SIMON CHRISTOPHER McGRATH
General Manager
HILTON MANILA   By Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat After its long absence in the Philippines, the Hilton Hotel brand is back. Its comeback evokes nostalgia among Filipinos and the Hilton brand, one of the pioneers among foreign hospitality brands in the country. Once again, the new upper upscale Hilton will open its doors to Filipinos, this time at the Newport City in Pasay. At the helm is veteran hotelier Simon Christopher Mcgrath, who is armed with 38 years of experience in the hospitality industry, including 10 years at Hilton. This time, Simon expects Filipinos, including the tech-savvy, to love the new Hilton Manila even more. Hilton Manila “We’ve gone through the process of slowly building a team and we are now just within weeks of opening, it’s just amazing,” say Simon, his excitement building up as the opening of the newest addition to the hotel landscape in Manila nears. When it opens, Hilton Manila will provide guests with a complement of services and amenities including 357 guest rooms, six meeting spaces, an expansive lagoon pool, complimentary shuttle service, a range of food and beverage outlets and a 24-hour fitness center. Hilton Manila will have 3 signature restaurants. Hilton Manila is also part of Hilton Honors, the award-winning guest-loyalty program for Hilton’s 14 distinct hotel brands. Members who book directly have access to instant benefits, including a flexible payment slider that allows members to choose nearly any combination of Points and money to book a stay, an exclusive member discount, free standard Wi-Fi and the Hilton Honors mobile app. The upper upscale Hilton Manila also features a 400-guest ballroom that spreads to the hotel’s expansive pool, which could be the largest pool among hotels in Metro Manila. “The pool is a great feature, expansive and perhaps the largest pool in Manila in a hotel and very much appealing to leisure weekend market,” says the Australian hotelier. The pool has about 2,000 lights at the bottom around it, creating an amazing effect. With over 100 years of experience in the hospitality business, Hilton has used technology efficiently to provide the utmost care for its guests. Hilton Manila boasts of a keyless entry as guests will receive a digital room key on their phone so that the door opens as soon as the guest arrives. The young ones may also be enticed by this tech-savvy hotel. Top brands provide for the hotel rooms’ toiletry supplies, a wide screen TV and a very good Wi-Fi service throughout. Hilton Manila has also thoughtfully considered the plight of the PWDs that they allocated 6 rooms for the least inconvenience not just for those with physical disabilities, but including the audibly impaired. Sustainability Simon also stressed that one of key focuses of Hilton is around sustainability. It is an advocate of Travel With a Purpose (TWP), the hotel brand’s commitment to cut its environmental footprint in half and double its social impact investment by 2030. TWP is Hilton’s corporate responsibility strategy to support the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. With this commitment, Hilton will become the first major hotel company to institute science-based targets to reduce carbon emissions and send zero soap to landfill. In fact, the hotel enjoys natural lighting. Part of this sustainability goals is its own filtration systems with options given to guests to reduce impact on environment by being mindful during meeting and eating events. The company will also double the amount it spends with local and minority-owned suppliers, and double its investment in programs to help women and youth around the world. Ready to welcome guests As it targets to open its doors on the first week of November, hotel staff are now busy running different simulations to ensure smooth opening. They have 300 staff, all full-time and trained in the hospitality business. “We’re focused on getting the best people and ensuring the best possible service,” says Simon despite various players competing in the area, Hilton Manila is confident of its offering. “Competition is always interesting but if you look at the growth in the tourism sector there are lots of room, so we are confident in the market,” he adds. Hilton also offers the most strategic location for travelers because of its direct connection to NAIA Terminal 3 and its proximity to the three other terminals in the area. Guests can walk to NAIA 3 or can take its shuttle service. Since they are located in the Newport City, guests have a variety of entertainment, food and shopping options. Because it is centrally located, guests can get to any of the business districts outside of Newport easily, either to Makati, Manila Bay area or Bonifacio Global City. Since traffic is a big consideration in Metro Manila, Hilton is the best hotel site for a businessman in a hurry. Goal As a new hotel, Hilton Manila hopes to quickly attain a fair market share. The Hilton brand occupies a unique upper upscale category with only a handful of competitors in that class. This should position the company as the more suitable staycation hotel in this “Golden Age of Travel” where Filipinos are very much a part of given their growing spending power. Simon cited the GDP growth of the country as he compared it with China and Korea. This robust economic growth will draw in more investors and visitors. As income grows, the leisure market is also growing. In fact, staycation is very popular among Filipinos. Aside from the leisure market, Simon said they are looking at the corporate market and the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibition) segment. Many of international travelers are members of Hilton Honors. They can work with other hotel affiliates in the Hilton group that can offer synergies. The group has 7 brands operating in Asia. Definitely, the Hilton Group is bullish in their prospects in the Philippines as they position aggressively to gain and expand foothold in the domestic market. “We would love to become an established if not a market leader and to see further opportunities through existing partnerships and to bring the brand further to other Manila areas and in second and third tier cities,” says Simon. Affection The Hilton brand evokes a lot of fond