by Penny Angeles-Tan | Aug 1, 2018 | Business
Discovery Country Suites has been shortlisted along with some of the world’s best hotels for Haute Grandeur’s Global Hotel Awards.
Haute Grandeur is an independent award-giving body that recognizes the best hospitality experience from across 7 continents, 172 countries, and 90 categories.
To be awarded by Haute Grandeur, different factors are taken into consideration, such as rooms, food & beverage, service, overall hotel facilities, location, ambiance, design, unique guest experience, online presence, guest reviews, among others.
Discovery Country Suites
As a part of The Discovery Leisure Company’s roster of hotels and resorts, Discovery Country Suites provides a calm respite for its guests with their picturesque view of Taal and its trademark outstanding service.
As a seven-suite manor home, one of the things that separate Discovery Country Suites from most hotels is its exclusivity. Those who enter the property can immediately feel the distinctive feeling of home. From the personalized service, elegant suites, a signature experience of wine and cheese at sundown, to the sumptuous dishes of Restaurant Verbena, a stay at Discovery Country Suites is a unique experience in itself.
Being shortlisted for a prestigious award is already an honor for Discovery Country Suites, but excellence has always been imparted in their roots. Guest ratings are an important part of winning the award, which is why guests are encouraged to share their honest feedback through various travel websites. Winners will be announced on November 1, 2018.
Discovery Country Suites is located along 300 Calamba Road, San Jose, Tagaytay City, 4120 Philippines.
For inquiries and reservations, call (02) 5298172, email re**********@***************om.ph or visit http://www.discoverycountrysuites.com.
About Discovery Country Suites
The Suites
With seven elegant and unique suites that radiate the feeling of home with the view of Taal Lake and Volcano right at its window, Discovery Country Suites offers a relaxing stay for guests looking for a Tagaytay getaway.
Dine in at Restaurant Verbena
Inside the property is Restaurant Verbena – serving up fresh dishes and staying true to its country contemporary cuisine tied together with the “Service that’s All Heart” Discovery has always been known for.
With so much to explore in Tagaytay, Discovery Country Suites neighbors some of the country’s best golf courses, flower farms, spa resorts, and concept restaurants.
Stay up to date and follow us:
- Facebook: /DiscoveryCountrySuites
- Twitter: @DCSTagaytay
- Instagram: @discoverycountrysuites
About Haute Grandeur Global Hotel Awards
The Haute Grandeur Global Hotel Awards was established as an independent and unbiased initiative to honour the very highest achievements from across the global hotel industry in 2014, recognising exceptional contributions by outstanding hotels with Marinique De Wet as CEO at the helm.
This prestigious Awards system is exclusive to the Haute Grandeur brand, and considered without equal because of its method. Unbiased results are guaranteed by placing emphasis on quality feedback from guests, rather than quantity of votes by a panel of judges or general public.
A wealth of experience and thorough understanding of the global hotel and spa Awards industries result from 10 years’ hands-on experience in operations – including her role as Managing Director of two highly successful international luxury hotel & spa Awards brands, and Editor of numerous industry-related publications.
Marinique de Wet, CEO
As a solutions-driven and insightful individual, she identified the need for an absolute transparent rating system due to industry concerns with existing systems in recent years.
“I wanted to improve existing global Awards concepts to offer a more alternative system, where participants are guided on how they can improve on their existing service levels as part of the recognition process”, shares Marinique. “Haute Grandeur Global Hotel Awards is focused on fairness and transparency that form the basis of any credible Awards system.”
The Haute Grandeur Global Hotel Awards promise to raise service delivery levels by means of awarding only the very best in the industry. It aims to focus on hotels that do not want to win the “average” award and celebrates the very best in hotel experiences across 7 continents, 172 countries and 90 categories. Participating hotels are generally seen as the benchmark in the industry as they create awareness about the value and importance of constantly raising the bar of excellence.
