IT’S been 20 years of brilliant hosting for Cebu City Marriott Hotel. As a way to celebrate its 20th anniversary of being the first international hotel in Cebu City and the first Marriott in the country, a flashback party bearing the ‘90s theme took place last Oct. 25 where 36 pioneers who have been with the property since its opening in 1997 were recognized.
The awardees and their plus ones were greeted with a red carpet welcome headed by general manager Patrick Carroll and Cebu Marriott’s executive and management committee.
At the Sampaguita Ballroom, everyone enjoyed the sumptuous feast prepared by executive chef Chachpol Suaisom and his team. The program then gave tribute to a man who has been with the hotel since the start; the hotel’s first and only director of engineering and facilities since its opening, employee number 001, engineer Rodrigo “Dodo” Enriquez.
In between the awarding segment, messages from past general managers Jerry Caliguire, Christiane Wasfy, Karl Hudson, Roy Abraham and Bruce Winton and from Marriott international’s area vice president for Indonesia and the Philippines Robert Stark and MI Asia Pacific president Craig Smith were shown.
The evening was filled with fun games and lots of dancing with a rousing performance by the Brown Academy of Music. Afterward, the general manager formally opened the awards celebration with director of human resources Bobot Codoy starting the roster of awardees from the five years of service, 10 years of service and 15 years of service.
Up next, the 36 pioneers who were awarded; coming from different departments like housekeeping, laundry, kitchen and food service to name a few, some sang a rendition of the remake “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Cliff.
Each awardee was gifted with tokens of appreciation given by the general manager along with director of operations Joe Fijardo and director of sales and events Frances Alfafara onstage.