memories, especially for the older generation, who are familiar with the famous Hilton Hotel near Luneta, but the brand had been absent from the local scenery for quite sometime. “We would like to leverage the fond memories and hopefully that will cascade to the millennials and the next generation to positively talk about our brand,” says Simon. “There is a great affection of the Hilton brand here,” adds Simon. Simon has a good vibe, feeling they could get a good reception on social events and weddings because these are events the Hilton brand is able to associate with as memorable. “From our presence in the city formerly there has been many fond memories of guests and Team Members and many are anticipating the return of the brand here. Located in one of the most sought after districts in Manila, with a range of exciting food and beverage options coupled with cutting edge technology and the support of the world’s most successful loyalty program Hilton Honors, we are set to make quite an entrance when we open later this year,” Simon added. Personally, Manila is Simon’s fourth country already under Hilton. But he doesn’t feel so much of a stranger having visited Manila 20 years ago plus the fact that Philippines has more western culture than in his previous assignments in the region. The fact that he also worked with large Filipino team both in Australia and in Malaysia has made him more at ease in here. Simon still has very limited exposure in the country though except in Coron, Palawan, but he has tried the local cuisine, which he finds interesting. His favorite is the adobo classic and with the vinaigrette taste, the kare-kare and some bakery items. The Philippines is very interesting to Simon because even in Australia and Malaysia he worked with large Filipino team. He cited the English proficiency among Filipinos and the religious freedom being a Christian society make it easier for a foreigner to transition. “The beauty is understanding the strength of service and the great desire and proud to be part in this hospitality,” he adds. Filipino hospitality worker’s experience of working abroad has honed their capabilities and leadership skills. “There is no shortage of talent here,” he adds. In fact, four of his directors are homegrown talents. “It’s been a great 15 months, other than the traffic I feel very much welcome here. It is a relatively easier transition period,” he adds. The hotelier “I joined Hilton ten years ago and I could not believe I am working with this multinational company,” he gushes wondering at the various opportunities the company has provided him, satisfying his desire to travel outside of his home country in Sydney, Australia. More than that, he finds an alignment of his personal values with that of Hilton and which proves to be going into the right direction. “Certainly, we have the same values and the mantra of camaraderie at Hilton is great,” says Simon, who has been assigned to different Hilton Hotel sites in four countries in Asia, including the Philippines. He cited the sustainability of living the Hilton values, its diversity and programs throughout. Such thinking and philosophy have been extended to customers and team members, to guests and the local communities. In fact, Hilton has already struck a local community partnership from day one with the Pasay Community Center, which houses 63 abandoned children. “It gives a good feeling,” he adds. As a company, Hilton adopts a global week of service every year where they hook up with charitable organizations that add value to communities. Another focus at Hilton is its very good balance of gender equality. Three of its four directors are women, who are extremely confident with great deal of values and great example as leaders. He also noted that women are sometimes better and are genuinely hospitable. Prior to joining Hilton Manila, Simon was also the pre-opening General Manager of DoubleTree by Hilton Johor Bahru in Malaysia, where he successfully opened and drove a market leading property in Malaysia’s rapidly growing and second largest city. Hailing from Australia and with strong backgrounding in Food & Beverage, Simon has worked throughout Australia, in New Zealand, the South Pacific and in Singapore and Thailand prior to his recent posting in Malaysia. Simon sees great opportunity to leverage the warmth and sincerity in service delivery the Filipinos are famous for while upholding the “Make It Right” promise should it be required to meet the expectations of both local and international guests. Lessons learned Simon takes a lot of pride in his job, but if there is anything he learned from decades of work in the industry is “not to take it personally”. Simon looks at working in this sector with practical understanding. This means that there are issues and problems and people have different expectations and have critical thinking and you take it personally, but one should be careful because it can be a trap.” “In Hilton, we have to resolve guest issues to realistically empathize and find a middle ground and act fast and the most important is learn from that,” he adds. Working in a hotel sounds like all glamour, but Simon says that it takes a lot of patience to be in this industry although it is very rewarding. Hilton is his third hotel opening where he witnessed it grew from the very start. “I really feel that level of ownership even if am no owner, especially if I live in the hotel,” he adds. To Simon, he did not envision himself working in a hotel behind his desk. He has been very hands-on and will continue to do so. “I love being hands-on I would love to carry bags, pour coffee when necessary. You’ve got to be a sounding board. Like a good coffee shop manager who asks his guests ‘How’s your meal’,” says Simon. So far, it has been an enjoyable ride and the idea of leaving the industry never crosses his mind. His joy of working in the hospitality business also comes naturally as he finds fulfillment in the simple things. “Very simple joys, every day is different and I suppose the landscape changes with everyday dealing with different circumstances, different guests, different opportunities to travel and learn and embrace different cultures and diversity. Once you get the hang of it, you never thought of leaving a very exciting and human-based job,” he concludes.