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What hoteliers say about Valentine's Day
ADPARA>Over the past several years, affluent lovers and couples in Jakarta, as well as those in other cities in the country, have embraced the tradition of celebrating Valentine's Day, with five-star hotels and restaurants becoming preferred venues
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DPARA>Over the past several years, affluent lovers and couples in Jakarta, as well as those in other cities in the country, have embraced the tradition of celebrating Valentine's Day, with five-star hotels and restaurants becoming preferred venues. How do hoteliers view Valentine's Day and what does Valentine's Day mean to them? Following are views expressed by several hoteliers in town.
Poul Bitsch, General Manager, Borobudur Jakarta
There are varying opinions as to the origin of Valentine's Day. Some experts state that it originated from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. He died on Feb. 14, 269 A.D., the same day that had been devoted to love lotteries. Legend also says that St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer's daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it "From Your Valentine". Other aspects of the story say that Saint Valentine served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Claudius then had Valentine jailed for defying him. In 496 A.D. Pope Gelasius set aside Feb. 14 to honor St. Valentine.
Gradually, Feb. 14 became the date for exchanging love messages and St. Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. The date was marked by sending poems and simple gifts such as flowers.
Nowadays, Valentine's Day is not just for young lovers, but also a day to show your loved one -- wife -- that you still appreciate and love her. It can be with a simple bouquet of flowers, a nice bottle of her favorite perfume, attached to a "love message", or a more elaborate arrangement, including a romantic dinner.
Celebrating Valentine's Day in a good hotel has become more and more in fashion. Not just due to the glitter and luxury of a fine hotel, but even more due to the complete package of romance a hotel can offer.
Arriving late afternoon, checking into a nice hotel room, where a bouquet of roses are placed, together with a nice bottle of wine, set the tone for the evening. Going to the hotel spa, maybe enjoying a relaxing aromatherapy massage and sauna, makes the couple feel just in the right mood, and well prepared for a romantic candlelight dinner in a great restaurant. Following the dinner, they then go to the lounge, listen to romantic music, enjoy a nightcap, before retiring to the room. The final romantic touch is then the breakfast served in bed the next morning, before reality -- and workload -- sets in again.
At the Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, we offer such packages, in numerous variations, and over the years, the hotel has become one of the favorite places for Jakartans to celebrate Valentine's Day, due to our great choice of restaurants, elegant rooms and suites for the night, and all the little extra's we provide for each couple.
Over the years, Valentine's Day has been highly commercialized, but true romantics still look forward to the day, where they are able to show their romantic side, and to truly show their love for their partner.
Richard P. Appelbaum, General Manager, Hotel Mulia Senayan
Celebrating Valentine's Day in a hotel is always special. Indeed, the facilities provided by Hotel Mulia Senayan give couples of all ages an opportunity to choose/select various restaurant venues for celebration. Furthermore, depending on the treat, various packages including spa treatments and accommodations have been prepared for those who wish to extend the Valentine's celebration beyond a romantic dinner.
Valentine's Day is an opportunity to share appreciation within a couple and to remind us all of the importance of having a best half, partner or even friend in good as well as in bad times. We at Hotel Mulia Senayan do our utmost to provide our guests the best ambiance and environment possible to celebrate and indulge moments of mutual love and respect in a couple's life.
Ever since the hotel opened, Valentine's Day has been among the most popular festivities to be celebrated at five-star hotels.
Beside various restaurants available for all type of palates, we do also provide various suite packages with personalized limousine transfer to the hotel, butler service, in-room candlelight dining with a selection of Valentine dinners and various spa treatments to be indulged in at your convenience. The entire ambiance of Hotel Mulia Senayan will be enhanced by our outstanding flower arrangements especially prepare for that occasion by our dedicated florist team from Blossoms.
This year's uniqueness will be the "Very Valentine" Suite Packages, where from your own doorstep we will insure that we afford you an unforgettable Valentine's experience. Furthermore, we have extended our Valentine's Day offer for not only Thursday, Feb. 14, but over the entire weekend to accommodate each individual couple's schedule.
Peter Stettler, General Manager, Grand Hyatt Jakarta
Valentine's Day is aimed at having a memorable night with a person you love in a special place. A night that creates unforgettable memories.
