the service,” Reichenbach admits. “We prepare because we don’t know when they will inspect. We will only know the results after a year.”
According to Reichenbach, Forbes Travel Guide measures over 800 standards that cover the hotel’s rooms, restaurants, and security, and each year, the bar is raised higher. “It’s not something that you can rate from one to 10,” Reichenbach says. He then enumerates Forbes Travel Guide’s sample questions that are centred on the customer’s experience. “They ask, ‘How did you feel on your arrival?’ ‘How did you feel when you checked in?’”