Bacolod hotel drives out tourism exec, party of 12

Just as the Asean summits and the Sinulog festival gave tourism in Cebu a boost, tourism in a neighboring province suffered a black eye after no less than a tourism officer and 12 companions were driven out of a hotel in Bacolod City last weekend. Sun-Star Bacolod reported Tuesday that the five, along with eight other local guests, filed a complaint before the city tourism office against the hotel’s manager. In the complaint, the guests accused Orville Ong, owner of Kundutel, of driving them out of the hotel condominium at the Goldenfield Commercial Complex in Bacolod City at 4 a.m. Saturday. Also named in the complaint was front desk officer Sharon Cabañero. La Castellana town tourism officer Apple Embang, one of the complainants, said he plans to file a separate formal complaint before the Department of Tourism Regional office. But Ong denied having berated his guests and maintained that the group was violating hotel policies, adding he is ready to be investigated. Embang said he and his companions checked in at Kundutel at around 9 p.m. last Jan. 12. The party included four of his cousins from London and one from New Zealand, identified only as Rikki. They took two family rooms at P1,500 for each room. Each room is only good for four occupants. When Cabañero asked them why they were more than 10, Embang told her that her group is “willing to pay for the excess persons per room." At the time, Embang said they were going out of the hotel for a night out. “So we just left the hotel without finalizing yet the number of excess persons," he said. When they returned past 3 a.m. Saturday, Embang said they were shocked when Cabañero ordered the guard, a certain Peria, to follow them to their rooms at the second and third floors, respectively, and not to allow excess persons to sleep there. He confronted Cabañero and explained that some of them are not going to sleep in the rooms but will be going home soon. Embang said he explained to Cabañero that they are willing to pay for the excess occupants including the extra beddings. But instead of receiving a courteous answer, Embang said he was shocked when Cabañero insisted not to allow any excess occupants and any extra beddings. In the middle of their argument, Embang said Ong appeared from the 4th floor and shouted, “Get out! Get out! Get out!" “We were shocked. Terribly shocked. We were treated like animals. So we immediately got out of the hotel without even getting our deposit. I can’t believe it. Imagine a hotel manager or owner acting like that?" Embang said. Embang said he felt embarrassed when his cousin Inna Cabales asked him, “Is this tourism in the Philippines?" “I felt insulted because I am also a tourism officer in our town. That’s why we filed a complaint to Elma “Butch’ Gerasmo, one of the senior officers of the City Tourism Office, and Monday we will also lodge a formal complaint to the office of Tourism Regional Director Edwin Trompeta so this case will be given proper attention and investigation," he said. Embang said they also told his aunt Fely Cabales, Inna’s mother, who owns a travel agency in London with Sen. Edgardo Angara as her co-proprietor about the Bacolod incident. But Ong refuted Embang’s statement, saying he only told the group to move out of their hotel “so there will no longer be (any) problem." Ong admitted raising his voice when he confronted the group but denied berating them or shouting bad words at them. He said Embang and his group went beyond the limit of their hotel’s policy so he said he has no choice but to request that they leave the hotel immediately. Ong explained that at Kundutel he doesn’t allow overcrowding in a room, “excess is only limited to one person per room and visitors are not allowed inside the hotel beyond 12 midnight." “I think Sharon explained the policy beforehand but they still insisted and they were noisy. They kept on banging the doors of their occupied rooms. When Sharon told me about it, that's the time that I confronted his group and asked them to move out of the hotel," Ong said. - GMANews.Tv