We usually start organizing the Valentine's promotion one month prior to the date, including menu varieties.
We offer various dining experiences in our restaurants, including a romantic dinner in a gazebo by the pool set in a tropical Balinese garden while listening to romantic tunes on an iPod.
Our Sweet Valentine Room Package includes one night accommodation in a Grand Room, dinner for two at our award-winning C's restaurant or Fountain Lounge, strawberries in the room and Tiffany gift voucher valued at Rp 1,500,000.
A day to commemorate your special occasion with your loved ones -- Grand Hyatt Jakarta is the perfect place to do so.
Pierre Perusset, Managing Director, Ritz-Carlton Jakarta
Celebrating Valentine's in a luxury hotel or fancy restaurant has become a tradition for many lovers all around the world. I believe this is also because five-star hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta are able to create some very unique experiences for guests who wish to impress their partner on that very special day.
For me personally, Valentine's is really the perfect time to remind our very special loved ones how much we appreciate their presence, their love, their friendship, their support and then spending quality time together and spoil that special person and make her feel that she is the center of my world!
What makes Ritz-Carlton unique as a venue to celebrate Valentine's?
Imagine ... entering the gorgeous lobby and checking into one of our luxurious suites or spacious grand rooms where rose petals in the shape of a heart, candles burning, French champagne on ice, strawberries with cream and sugar await you, the famous sexy bathroom and bathtub overlooking the city, filled with aromatic water covered with rose petals is just perfect way to celebrate Valentine's. We also offer a truly relaxing spa treatment in total privacy at one of our tropical couple's private villas with outdoor Jacuzzi.
A romantic candlelight dinner is also available in our couple's pool Gazebo with guests being charmed by a solo guitarist while enjoying a private and romantic dining experience prepared by our dedicated chefs or a romantic dinner in our fine dining Portovenere restaurant or Prime Steak House with food prepared by talented foreign chefs. Guests may also visit Mistere Night Club for a nightcap, a bit of a dance or a relaxing evening in our private Karaoke Room, then retire for the night only to be awoken in the morning with a wonderful Ritz-Carton breakfast in the comfort of their bed, perhaps with a flute of champagne.
All of this is crafted and served with love and genuine care by our wonderful Indonesian ladies and gentlemen. This would represent the perfect setting to use the famous French phrase "je t'aime mon amour" (I love you my dearest love).
Dieter Greigeritsch, F&B Director, JW Marriott
We have celebrated Valentine's Day on the 14th of February every year since the opening of the JW Marriott Jakarta in 2001. Not only our JW Marriott Hotel, but worldwide 3,000 Marriott Hotels are celebrating this special event.
The hotel celebrates the occasion on Feb. 14 in the evening. All restaurants at JW Marriott Jakarta will be transformed into romantic settings. There will be romantic tunes to greet our guests and ladies will be presented with a Valentine's gift from the hotel. We also provide a photo memento for our guests with a romantic setting.
All restaurant outlets are unique and have wonderful romantic decorations and table setups. In addition, all restaurant outlets have private rooms and our tables are adorned with candles and beautiful romantic flower arrangements. The food, heart-shaped chocolates, beautiful red cherry color cakes, specialties like pan fried goose liver with black currant sauce, fantastic fresh seafood and more than 1,000 dishes will enrich this special event.
Uniquely, every loving couple will have a choice of food and beverage outlets, which will ensure that every couple leaves satisfied. Among the choices are the Sailendra restaurant, Asuka Japanese Restaurant, Pearl Chinese Restaurant and JW Lounge. Couples can enjoy the best ice cream in the world Haagen Daaz, Lindt chocolate, beautiful music, red roses and state of the art table setups, enabling guests to feel they have enjoyed a fantastic evening.
Valentine's Day is a day for everybody to show their wife, girlfriend, family members, children or friends how much they love them. The loving feeling enjoyed at the hotel will last well past this particular day.
JW Marriott Hotel and its associates want to make sure all loving couples enjoy a wonderful and romantic evening in a five-star environment with the best service, food and beverages and make sure that everybody leaves satisfied.