The value of a Haute Grandeur Global Hotel Award is powerful in terms of its ability to boost marketing and promises to have a direct impact on guests perceptions and revenue. It provides the much needed inspiration that hotels look for by identifying role model properties across all continents in order to further raise their current levels of service delivery to even greater heights.
The annual Awards Gala Ceremony where winners are revealed, is not only the most dazzling event of the year on the luxury hotel industry calendar, it also highlights the values of leadership, hard work, dedication, ambition and success. This event takes place each year in a different exotic location and offers hoteliers in attendance a new networking opportunities.
The Haute Grandeur Global Hotel AwardsTM provide travelers with a trusted source of Award winning properties to choose from when booking their holidays or business trips, knowing that our winners have been hand-picked and rewarded for overall excellence on many levels. The Awards aims to be regarded as the largest & most trusted Awards initiative in the world with a rating process that is transparent and fair.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 17, 2018 | Business
Listed property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corporation recently inaugurated the DoubleDragon Plaza, the flagship development in the progressive DD Meridian Park in the Bay Area, Pasay City.
DoubleDragon (DD) Plaza, certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), has over 130,000 square meters of leasable space and will form part of the DD Meridian Park complex with 280,000 square meters of leasable space. The property consists of four office towers and will have a capacity of 50,000 employees of its tenants.
Each tower houses seven floors of office space with their own individual elevator lobbies as well as access to the main retail area, which offers an additional 12,000 square meters. Aside from the variety of retail and dining tenants, the property is home to Islas Pinas, an indoor Filipino food and heritage village that showcases Filipino cuisine, culture, and handicrafts.
The DoubleDragon Plaza is the first phase of DoubleDragon’s 4.75-hectare DD Meridian Park. Currently underway is the completion of two more office towers called DoubleDragon Center East and West with a gross leasable space of 30,000 square meters, both slated to be finished within the year. Phases three and four consist of the DoubleDragon Tower, a premium Grade A office building, and the DD-Ascott Meridian Park, a luxury serviced apartment operated by Ascott with more than 300 units.
For more information, visit www.doubledragon.com.ph.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 5, 2018 | Business
In 2016, a fire in Benguet made headlines as it destroyed a warehouse — one that was owned by entrepreneur Kenneth So, and one that provided stable jobs for a lot of workers. So and his team, some of them very loyal employees that had been with him for a long time, could only watch as years of hard work went up in smoke in a matter of hours.
So was grateful that the insurance company he chose — AXA Philippines through its general insurance subsidiary Charter Ping An — swiftly came to his rescue and went the extra mile to process his claim promptly so he could get back on his feet as soon as possible.
So’s business, Granville Corporation Supply Holdings, is a strong player in the competitive supply chain industry. The company plays a key role in the logistics and distribution of fast moving consumer goods across key markets. So employs 400 people to ensure prompt servicing of customers.
The fire destroyed Granville’s four-storey warehouse in La Trinidad, Benguet, and millions of pesos in inventory. Fortunately, So had the foresight to get a comprehensive fire insurance coverage from leading global insurer AXA. His loyal staff also rallied together during a truly trying time. The company is now slowly but surely recovering.
The ease and speed with which So was able to receive his insurance claims and the attentive and dedicated service he received from AXA helped ease his burden. “Now, our warehouse is being rebuilt,” So says. “This is the start of a new beginning.”
So’s experience with AXA is proof of AXA’s unwavering commitment to its customers, backed by superior financial strength and worldwide reach, to be there when it is most needed. It assures clients like So, whose employees and their families count on for their livelihood, can live the life he chooses — free from uncertainty and anxiety, no matter what challenges he has to face.
For more information, visit www.axa.com.ph today.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 3, 2018 | Business
Teen star Andrea Brillantes wears the hottest “Better Than Basic’ products in Careline’s newest television commercial (TVC). Together with the new members of the Careline Gang, the video also features Bloom, Pop and Kiss, three new product concepts that celebrate beauty in diversity.
