Cocoon Boutique Hotel

It may sound like a cliché, but ‘green is in’.  Sometimes, you don’t have to convince people to go ‘green’ as they have seen how years of abuse on our planet has produced dire consequences. The ‘green’ momentum has reached the real estate industry that buildings, hotels, even to the leisure communities have touted their use of green technologies or environment-friendly practices.  Whereas before when a property would flaunt its style or architecture; now they would rather be known as a structure that nurtured the earth – from its initial construction until its eventual utilization.

However, this produces a dilemma. I found it so ‘artificial’ for some developments, especially hotels, to trumpet themselves as “green” by changing towels only if it is on the floor, by recycling trash, by using some LED lights or by putting some signage to promote environment-friendly practices. These are noteworthy efforts but for a hotel to genuinely become “green”, it has to be more than just that.  And I found one tucked in the quiet side of Quezon City’s Timog area called Cocoon Boutique Hotel.

Annie Convocar, the hotel’s consultant, was all praise as she is proud of what they had accomplished in just a year of operations.  She said that Cocoon has garnered the top spot in the Trip Advisor.com listing of best hotels in Quezon City; and placed second in a list of best Manila hotels besting other stellar brands and hotel chains. That’s a feat worth noticing but I was more impressed with the hotel’s green efforts, something I wish that every hotel would emulate.

Cocoon’s owners, Atty. Boy and Gigi Vinzon, lawyer-and-accountant couple, have built perhaps the country’s first green boutique hotel.  And when I asked what encouraged them to do so, both of them felt that they should be responsible owners especially in light of global warming.

“We want to care and nurture the environment in our own way and that’s what we want Cocoon to be known for,” said Gigi. “At the start, when we planned to have a hotel, we wanted to practice green – from the building to the littlest of details.  As they say, it is in the details that matter.”

Since the six-story building was built from scratch, Cocoon used the reclaimed wood, metal roofing and steel grills of the demolished structure on site. Then, they utilized the reclaimed materials that were used for the construction process and re-used it to form part of the structure.

There’s also the use of insulation on metal roofing for cooling effect. They also used of low-e laminated glass and insulated double glaze glass for windows and doors – again, for cooling effect to lessen dependence on aircon.

“From our amenities, to our cooling systems, to our décor, we made sure that it is sustainable.  It is very important for our guest to be comfortable in Cocoon but at the same time, we want our operation to have the least impact on the earth,” said Gigi.

“In fact, a lot of our guests appreciate that they are not contributing to carbon footprint and they are also encouraged to be green in their own ways.”

Rain and ground water is harvested for toilet flushing, plant irrigation and general house cleaning.  All lights are LED and passive cooling is maintained through building orientation.  On the other hand, water is saved via a dual-piping system for separate grey and potable water; there are also water-saving faucets with aerators and siphonic jet toilet flushing.

All the rooms feature an inverter-type airconditioner using non-ozone-damaging R410A refrigerant and large windows to allow natural lighting to come in.  Fresh air circulation in guestrooms is through natural positive-negative air pressure while lower operable awning windows allow fresh air to come in. The ref is also environment-friendly.

The rooms at Cocoon are a story in itself. If the word cocoon can be translated into a hotel room, then this must be it. Guests of the hotel are all praise at Cocoon’s customized bed that features pocket springs and memory foam for a restful sleep. The bed linens were made from 100 percent Egyptian cotton with 400 thread count! Soon, this will be upgraded to 600 thread count!

What I also found impressive is the use of reclaimed wood in the room’s interior was very extensive and impressive – it gave new life and meaning to wood that would otherwise be discarded or burned. It can now be found as accents or art pieces to a room, or a support and base to a study table, or even the door of the bathroom.

The Vinzons are not hoteliers or in any way involved in the hospitality industry, but both of them dub themselves as “expert end-users” and they have seen and experienced the best and worst of hotels. In fact, Gigi mentioned that she even has a small notebook to jot down the features she loves in a hotel where they stay.  The years of traveling and staying in hotels gave them a “bank” of information and only the best of the best is what they have placed inside Cocoon.

Aside from implementing a towels reuse program in the bathroom, Cocoon assures guests of an Eco-certified 100 percent organic bathroom amenities. I was so amazed that the toiletries use plasticized cornstarch material (which are biodegradable) and with packaging using stone paper and soy ink!  I’m sure environmentalists would praise Gigi and give her an award for her commitment to make sure that Cocoon is truly a green hotel.

Cocoon Boutique Hotel also has a ballroom with a capacity for 250 persons, a deck bar (which features an edible organic roof garden) and breakfast venue, a mini pool, coffeeshop, gift shop, restaurants, tea shop, spa, aesthetic clinic and travel agency.

Cocoon Boutique Hotel is located at 61 Scout Tobias corner Scout Rallos Streets, Quezon City.