The men behind the country’s top Filipino-owned hotel brand
At the helm of Waterfront hotels’ well-organized operations are four seasoned hoteliers whose vast knowledge of the hotel industry have made the chain one of the foremost Filipino hotels and hospitality brand.
They are Jean Francois Asimus of Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel, Anders Hallden Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Rex Benhur Caballes of Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino Mactan, and Bryan Yves Lasala of Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao. Their combined expertise, experience and dedication to excellence provide the foundation that guide the dayto-day operations and inspire the hotels’ exceptional level of quality in all the 4 properties.
Strategic planner
French hotelier Jean Francois Asimus, who now heads the Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel as its general manager, is the most recent to join Waterfront’s roster of hotel executives. His career in the hotel industry spans 22 years and has seen him directing and managing full scale luxury hotels in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the Maldives. He has also worked for prestigious hospitality brands in Paris and the UK.
Asimus’ skills in strategic planning and management, sales and marketing knowledge, and his proficiency on the implementation of standards and corporate strategies for hotels and residential properties will help facilitate more creative innovations at the Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel.
Already, Asimus is in the thick of overseeing the innovations and improvements that Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel is undergoing. Currently, the hotel is in the last stage of internet reconstruction that features the latest communication technology from Australia – the first of its kind in the country. This puts Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel in the vanguard of advanced internet and wireless communication in any hotel.
Under his supervision, by 2018, Asimus notes, Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel will offer a “brand new hospitality experience” with the coming of a new executive chef from Singapore.
Attention to details
Anders Hallden, the general manager of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, has a quick smile, and whose keen attention to detail helps in running the hotel as smoothly as a welloiled machinery. Hallden takes particular pride in the hotel’s portfolio of dining options that offer excellent food and memorable dining experience, such as Ting Gow, UNO, La Gondola, Mizu, and the Treff Bar, a chic watering hole perfect for cocktails and after-dinner drinks.
“We also have outlets and services that operate 24 hours, like the Casino Restaurant, the gym, and room service. We’re a hotel that never sleeps,” he points out.
Readiness to innovate
Rex Benhur Caballes is a busy man. As hotel manager of Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino Mactan, he is on his toes attending to the needs of guests and overseeing the hotel’s different functions to make sure that everything works to the ultimate satisfaction of guests.
Caballes thinks that the readiness to innovate is what makes the Waterfront brand stand out from the competition. “Over the years, a lot of hotels have surfaced and they create newer and unique kind of hospitality. Despite that, Waterfront Hotels remained steadfast and have competed with all others. We at Waterfront are open to changes and innovations. It is also important to be flexible. We see that our guests are evolving and that we too should adapt. From there, we would know where to position our hotel through the kind of guests that we have,” he says.
An optimist
Bryan Yves Sato Lasala, hotel manager of Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, says working in Mindanao, offers unlimited and exciting prospects. “The stakeholders of the hospitality and tourism industry are doing a very good job at selling and marketing Davao and Mindanao not just as a destination, but also as a place for conventions and events. There are already a lot of changes and improvements in Mindanao. With the advancement of technology and through social media, the people from Mindanao have become more aware of its beauty and grandeur.”
Service, he adds, puts Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao at the forefront of the developments in Davao. “It is service that guests visiting Davao will remember. And at Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, we work hard to give them the excellent service that guests deserve, service that comes from the heart, service that makes them feel right at home, service that’s worth looking back to,” he says.