Bloom
Bloom is all about enhancing the cheeks with Careline’s Oil Control Blush-On, Lip. Cheek and Jelly Tint. The blusher blends perfectly without caking while the lip and cheek tint gives an instant glow without the sticky feel. For a lasting red shade, the Jelly Tint comes in a gel-like formula that easily dries.
Pop
The Pop concept intensifies the eyes with Careline’s Graph-Ink Liner, Best Brow Liner, Go Big and Go Long Mascara. The Graph-Ink liner produces a sharp contrast and definition to the eyes while the Best Brow retractable liner is easy to hold for a fuller and perfectly defined eyebrows. Add volume to your lashes with Careline’s Go Big and Go Long Mascara which glides through the lashes with fine bristles to increase length.
Kiss
Careline’s Kiss concept transforms the lips in various shades with Kiss Sticks, Matte Liquid and Melted Metallic lip colors. The Kiss Sticks (P175) treats the lips to a creamy kissable feel with a flawless matte finish while the Matte Liquid Lipstick (P210) gives a fully pigmented-matte coverage that dries fast and glides evenly with just one swipe.
The new TVC also features this year’s Careline gang composed of Silvana Rauch, Nykhi Arines, Keisha Jao, and Marco Vidal. The winners of Careline’s online model search, apart from their physical attributes all four represents Careline’s campaign for individuality and self-expression.
Be better than basic with Careline, the Filipina teen’s go-to cosmetic brand! For more information, visit their official website http://www.careline.com.ph/, Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CarelineCosmetics/, and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/CarelinePH/.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jul 2, 2018 | Business
I am a teacher and I use Canvas in one of the schools I teach in. In all my years odf teaching I’ve used other LMS such as Moodle and D2L. When I heard about this event I wanted to attend. 🙂
Recently, Canvas held its first community user group in the Philippines at the De La Salle University Henry Sy, Sr. Hall. The meeting connected the first Canvas customers in the Philippines to discuss their use of education technology to transform education provision in their institutions.
Principals and senior leadership from Baliuag University, University of the East, Jose Rizal University, De La Salle Lipa, Centro Escolar University and other schools were present, such as the host College of Computer Studies department at De La Salle University and EdTech leadership from Far Eastern University.
Representatives of De La Salle Lipa
Technology has allowed other industries to compete globally and education is no different, with each institution sharing their strategic visions of how they can and will use education technology to enhance teaching and learning as well as compete for students in the region.
Through their use of the Learning Management System Canvas, each of these Philippine institutions are deepening their adoption of the latest innovations in teaching and learning, such as blended and flipped classrooms, which allows for greater focus on student engagement and personalized learning.
Roselle Basa, Program Coordinator for ICT at UE, was among the attendees who were new to Canvas. UE faculty have been training with the LMS since March, and the system will be deployed in full this year. “Canvas allows us to develop courses that are geared to student-centered strategies. It pushes the envelope of teaching strategies development and helps us avoid being confined to the classroom in a very enjoyable and engaging manner,” Basa said.
Canvas from Instructure was created in response to poor user experience of legacy LMS software by its founders as graduate students. They wanted a more flexible and personalized learning experience, one that was mobile and easy to use and extend with a wide variety of learning resources.
As an open, mobile and native cloud-based platform, Canvas allows students to easily access learning materials, take online tests, collaborate on the move, and drive their own learning journey. Teachers are able to deliver more personalized learning, choose from a wealth of learning resources to deliver a richer learning experience, grade tests more quickly, as well as use data in real time to give feedback on student progress. This approach puts teachers and students at the center of the learning environment rather than the technology.
Julian L. Yballe, Regional Director
Regional Director Julian Yballe also took to the podium to explain Canvas’ view on openness and equity of experience. Instructure envisioned Canvas as endlessly extendable open APIs and the ability to add apps via the LTI standard. This allows teachers to use the vast global resources that exist, exposing students to a huge variety of learning materials in a simple and easy way.
