| Margie Munsayac, HSMA President (leftmost) and Rose Libongco (rightmost) flank the 2016 Virtus Awards winners – (left-right) Marivic Recio of The Bellevue Hotels and Resorts, Ma. Trixie Ong of Best Western Hotel La Corona Manila, June Kelly Ichinomiya of The Bellevue Hotels and Resorts, and Ann Olalo of Radisson Blu Cebu |
The Virtus Awards’ quest for creativity, innovation and excellence is now on its third year. The multi-category competition offers a unique platform among hotel sales and marketing professionals in the country to tell their stories of excellence and success that resonate well beyond the hotel and resort industry. It acknowledges customer and business-focused strategies as well as innovative and creative programs that bring about measurable results and return on investments to their properties. The Virtus Awards is designed to shift paradigms in hospitality excellence.
The Virtus Awards was launched in 2015 by the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association (HSMA) in collaboration with industry stakeholders. There are three individual awards and one corporate award given out once a year. The individual awards (Associate, Manager and Leader) cover positions in room sales, events management, catering, reservation, public relations and communications, and revenue management. The corporate award recognizes the most outstanding marketing campaign that is built around a single, unified theme.
As the HSMA continues to grow, with 80 member-properties to-date, “the Virtus Awards has propelled the HSMA into another level of advocacy and raised the bar in the delivery of its objective of motivating and encouraging excellence among its ranks.”, quips Ms. Rose Libongco, Chairperson of the Virtus Awards. Rose further adds that “through the annual competition, we hope to ignite the passion and drive of hotels and resorts through their all-important sales and marketing team to excite the market, deliver vigorous business, make hearts beat a little faster, and yes, shake our world.”
Last year, winners were announced in a glittering Awards Ceremony that took place at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center. Ma. Trixie Ong, Sales Accounts and Events Executive of Best Western Hotel La Corona Manila bagged the Associate category while the winners for the Manager and Leader categories both came from The Bellevue Hotels and Resorts - June Kelly Ichinomiya, Assistant Director of Sales for the Japanese Market and Marivic Recio, Group Director of Sales and Marketing, respectively. Radisson Blu Cebu’s “Something Blu, A Wedding of a Kind” was adjudged the most outstanding marketing campaign for 2016. The campaign harnessed customer insights and competitive scanning, combined with creative execution, made a fresh approach possible to a regular topic such as weddings.
“Excellence is one of the most powerful tools in a manager’s toolkit. It is intangible but it produces very tangible results. Also, when you have had a taste of excellence, you cannot go back to mediocrity”, notes Ms. Margie Munsayac, HSMA President.
With a stellar cast of industry leaders and influencers as judges and the steadfast support of industry partners led by the Department of Tourism and its attached agencies, the Virtus Awards gears up to yet another year of celebrating excellence in hotel sales and marketing. Margie adds “The Virtus Awards simply reminds us that perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. The HSMA will continue to forge ahead to make the Virtus Awards leave a mark and the winners be true exemplars of the tourism and hospitality industry.”
Deadline for the submission of Nomination forms is on 15 August 2017. Visit www.hsmaph.com for details or call the Virtus Awards Secretariat at (632) 926.0224 or 0917.8274518.
