Providing venues to dine, wine, or even satisfy gustatory cravings has become as important as ensuring lodgings so that hotels can be of better service to guests. That's why the Food & Beverage department is among the top priorities in this line of business.

Novotel Manila Araneta City, for one, takes the objective earnestly and gets applauded for its efforts. Small wonder then that it topped the F&B category in the ACCOR Asia Awards for 2023. Accor is considered a leading hospitality group in the world with more than 5,200 properties and 10,000 food and beverage venues. Novotel Manila Araneta City is the first Novotel brand of the Accor Group in the Philippines.

To celebrate its recent win, the four-star hotel located in the Cubao district of Quezon City hosted Tea & Triumphs: An Afternoon of Celebration with Food & Beverage's Best on 25 March.

"We are extremely pleased with reaching this milestone, thanking our colleagues for the dedication and hard work in meeting our goal of satisfying our guests," said F&B director May Malagamba. "This achievement proves our commitment to providing exceptional F&B services and products for our corporate clients and loyal hotel guests."

For Novotel Manila Araneta City cluster general manager Maria Manlulu-Garcia's part, it's a "great honor to be recognized by Accor as this year's Best F&B performance not only in the Philippines but to the rest of the region."

She then gave credit to all the hotel employees, who are called Heartists, for the "creativity, dedication and passion on providing guest experiences an extra mile during their stay and visit with us." She also praised the team for exemplifying "Accor's DNA in continuously building a long-term loyalty for all hotel guests and stakeholders."

The occasion also gave the spotlight to the Heartists behind the hotel's signature dining outlets and those running the venues for meetings and banquets. They proudly and gladly served representative food and beverage items from Food Exchange Manila, Gourmet Bar by Novotel, Indulge Gelato, The 6th Manila and Prana Indian Cuisine.