Cebu Pacific moves forward to please clients
SAVOY HOTEL, MANILA — Media from Cebu, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro were invited by Cebu Pacific Air and billeted at the brand-new Savoy Hotel beside the Belmont Hotel. Most of Monday morning, Savoy Hotel management gave us a tour of this spanking new 684-room hotel built in a 12-story building just in front of the Resort World Hotel along Newport City, Pasay City. Best of all, it has a high speed wi-fi internet free for hotel guests to use. It’s so new; the swimming pool is not yet ready for guests to use. But all the rooms are beautifully appointed.
For the record, the Savoy boasts of having a room for Persons with Disabilities something that we looked into where spaces are wide for people who use wheelchairs. The Savoy Hotel is a sister company of the Belmont Hotel so we toured both hotels and saw things that were similar to both. Best of all, their prices are just great for business travelers. I was introduced to Area Manager Lorenzo Tang of Belmont and Savoy and he is the first Chinese-looking fellow who hails from Florence (Firenze), Italy, but since he has been in the Philippines he even understands Bisaya. One thing about the Savoy Hotel, it has the best runway view of the NAIA.
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In the afternoon, Charles Lim brought the media group to the Cebu Pacific Headquarters near the old Domestic Terminal 4. It is where we met an old friend, Charo Logarta Lagamon (she was once with Globe Telecom and the Bureau of Customs) and she is now Cebu Pacific Director for Corporate Communications. With her was Michelle Rose Lim also in Corporate Communications. There were two reasons why the media was brought to Manila. First, Cebu Pacific wanted to show their year-old Command Center. It really is an IT center, which handles all issues that come out of Facebook and other related social media networks. This was very well explained by Jackie Lou de Paz, Director for Customer Fare.
Apparently, Cebu Pacific has already addressed the problems of its client/passengers, especially those who report in social media. I personally taped the talk of de Paz for more than ten minutes on how they approach certain problems in the Command Center. This will be shown later on MyTV. They have around 50 IT employees monitoring these issues and addressing all the problems Cebu Pacific faces. Charo intimated to me that this was the first time the media was invited to see the Command Center and it gives you an idea that Cebu Pacific is trying its best to address its problems especially on issues of lost baggage, lost tickets, or problems with customers.
Supposedly for Wednesday, we will be meeting at the EDSA Shangri-La with Cebu Pacific CEO Lance Gokongwei and certain Cabinet officials, notably, Department of Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo Puyat. But I still can’t tell you what that meeting is all about, but will certainly report this as soon as it is over. One thing we learned from this visit to Cebu Pacific headquarters in Manila is that Cebu Pacific is now moving forward and doing its best to handle issues related to their airline business.
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Apparently, the criminal elements that misuse their government connections in this country do not learn their lessons well. The other day in the free port of Sta. Ana, Cagayan, no less than President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte witnessed the destruction of expensive luxury cars, nine Mercedes Benzes, seven BMWs, five Porches, 11 Nissan Fair Ladies, two Nissan Skylines, 10 Toyota cars, two Ford Mustangs, two Mazdas, one Lamborghini Gallardo, and one Jaguar all broken into nothing of any use! This time, it included eight Harley Davidson motorcycles.
This destruction was presided by Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Administrator Raul Lambino. I don’t know why smugglers have not learned their lessons. Mind you, this is not the first time that luxury or sports cars were destroyed by the Bureau of Customs or CEZA for that matter. Mind you, it is the Philippines leading the way when it comes to destroying expensive sports and luxury cars and if the smugglers do not learn their lessons well, then let them send more cars so more will be destroyed!
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