Regional bank consultant Anderson Hill has visited Manila nearly every year since 2002. Each trip usually lasts several weeks, during which he stays in his favorite apartment. "In my first visit I was introduced to Discovery Suites by my organization." Mr. Anderson says in a letter to the management. "From that  day till today I have never tried any other hotel in Manila."

Located in the heart of the Ortigas Business District, Discovery Suites houses 220 serviced apartments aimed squarely at long-stay guests. Like Mr. Hill, many of them work for foreign companies or international organizations and are on extended stints in the country, while a few are local executives and leisure travelers. 

Discovery Suites which opened in February 2000, became an appealing alternative to condominiums, which require additional maintenance and a lease term longer than the average visit, and hotels, which are often too expensive for weeks-long stay.

"We have a great location, and a great market to tap," says Bobby Horrigan, vice-president for hotel operations of HSAI-Raintree Hospitality Management and general manager of Discovery Suites. the hotel sits within walking distance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), pharmaceutical companies, shopping malls as well as a number of business process outsourcing firms. 

The brainchild of the Discovery Leisure Company President Ruben Tiu  and HSAI-Raintree President Annabella Wisniewski, Discovery Suites, which marks its tenth anniversary this year, carved a niche for itself by furnishing apartments with the services a of a five-star hotel. the setting is meant to stimulate a deluxe residence: accommodations are fully-furnished, come with living, dining and kitchen areas, and and are spacious enough for guests to host to business meetings in their rooms.

Mr. Tiu had predicted that businesses would sprout across the Ortigas business district following the establishment of the ADB, and it would only be a matter of time until these companies sought accommodations for themselves and their clients. 

Ms. Wisniewski, on the other hand, once worked in Singapore as consultant for other hotel chains, and through the course of her own extended visits found the hotel rooms she stayed in lacking. "We thought we could have been more comfortable if we had spacious apartment accommodations, but with five-star hotel services," she said. 

Group Director of sales and marketing, Carmela H. Bocanegra says Discovery Suites has the largest market share among other serviced apartments in the metro. The rooms, which range from one, two, and three-bedroom suites to the well-appointed Admiral Suites, do not scrimp on creature comforts; bathrobes, broadband internet access, flat screen televisions and iPod docks all come included. The kitchens are stocked with china, silverware, refrigerators, microwave oven, and for the three-bedroom suites, electric ovens. Guests have 24-hour access to butler and concierge services, in-room dining, and a clinic for medical emergencies.

Like any deluxe hotel, Discovery Suites has a swimming pool and Jacuzzi, a fitness club, a wellness spa, a business center and function rooms. Last year, the hotel installed a romp area on the fifth floor, filled it with toys, kid-friendly movies, and scheduled activities such as kids' cooking and arts and crafts to keep young guests preoccupied.     

At your service

Just how far the hotel takes personalized service to heart is seen in the way the staff welcome arriving guests: with a smile and a hand on their hearts. Charmagne Adonis, group director of human resources, says, "It's not a greeting like in [fastfood restaurants] - "thank you sir, ma'am, or come again sir, ma'am' - it is very sincere." Every Discovery associate must know every client by name.

This special treatment stems from the hotel's service philosophy , which centers on personal interactions and familiarity with the guest's needs. "It helps a lot when the people tasked to take care of you really take the effort to know you," Mr. Hill says. 

Regular clients of Discovery Suites have come to expect a degree of care and courtesy that borders on spoiling. Mr. Horrigan claims that no two days at the hotel are the same."People have different special requests." These can range from ready-to-play video game consoles in a family suite to the coverage of the United States elections on a news channel that the hotel did not carry. "[For the latter] we reprogrammed the entire hotel because while there were several other channels available, the guest was very particular. It's a big deal - all 220 rooms - but we did it. We did it for him," says David Pardo de Ayala, corporate chef for the Discovery Group. 

These requests are not confined to the hotel's facilities. A Middle-Eastern resident once asked the chef to make her a plov, a staple dish in her country, so she could celebrate the end of Ramadan with her companions.

Chef David who had never heard of the dish, I had to do a bit of online searching for its recipe. "Although I'm sure it was not an authentic plov made by some chef in her country, she was so grateful," he recalls. "I guess, I assume, nowhere else would she have gotten that."

Chef David, who claims that the kitchen can whip up any dish for a guest if given enough time to gather all ingredients, takes pride in the hotel's dining principles. "For the quality of food you get in this restaurant, any other hotel would easily charge you 25% more," he says. "For us, the happy memories of the guest include the guest's check."

Filipino at heart

The Discovery Group is Filipino-owned and managed, much to their clients' surprise. "It's something to be proud of," Ms. Bocanegra says, that people think the hotel is at par with international chains.

"I think the Philippines has evolved in the last decade to provide the best service all around the world, Filipino hospitality for me is ever better than world-class," says Mr. Horrigan, a Filipino-American, who added that Filipinos are warm where others are robotic, an attitude which in the past has left not a few guests confused. "Our number one complaint is that the staff are always smiling." 

But it was this brand of customer care that helped Discovery Suites bag the "Best Employers in Asia,"  award from Hewitt Associates in 2003, the only local firm to do so. The global human resources consulting firm came in person to verify the hotel's high marks. 

The hotel has made efforts to spread its generosity beyond its own staff, adopting a Pasig City public school and contributing to the World Willife Fund and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Last year, the chef prepared some 800 kilograms of chicken for 5,000 children, for Discovery Suites' December feeding program in Tondo. Included in its yearlong anniversary celebration is a tree-planting activity:in lieu of giving its corporate clients the usual Christmas gift baskets, the hotel adopted 500 trees to be planted in the La Mesa Watershed in their names. 

As a nod to the push for environmentally responsible travel, the hotel is replacing its lighting systems with compact fluorescent lights and LED technology, introducing paperless documentation, and fitting each hotel room with low-flow showerheads. 

At the anniversary dinner held earlier this month, Ms. Wisniewski attributed Discovery's reputation to its work culture. "We believe this is one vaue our guests look for," she said. "Many have experienced it and have become loyal guests of Discovery Suites." Mr. Tiu says the hotel group will carry on with further investments in staff training, new facilities and hardware in the next decade. "We will strive to maintain our leadership position."

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