The slowdown caused by the pandemic gave Marivent Hotels and Resorts, formerly Las Casas, the chance to evaluate circumstances, rethink strategies and restructure the company to become more efficient.
“Our hotels and resorts now fall under one umbrella, Marivent Hotels and Resorts,” Jorge Vilanova, general manager of Las Casas, told Malaya Business Insight.
With this direction, they hope to establish themselves as a leading hospitality group in the Philippines, focusing on unique and thoughtfully designed concepts.
“We are more equipped and ready than ever to serve our guests during this time where travel has returned,” Vilanova said.
The company is very proud of its success with its first resort, Las Casas, a heritage resort in Bataan, Philippines. This concept has been so successful and vital to its growth because it is truly unique in its offers — seeing and learning about local culture and heritage through its spaces, cuisine, and entertainment offers.
“We have also opened a new branch in Metro Manila, Las Casas, Quezon City — an events space and restaurant that offers the same heritage-feel signature to Las Casas in Bataan,” he said.
“It is an exciting time for us as we launch new concepts, whilst upgrading the current experiences we offer in our existing hotels.”
According to Vilanova, the secret to their success is innovation–exactly how Las Casas was built by the founder’s vision and creativity.
“We also believe that the secret to staying relevant is focusing on our people — our group would not be where it is today without the passion and dedication of our staff members who have been with us for many years,” he pointed out.
The company has come a long way as it did not plan to be in the hospitality industry at all.
Las Casas began as a passion project of preserving heritage homes, which then turned into a resort. It has evolved from this simple idea to becoming a recognized hospitality group in the industry, particularly for its focus on heritage conservation.
“We believe that it is our role and mission to keep our heritage alive, to celebrate this, which is why you can experience it in all aspects of our hotels and resorts,” he stated.
The company wants to showcase the best qualities of its people and make them shine. Its latest achievement includes being awarded as the Best Historic Hotel in Asia Pacific in 2021 by Historic Hotels Worldwide.
“This was a major achievement for us to be recognized in this space and we hope to be able to inspire other groups to keep celebrating our culture and heritage,” he noted.
“We are honored to be recognized in this space, however, we never want to be comfortable,” he mentioned, as there is always room for improvement and there are more ways they can better attend to their guests as well as stakeholders.
The two-year pandemic has given the company so much time to recuperate and now it is ready to put forth its vision for the brand and the business.
“Real triumph can be as big as winning a prestigious award or getting a recipe for a dish right. However, it is really the small wins that keep us going. Overcoming areas where we are challenged is the real victory,” he explained.
He believes that they must always be ready, always ahead and on top of the game. In planning, they plan for the best and worst-case scenarios, and they won’t let anything positive or negative things block their way. They make sure that they all know how to deal with it.
Moving forward, Vilanova shared they see Marivent as the leader in their craft, still living with its mission, and aiming for new goals as it ages in this industry.
“At Marivent, we can say that our distinct energy is our workforce. We value the hard work of every employee. Our role as a key player in the hospitality industry makes us more driven to be the best in what we do,” he stressed.
