Okada Manila: The feel of luxury, inside and out

MANILA, Philippines — With a number of integrated hotels and casinos in the 100-hectare Entertainment City in Paranaque already up, each development needs to offer a distinct feature to capture a sizable chunk of the market.

And Okada Manila is not backing out from that challenge, as it features eye-catching facilities that stand out against rival developments in the area.

Despite only the hotel and casino portion of the 44-hectare development currently operating, Okada Manila already gives off a luxurious feel just by looking at the facade of the building alone.

The building’s glass exterior literally glistens in gold, immediately making it a standout in the entire  Entertainment City complex.

Apart from the stunning facade of the building, another iconic feature of the mixed-used complex is the Fountain, dubbed as the world’s largest multicolor dancing water fountain.

The $30-million Fountain is equipped with advanced underwater robots, more than 2,000 lights, dozens of high-fidelity speakers, and more than 700 high-power jets that can shoot water beyond the height of the Okada Manila hotel building. 

Okada Manila said the Fountain’s choreographed water, light and music performances rival those in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and Las Vegas’ Bellagio. 

Shin Miura, principal architect at Murashin Architect+Associates, said Okada Manila founder Kazuo Okada had a vision for the Fountain to be a landmark not only in the complex, but in the entire Entertainment City.

He added that the Fountain was intended not to only capture the attention of people visiting the complex, but also airplane passengers about to land at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which is near Okada Manila.

“We have height restrictions because it’s near the airport. We intended to make it more iconic-- from the the air. That was part of our concept to make it a landmark,” Miura said.

But the luxury feel of Okada Manila is not dependent on its exterior, as the hotel component of the complex aims to give guests a one-of-a-kind luxurious experience.

Miura explained that Okada’s vision for the hotel was to make everything high end, which involves giving guests the highest quality of facilities and services.

In line with best room facilities, the 993 rooms of Okada Manila is outfitted the top of the line automated bathroom and toilet system with the Inax Satis shower toilet.

Inax Satis is the world’s most compact, fully-automated tank- less toilet system, from Lixil, the global leader in sanitary wares.

“As one of Lixil’s frontrunners, Inax Satis provides Okada Manila’s guests with a host of techie creature comforts:  from its Plasmacluster Technology that cleans even the air after every use, to its hands-free convenience with its fully automated system  and its automatic seat and cover with a built-in sensor to open and close its lid whenever it detects the presence of a user,” Lixil said.

Lixil Philippines Ltd. Co, water technology head Carlo Malantic emphasized that Okada Manila is using thermostatic showers for all of its rooms, which are usually used only in suites by most hotels.

Malantic stressed this is because Okada Manila wants to offer guests the most high end room facilities.

“I believe he[Okada]wants to bring the Japanese culture also here to the Philippines,”Malantic said, referring to the high-tech toilet systems used in Japan.

“We want them to have the full experience of showering even the bathtub,” he added.

Moreover, the Inax Satis toilet system also features a deodorizer that kicks into action instantly. Another hands-free feature is the fully automatic flushing action: flushing occurs as soon as the user steps away from the toilet.

With the Japan-technology toilet and bathroom system, Malantic said this will further add to the whole luxurious experience of guests staying at the Okada Manila. 

“The concept is, you want to have a good luxurious time,”Malantic added.