The eggs benedict, the hotel’s specialty breakfast entrée, dripping in rich Hollandaise sauce and beautifully served with sprigs of asparagus, was truly a magnificent highlight to my breakfast amidst the cool, crisp mountain air and the lush, scenic view of pine trees. It was a morning to behold, just like it had been two years ago when I savored my first breakfast in Le Monet, the luxuriously quaint boutique hotel located within Camp John Hay in Baguio City.

Opened in February 2012, Le Monet Hotel is named after the great French impressionist painter Claude Monet, who, with a passion for gardening as well as for colors, lived out the last half of his life in his house in Giverny, France, turning his flower and water gardens into masterpieces from which the hotel takes conceptual inspiration.

Recognized as a four-star establishment and accredited by the Department of Tourism, the hotel is one among several properties of ArtStream Hospitality Management Group, Inc. (AHMGI) and is a proud partner of Worldhotels, an exclusive group of independent hotels, bringing in together a handpicked portfolio of almost 500 properties in 250 destinations and 65 countries across the world.

LIFE IMITATING ART
Claude Monet’s works were a demonstration of visual delight, his subjects being prolific depictions of countryside scenes; his painting technique, a masterful play of brush strokes and colors. In the same way, the Le Monet Hotel property is a delightful experience in aesthetic refinery, with a location set against Baguio’s countryside backdrop of pine forests and mountain greenery, and a property designed with a contemporarily luxurious flair of high class facilities and amenities. The suites and bedrooms, dapper in carpeted flooring and dark wood panels, and each fitted with a veranda that afforded guests a beautiful vista of the surrounding forest and park, exuded a very homey and cozy ambience. From the hotel’s 71 rooms, guests can avail of several accommodation types, namely Deluxe Twin, Junior Suite, Deluxe King and the One Bedroom Suite.

“We always believe in gracious hosting. That’s the spirit, that is the unique proposition of Le Monet Hotel compared to other facilities or accommodation providers in the city,” Charmaine Joy “CJ” De Guzman, Le Monet’s hotel manager, said when I asked her what distinguishes the hotel from all the other accommodations in the City of Pines. From the charmingly landscaped surrounding gardens, to the artistically crafted chandelier made of 30,000 glass crystals hanging over the hotel lobby, to the elegantly designed guest rooms and the first-class amenities (such as an indoor heated swimming pool, holistic spa with gym, and state-of-the-art conference halls), Le Monet is, in many ways, a real work of art.

CULINARY ARTISTRY
Even the food served at Le Monet is an artistic expression catering to the taste and palette of its guests. Boasting a carefully designed menu of traditional and international cuisines, all made from fresh and locally-sourced produce, Le Monet has defined itself to be a favorite dining establishment.

Though the food served at Le Monet is mainly French cuisine, local dishes such as such as bagnet and pinakbet nonetheless also feature prominently in the menu. It is this pliancy to its clientele’s preference that brought about the diversity and creativity in Le Monet’s food offerings, which include, among its many highlights, signature dishes such as almond encrusted salmon, Pinoy salad with talbos ng kamote (sweet potato leaves), kaldereta (meat stewed in vegetables and liver paste), and shabu-shabu (Japanese hotpot dish of thinly sliced meat and vegetables boiled in water). It also serves what is regarded to be Baguio City’s “Best Breakfast Buffet” with an assortment of delectable morning fare of French toasts, fresh fruit jams, eggs, freshly brewed coffee and whole leaf tea.

Le Monet Hotel also has its own bakery dedicated to creating exquisite artisan bread and pastries. Employing traditional baking techniques and high quality ingredients sourced from local and international suppliers, Le Monet Bakery prides itself in its understanding that crafting excellent bread and pastries take time and devotion, with their bakers letting their sourdough starter do its job while kneading it with caring hands.

PASSION FOR SERVICE
Complementing the hotel’s patent air of elegance and refinement, Le Monet Hotel’s staff is perhaps the primary element that breathes into the place its soul and character.

“It’s not all about the property itself. It’s all about the people. It’s all about the service,” CJ emphasized. “I would really want to focus the Le Monet Hotel brand to be known because of the gracious hosting that we always deliver every day. So even if we have the best food, the best product, the best facility, the best location, but if we don’t have the core or the heart of the service, we are nothing. So for me, I want to focus on the tag line of Le Monet Hotel, which is ‘your gracious host in Baguio City.’”

As testament to Le Monet staff’s dedication to personalized service, CJ then went on to recount how the hotel’s garden area, with its walkway and cabanas, has witnessed many intimate receptions, and how the hotel has been regarded by many guests as almost family.

“These cabanas here have been witnesses to the ‘yes’ of so many marriage proposals, and even us, the personnel here at Le Monet, are likewise affected by all the emotions of all of these,” CJ told. She then further recounted how some of their guests, from starting off as sweethearts, have come back time and again, eventually as fiancées and then as parents. She noted the continuity drawn out from the relationships that were fostered in Le Monet. “Our guests’ first experience of this place is very important, and it’s true what they say that first impressions last. So they became our family, not only our customers.”

YOUR COOL, COUNTRYSIDE HOME
Baguio City has always been a staple destination for leisurely escapes, always the scenic refuge with its cool breeze and relaxing mountain countryside setting. It has served as a muse for artists, a refuge for lovers, and a waypoint for pilgrims. In the same way that the celebrated French impressionist painter found his domicile and delight in his gardens in Giverny, guests at Le Monet Hotel likewise can find a home amidst refined beauty.

“It’s all about the people. It’s all about the service. It’s all about location. It’s all about food. It’s all about the artistry that you can see around Le Monet Hotel,” CJ empathically expressed. It was this fervent ethos of pride in one’s work and dedication to customer service that endeared me to this place when I first came here two years ago. And it was this very same ethos with which Le Monet welcomed me back upon my return. In the same way that Claude Monet left behind masterpieces for people to enjoy, the people that make up Le Monet hotel has similarly made an enthralling work of art.