Along with this growing partner ecosystem, the Canvas community of global institutions, helps educators from around the world share ideas and experiences both online and at community events such as this user group session. These leading institutions in the Philippines are now contributing to the community with their founding of the first user group in South East Asia.
Yballe underlined this specific focus on student-centeredness. “The feedback for Canvas from every stakeholder in this teacher and learning environment has been positive. And a lot of it is a combination of timing and how student-centered learning is becoming more of a focus due to two reasons, workforce preparedness, so graduates can contribute immediately, and a more competitive environment for a limited number of students, both locally and globally,” Yballe said.
Troy Martin, APAC VP
What’s next on the roadmap for Canvas? APAC VP Troy Martin spoke of the company’s expansion plans in a post-conference interview.
“We’re excited with the customers that have emerged over the last two years in the Philippines, particularly here in Manila, but we are excited to welcome some new institutions from Cebu City and we look forward to hearing from new institutions contacting Instructure about working with Canvas.”
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Jun 27, 2018 | Business
SM Supermalls scored a total of 21 Stevie Awards in the prestigious Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, bagging two Gold Stevie Awards for SM City Pampanga’s Biggest Lantern of Hope 2018 and for SM City Marilao’s E-LluminArt, under the ‘Innovation in Entertainment Events’ and ‘Innovation in Energy and Sustainability’ categories, respectively.
Silver Stevie Awards received
SM won five Silver Stevie Awards for:
- SM North Edsa’s Art Karnival (under two categories) and Tsum-tacular Christmas,
- SM Mall of Asia’s Philippine International Pyromusical Competition, and
- the Castaway Music Festival 4.
Bronze Stevie Awards received
The malls also clinched 14 Bronze Stevies for:
- SM’s Every day is Play Day (under two categories),
- SM Mall of Asia’s Happiness Day (under two categories),
- SM East Ortigas’ Urban Playground and Kid Conference,
- SM Fairview’s Q Art,
- SM Taytay’s Pet Park,
- the Frozen Factory (Manila and San Lazaro),
- SM Clark’s Pyro Fest,
- SM South Luzon’s Dinos in the Mall,
- the Food Fest (Marilao, Baliwag, Valenzuela, and Sangandaan),
- SM Marilao’s EnterToyment Fest, and
- SM Mall of Asia’s Philippine International Pyromusical Competition.
Jonjon San Agustin, SM Supermalls SVP for marketing
“We are pleased to receive validations of our hard work and passion for creating meaningful stories in the malls. These achievements encourage us to go beyond boundaries in giving our customers a fun and extraordinary mall-going experiences,” said Jonjon San Agustin, SM Supermalls senior vice president for marketing.
Past winners in the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards include global brands such as Sony, Singapore Airline, DHL, Quantas, and Philips, while ABS-CBN Corporation, Manila Electric Company, Maynilad Water, Globe Telecom, and PLDT were notable Philippine brands that were lauded in the past three years.
The Stevies, previously known as The American Business Awards and then The International Business Awards, is the only business awards program that recognizes innovation in the workplace in all 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region. The Stevie Awards are widely considered as the world’s premier business awards that confer recognition for outstanding programs, such as The International Business Awards which is already on its fifteenth year.
For exclusive news about SM Supermalls, visit www.smsupermalls.com or follow SM’s official social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; and get an insider access to all the fun happenings at SM Supermalls nationwide through SM’s Viber Public Chat. Tweet your thoughts, upload and share your photos about your memorable moments at SM, then use its official hashtag #EverythingsHereAtSM.
Discovery Country Suites has been shortlisted along with some of the world’s best hotels for Haute Grandeur’s Global Hotel Awards.
So was grateful that the insurance company he chose — AXA Philippines through its general insurance subsidiary Charter Ping An — swiftly came to his rescue and went the extra mile to process his claim promptly so he could get back on his feet as soon as possible.
Canvas from Instructure was created in response to poor user experience of legacy LMS software by its founders as graduate students. They wanted a more flexible and personalized learning experience, one that was mobile and easy to use and extend with a wide variety of learning resources.
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