I had a meeting at The Heritage Hotel, and this brought back a lot of happy memories. The hotel used to be the Regent of Manila, and I remember Kong and Gwammy would bring us there for eat-all-you-can afternoon merienda treats for P18 per person (you heard it right). In the late seventies, we used to party at Q, their discotheque, and we stayed there until the wee hours of the morning.
We were shocked when the Regent burned down, and when property was put to bidding by the banks, I remember consolidating a bid for it with some Hong Kong investment companies. Our group lost the bid by a mere P20 million, and the hotel went to the CDL group, which now owns the hotel through listed company Grand Plaza Hotel Corporation.
The hotel used to house the PAGCOR Casino until late last year; I understand that the recent opening of bigger private casinos in the bay area have prompted the government to down size their casino operations. The facilities are still in good shape, although the architectural design is distinctly nineties, and would be ripe for a renovation in a few year's time.
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