THREE Davao hoteliers made it to the shortlist for the Hotelier Awards Asia 2018 slated on May 23 at the Sofitel Singapore City Centre.
Making the cut of finalists are Dottie Wurger-Cronin for the General Manager of the Year, Francis R. Ledesma for the Owner’s Representative of the Year, and Jeffrey Adlawan for the Engineering Hotelier of the Year.
All three are from Marco Polo Hotel Davao, the only five-star hotel in Davao City.
Cronin, in a roundtable discussion with reporters on Friday, April 20 said having Davao-based hoteliers in the list is already an achievement for the hotel and the city.
“We are bringing the hotel and the city to the international arena, I hope it can be a great inspiration to a lot of people. For me, it becomes an inspiration not just from the current hoteliers but for the next generation, we bring honor to Davao and to the industry,” she said.
She emphasized that the hotel hopes to inspire future hoteliers.
“Millennials have a different approach and take on how they want to build their career, but if they actually look at some people who have journeyed to that, there are always things they can learn,” the general manager said.
She added that though technology plays a vital role in any industry’s development, hoteliers must always highlight and give more importance to human connection.
Adlawan, who is responsible for Marco Polo Davao’s achievements in green and sustainable tourism, also shared that the hotel made it in the list because of its pursuit for innovation and sustainability.
Meanwhile, Ledesma, said the hotel for the next five years will strive to maintain its leadership in the industry by scaling up the level of excellence and service as the city experiences tourism and economic boom.
The Hotelier Award is the only accolade in Asia that honors the dedicated professionals of the hotel industry. Recognizing talents since 2014 in Greater China, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and North China, the awards are carefully judged and examined by panel of experts from the Forbes Travel Guide, Google, International Luxury Travel Market, Le Roche and Edipresse Media Asia.
For this year, the three markets will be having two main competitions: The Hotelier Awards Asia (focusing on the Asean and North Asia market) and The Hotelier Awards Greater China.
Other categories for the award include hotel manager/resident manager, food and beverage hotelier, chef hotelier, sommelier hotelier, the unsung hero, concierge hotelier, sales hotelier, marketing and communications hotelier, human resources hotelier, finance hotelier, front office hotelier, information technology hotelier, wellness and spa hotelier and housekeeping hotelier.
In 2017, Marco Polo Davao’s Pearl Peralta-Maclang won the Hotelier Award for Sales and Marketing Asia.