Torch is passed

He stressed that his job was to continue the legacy of all the general managers before him — to keep the hotel on the path that was set out for it from the day it opened its doors 43 years ago.

A TOAST to a new leadership. Mark Choon passes to his successor Masahisa Oba his role as general manager of The Peninsula Manila.

And so it came to pass. It was time for Mark Choon to pass on the torch to his successor, Masahisa Oba, as The Peninsula Manila’s new general manager before he left for Tokyo to assume his post as general manager of the Peninsula in the Japanese capital.

It was an evening filled with reminiscing and gratitude as Mark thanked the people who had made his Manila sojourn so memorable — from the support he’d received from The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Ltd. (HSH) chief operating officer (COO) Peter Borer who flew in that morning from Hong Kong for the affair, his hotel team and all the friends he’d made in the past four years.

Manila was his first general manager’s post and he shared that The Peninsula Manila had turned out to be the wonderful training ground for new general managers that he had been told it would be by his predecessors.

In his welcome speech, the new general manager Masahisa Oba said that he was not a stranger to Manila and the Philippines, so moving to Manila and taking on the mantle of general manager of The Peninsula Manila was a bit of a homecoming for him.

“This is not my first journey to the Philippines. I worked in Manila years ago and was enchanted by both the people and the culture,” he enthused.

He stressed that his job was to continue the legacy of all the general managers before him — to keep the hotel on the path that was set out for it from the day it opened its doors 43 years ago on 14 September 1976.

Oba closed his speech by recounting a piece of advice given to him by Borer when he learned of his posting to Manila: “‘Once you do Manila, you can do anything.’ I think he is a great testament to that since he is now the COO!!!”