I LOVE staycations.
Even if it’s just in Metro Manila…even it it’s less than 10 kilometers from my home. An overnight stay or two in an attractive hotel—with a pleasant staff, comfortable rooms, and delicious cuisine—is a welcome respite from the drudgery of one’s own home surroundings (i.e., I don’t have to cook, I don’t have to clean my room, and the air-conditioning is free). The staycation experience can expectedly be jacked up by a swim in the hotel pool or a 60-hour deep tissue massage with facial.
Until Covid-19 swooped down on us, that is, and took away every bit of fun in our lives. Now staycations can feel quite stiff and a bit distressing, even if one knows hotel managements have gone through a lot of effort to make their properties feel safe and secure, while protecting their guests from the dreaded virus.
At the Grand Hyatt Manila in Bonifacio Global City, I got a taste of what staycations would be like under Covid. My hired car arrived at the entrance, and after the usual preliminary inspections at the entrance, I went through the hotel’s glass doors and came upon the property’s massive, luxurious lobby. There was something missing though: walking toward the reception area, the place seemed empty and devoid of personality.
It was quiet, and despite having an overnight luggage, no one bothered to help me wheel it. In fact, I noticed that as soon as the car pulled up in the hotel driveway, not one attendant opened the car door, as one would usually expect in a four- or five-star hotel.
But that, I realized later, was probably Covid’s fault. No one was allowed to touch doors of cars, or helped with guests’s luggage anymore, as part of the health and sanitation rules of the hotel, and probably the local government. So checking in was quite a sanitized and depersonalized experience.
Then, antigen tests were still required for staycation guests, and after a very smooth experience thanks to the efficient medical personnel on hand, I was ushered to my room, this time with someone else wheeling my luggage and the hotel’s PR ensuring my arrival at my room was easy as possible.
When everyone had all left, out came my spray bottles of alcohol and liquid disinfectant. I couldn’t help it. I was still not vaccinated and there’s still so little we know about the coronavirus and its growing number of mutations. So I sprayed everything…the bedsheets and under the bed, the bathroom, the dresser area… yes, practically every nook and cranny of the room.
Let that not be a reflection on the hotel. Paranoid me had just taken over. Here it’s good to point out that guests are actually provided amenity kits, which include hand sanitizers and surgical masks.
I took a little tour around the hotel premises and despite it being a weekend, there was no one swimming at the big blue pool. I did bring my bathing suit, so at the back of my mind, I was thinking of going swimming the next day. There was a small wedding reception in the pool house, with the men and women all sparkly and dressed to the nines, having fun. I assume most of them belonged to just one family as they were not masked up.
After a brief chat with Gottfried Bogensperger, the hotel’s general manager, about the property’s operations in the time of Covid, the best part of my stay was about to begin. Dinner!
The Peak Grill on the 60th floor is probably Grand Hyatt’s most popular restaurant, other than No. 8 China House. But, really, who can resist a tender juicy steak? And at The Peak, they do it very well. I could see why, despite the pandemic, the restaurant was quite full, that my dining companion Joyce and I were given seats at the balcony instead.
The dark exteriors aside, our meal was excellent, with the certified Angus ribeye perfectly marbled and
well seasoned, grilled to a medium rare delight. As most of my steak dinners go (even at home), the steak was the star and the creamy mashed potato the back-up dancer that helped round out the impeccable act. Prior to our mains, we had the Maryland crab cake as an appetizer, which came with a celeriac remoulade and parsley aioli.
After a restful night, I woke up close to noon… too bad since I really wanted a swim. But it was on to lunch at The Grand Kitchen, the buffet dining restaurant of the hotel. It’s a serviced buffet so your waitstaff will approach you to get your order after you peruse the menu card. With or without a pandemic, I think serviced buffets should be the norm, as it helps eliminate food waste. In our pre-Covid days, I’ve seen how diners go from one station to another, just piling up stuff on their plates as if there was no tomorrow (aka the Wendy’s salad phenomenon).
The buffet was a decent mixed bag of international dishes, something one would normally expect of a five-star hotel. But the best part of my dining experience at The Grand Kitchen was actually the garlic baguette served at the beginning of the meal. It was crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside tasting deliriously of garlic. Definitely, I couldn’t just have one and asked the waitstaff if I could purchase six pieces on my own account. He wouldn’t hear of it, and after probably checking with his boss, handed me a generous bag of baguettes, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar in tiny covered plastic cups. For joy!
So despite my initial distress and paranoia about leaving home and checking into a hotel, along with having to face all the health and sanitary precautions of being out in public, my stay at The Grand Hyatt turned out to be more than just average. Truly, in times like these, a well-prepared cuisine and thoughtful customer service will always win over any picky guest.
Image courtesy of The Grand Hyatt Manila