The Pen is back in business

The grand lady’s back in business, and she’s all decked out for the holidays.

At exactly 3 p.m. yesterday, The Peninsula Manila opened its doors to guests and friends, exactly four days after the five-star hotel was forced to close by what hotel general manager David Batchelor describes as a “particularly unfortunate incident,” the takeover by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim and their Magdalo supporters and the subsequent assault by military and police forces that forced the surrender of the rebels.

As early as Saturday, when the announcement was made that the popular hotel would reopen on Monday, friends had been sending text messages for people to come to the hotel to show support, even if only to have a cup of coffee in the hotel’s famous lobby. And indeed people came: a group of ladies broke out the bubbly to toast not just the reopening of a favorite haunt but the indomitability of the Filipino spirit, and to show “those people (rebels) that they can’t put us down.”

The main door of the hotel is boarded up, adorned however with a lighted Christmas wreath. It will take a few weeks to get the glass doors replaced, at a cost of half a million pesos. Another glass door is boarded up for now, but will be replaced today. The lobby’s magnificent Christmas tree is in full lighted glory, the armored personnel carriers (APCs) having missed it by inches when they smashed into the lobby last Thursday. The marble planters in the lobby have been replaced, the wooden vases repaired and hardly showing scars of the assault. Some glass shattered by gunfire have been replaced with plywood for now, but the holiday decor is festive enough that the battle scars are hardly noticeable. The damaged carpets in the lobby have been stitched up, but will eventually be replaced, at a cost of over P1 million each. But fortunately, the bronze and brass sunburst sculpture on the lobby’s ceiling, by National Artist Napoleon Abueva, was undamaged.

In all, the fabled Peninsula Manila lobby is back in business.

Occupancy on this first day of the Pen’s rebirth is at 51 percent; about 25 of the hotel’s long-staying guests have returned. On Sunday night, four guests had checked in. All the hotel’s food outlets are open for business, with full staff and full menu. Batchelor says none of the functions booked at the hotel for the month of December have been cancelled; the traditional Concert at The Pen will continue as scheduled on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 5 p.m. with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the CompanY and the UP Concert Chorus.

But obviously, damage has been done — to the hotel, and to the country; exactly how much damage though, only time will tell. Whereas occupancy would normally be in the high 90 percent at this time, the hotel expects to be hitting around 70 percent in the coming days. 1,250 previously reserved room nights have been cancelled. Physical damage is estimated at between P5 million and P7 million; loss of revenue for the four days the hotel was closed is pegged at $1.2 million.

“Operationally, things are back to normal,” Batchelor told The STAR. “In terms of the physical aspect, there is still some work to be done.”

“The safety of our guests and our staff was the most important factor,” Batchelor emphasized. “That was our concern.”

“The building can be repaired, and the business can be built up again,” said Mariano Andres Garchitorena, director of public relations of The Peninsula Manila.

“But the psychological support has been incredible. People have been texting and calling, expressing their support. The staff has been incredible too,” cleaning up and getting things back on track.

The last of the staff left the hotel at 5:03 p.m. last Thursday, and came back in at 9:30 to find their lobby in shambles. After the military conducted a “clean sweep” of what was, after all, a crime scene, the hotel was turned over to the staff at 3 a.m. Friday.

“The next day, with the sun out, it wasn’t that bad after all,” said Garchitorena. “It was bad, of course, but it could have been much worse.”

Sir Michael Cadoorie and Lady Betty Cadoorie, chairman of Hongkong Shanghai Hotels Limited, owners of The Peninsula chain of hotels, flew in for lunch on their private jet to look at the hotel and to meet with the staff of The Peninsula Manila.

Meantime, Batchelor added that appropriate charges will soon be filed against those who will be held responsible for the damage incurred by the hotel.

“The Board of Directors is still having a meeting in Hongkong and we will be awaiting the results of the said meeting,” Batchelor said.

And even as the Cadoories’ Philippine partner PL Lim and wife Madeleine were having dinner with friends last night at the Pen and the lobby was overflowing, TV crews were seen camped outside the hotel maybe still waiting for something to happen.          – With Rhodina Villanueva