IF THERE is but one valid argument for tourists and travelers not to return to Pampanga, that would well be King’s Royal Hotel along the Olongapo-Gapan Road, er, Jose Abad Santos Avenue, in Bacolor town by its boundary with the City of San Fernando.
Service sucks at King’s Royal.
That was the singular experience of hotel guests, as well as newsmen urgently summoned to a 7:30 morning briefing with presidential prospect Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay Thursday last week.
With Binay cloistered in a one-on-one with Pampanga Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio inside a mini-function room at the main restaurant, the newsmen were referred to the hotel’s coffeeshop to take their breakfast.
Dutifully queuing at the buffet table along with early risers among the guests, the newsmen – and the guests too – were flabbergasted to find the food trays scraped to the bottom. Okay, that’s a bit hyped there. The first tray was half-filled with garlic rice. The second had nothing but the battered half of a fried egg. The third with three weeny bits of ham. The fourth with leftover strips of beans and carrots. The fifth with less than a dozen chunks of pineapple. The already low quality, er, delectability of the food further diminished by its minute quantity there.
And the head waitress was more interested in filing the names of the newsmen on a lined sheet of paper than in filling the trays with food.
It took an eternity to refill those damned trays, and in batches too – the food arriving in small platos not in larger bandejados.
Ah, if dagger looks could only kill, murder and mayhem would have most surely obtained at the King’s Royal Hotel coffeeshop that day. Newsmen and hotel guests doing the massacre.
A request for coffee – instant coffee not brewed – took all of 12 minutes, and in tiny Styrofoam cups at that . A glass of water – tap, and not mineral – took even longer at 17 minutes. And this paper’s Joey Pavia was even fortunate to be served both. I did not get my coffee. Neither did Sun Star’s Ram Mercado nor The Voice’s Ed Aguilar.
Banner ‘s Ashley Manabat asked for catsup and coffee. He did not get any up to the time he walked out of Binay’s media briefing past 8:40. That’s another story though.
Bad food, and very little at that. An even worse service, the faces and actuations of the head waitress and her waiters better suited to funeral parlors. There is absolutely nothing regal at King’s Royal Hotel.
Paging the Department of Tourism. Teach these people how to go about their hospitality business.
Already irritated, if not agitated, with that early morning blah at the coffeeshop, the tolerance level of the seniors among the media was put to the stress, er, test further when way past 8:30, no media briefing was happening.
Binay, with Panlilio by his side, was still busy fielding questions from some other mediamen who came much earlier. And Binay’s coordinator was too mesmerized by his boss to tell him it was way past time for the briefing. Or did he simply not care as only the local mediamen were yet to interview his boss?
Anyways, a collective spontaneous emotional combustion of sorts led the seniors to walk out of the briefing room. It was the venerable – and cool – Ram Mercado that said we had to respect the exclusivity of the Binay briefing to our younger colleagues.
Enough malas for the day, Ed Aguilar said and suggested we hied off to the San Fernando city hall, where the never exclusivist Mayor Oscar Rodriguez opened his office and gave a great time to all.
Despite King’s Royal Hotel, it was a good day we had last Thursday. No thanks to Binay, Mayor Oca saved the day.
Service sucks at King’s Royal.
That was the singular experience of hotel guests, as well as newsmen urgently summoned to a 7:30 morning briefing with presidential prospect Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay Thursday last week.
With Binay cloistered in a one-on-one with Pampanga Gov. Eddie T. Panlilio inside a mini-function room at the main restaurant, the newsmen were referred to the hotel’s coffeeshop to take their breakfast.
Dutifully queuing at the buffet table along with early risers among the guests, the newsmen – and the guests too – were flabbergasted to find the food trays scraped to the bottom. Okay, that’s a bit hyped there. The first tray was half-filled with garlic rice. The second had nothing but the battered half of a fried egg. The third with three weeny bits of ham. The fourth with leftover strips of beans and carrots. The fifth with less than a dozen chunks of pineapple. The already low quality, er, delectability of the food further diminished by its minute quantity there.
And the head waitress was more interested in filing the names of the newsmen on a lined sheet of paper than in filling the trays with food.
It took an eternity to refill those damned trays, and in batches too – the food arriving in small platos not in larger bandejados.
Ah, if dagger looks could only kill, murder and mayhem would have most surely obtained at the King’s Royal Hotel coffeeshop that day. Newsmen and hotel guests doing the massacre.
A request for coffee – instant coffee not brewed – took all of 12 minutes, and in tiny Styrofoam cups at that . A glass of water – tap, and not mineral – took even longer at 17 minutes. And this paper’s Joey Pavia was even fortunate to be served both. I did not get my coffee. Neither did Sun Star’s Ram Mercado nor The Voice’s Ed Aguilar.
Banner ‘s Ashley Manabat asked for catsup and coffee. He did not get any up to the time he walked out of Binay’s media briefing past 8:40. That’s another story though.
Bad food, and very little at that. An even worse service, the faces and actuations of the head waitress and her waiters better suited to funeral parlors. There is absolutely nothing regal at King’s Royal Hotel.
Paging the Department of Tourism. Teach these people how to go about their hospitality business.
Already irritated, if not agitated, with that early morning blah at the coffeeshop, the tolerance level of the seniors among the media was put to the stress, er, test further when way past 8:30, no media briefing was happening.
Binay, with Panlilio by his side, was still busy fielding questions from some other mediamen who came much earlier. And Binay’s coordinator was too mesmerized by his boss to tell him it was way past time for the briefing. Or did he simply not care as only the local mediamen were yet to interview his boss?
Anyways, a collective spontaneous emotional combustion of sorts led the seniors to walk out of the briefing room. It was the venerable – and cool – Ram Mercado that said we had to respect the exclusivity of the Binay briefing to our younger colleagues.
Enough malas for the day, Ed Aguilar said and suggested we hied off to the San Fernando city hall, where the never exclusivist Mayor Oscar Rodriguez opened his office and gave a great time to all.
Despite King’s Royal Hotel, it was a good day we had last Thursday. No thanks to Binay, Mayor Oca saved the day.
