From a distance, bai Hotel’s lone figure in a community that is slowly rising is a sight to behold, a majestic figure found in the city of Mandaue with an exterior that rivals those of world-class hotels. It takes a lot of planning as well as keen attention to detail for a hotel to look this good, and the interior of bai Hotel is no joke either. Rivaling the elegant exterior, the interior showcases just what Cebu is all about, a jewel in the south of the Philippines.
But what does it take to make a hotel, one that is relatively new to the hospitality game in Cebu, a force to be reckoned with? An excellent and solid management team, and a leader with a heart of gold, of course. Leading the team at bai Hotel is Alfred Reyes, the vice president for operations and general manager of the property.
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Youthful and wise, Alfred boasts a career heavily sprinkled with experience in the hospitality industry, having flitted from property to property in Manila and the Asia Pacific. His journey ultimately led to his return to Cebu in 2015 when bai Hotel, now a 23-story-high hotel, was merely six stories high.
There’s no better person to lead the pack than Alfred, a Cebuano himself who has a good understanding of how the Cebuano market and mind work. Alfred helms a team of almost 400 to 600 employees, 98 percent of them locals, something that he thinks helps significantly when it comes to catering to the market bai Hotel wants to target.
“The Cebuano market is a big part of bai Hotel’s market and my team, and I have to understand that. Besides, our brand promise is to deliver local hospitality. We have to live up to that,” he said.
Dynamic, innovative, observant and a person who thinks outside the box, Alfred makes sure his team, from his managers down to the front desk staff, takes on these qualities, as he challenges them to always come up with promos and exciting things for the hotel.
With such a team and ethical leadership, bai Hotel is set to slowly change the growing communities popping up all around its vicinity as well as the hospitality industry in Cebu and the Visayas-Mindanao region. On the horizon, new markets are being eyed with interesting and enticing promos set to serve both the locals and foreign tourists. (Hannah V. Obal)