Fresh from making rounds at the The Lind Boracay, I managed to sit down and chat with Pierre Henrichs, COO of The Lind Hotels, just before my flight back to Manila. He started as the General Manager of The Lind Boracay when it opened in 2015, and prior to that, had worked across several brands in Europe and Asia. During our conversation, he shared some exciting updates that both travel and hotel lovers can look forward to.
An interview with Pierre Henrichs, COO of The Lind Hotels
There are a lot of luxury properties here in Boracay. What makes The Lind Boracay distinct?
(Photo: The Lind Boracay)
As a brand, we try not to compare ourselves with others. We are aware of the things we do well, and acknowledge what other hotels do well. I think, in terms of location, one of our biggest advantages is this beautiful spot on the island that we were lucky to secure. After the 2018 Boracay closure [for rehabilitation], many hotels, in particular in Station 2, were in violation of the DENR requirement that establishments must be at least 40 feet away from the shoreline. Fortunately, when we developed the hotel, we did not build up to the shoreline, which makes us the only hotel with a wide private beach. If you go to the neighbouring hotels, they don’t have that – only the public beach, so anybody can just go there and hang out.
And last year, we received a lot of recognition – one of them is from the MICHELIN Guide. We were the first and only hotel in Boracay to receive it, so we were extremely humbled by that because it’s a nice recognition for the team, for everything we do, and I guess, for the positive response from the market.
What do you want guests to take away from a stay at The Lind?
The owners and founders of the company, including myself, are very passionate about travelling, staying at beautiful places, and eating in very good restaurants. We always look through a guest’s lens and think of what our guests and we would enjoy most. Then we try to really deliver that in terms of service.
We never say we are a luxury or 5-star hotel, but always use the term lifestyle hotel because we want to create an experience for the guests. The hotel doesn’t have a classic concierge or reception department. We call it Guest Experience because it’s all about that. It’s deeply embedded in our brand. For example, our room attendants write little notes for the guests. Every touchpoint with a guest, as much as possible, we try to personalise it.
People come here, most of them, for vacation. They just want to relax. If a guest wants to just read his book, then our F&B team won’t initiate small talk. But we also have guests who come here to travel alone and like to talk to our employees. If that’s the case, our colleagues will go and speak to them more frequently.
The product, the location, the design, we have all that. But we also think about how we can make the guest journey different. What we really want is for the guests to have a good time, so that’s what we try to achieve. It’s all incorporated in our service sequence. We have a lot of return guests, so it just shows that people are happy overall with what we do.
How do you ensure every guest experience feels fresh at The Lind Boracay?
Yím Thai Restaurant
We try to continuously upgrade our facilities. Last year, we opened a new Thai restaurant – Yím – to elevate our culinary journey. We also do a lot of events, and are currently developing more event spaces, a little away from the public area of the hotel. You know, when there’s a wedding, for example, hotel guests who are not attending won’t want to hear the best man’s speech. The Gallery, our newly opened indoor space, has good soundproofing, so if people want to do an after-party, they can do that without disturbing other hotel guests.
Also, we spend a lot of time doing research and development for our menus. So, for example, our Western menus change regularly. I know many hotels don’t do that; they just have the same menu for four years. For us, what we do is that each restaurant changes its menu three times a year. We don’t change 100% of the menu, but on average, about 30%. So by the end of the year, the menus will have been fully refreshed.
We also always have some sort of in-house promotions. There are Spanish-themed nights with giant paella at the beach, or barbecue nights, or we feature curries from around the world (India to Thailand to Malaysia). We have a European chef, so we’re also a little bit inspired by European cuisine. Our offerings are exciting so guests can enjoy the experience more.
Are there any expansions planned over the next few years?
Absolutely. We have two major projects in Siargao and Coron. Both destinations are underdeveloped, so when we arrive there, we don’t have any competitors. There are a lot of small hotels with 20 or 30 rooms – some of them are quite nice. And then you have a lot of Bed and Breakfasts. But there aren’t any lifestyle or premium brands, so we will be the first.
The Lind Siargao is going to be smaller than The Lind Boracay, with 60 rooms. We have the regular rooms and also lofts, which will be our premium room categories with beach access and private pools. Similar to Boracay, we will have the Yím and Crust restaurants. There will be a separate building for events for approximately 150 to 200 people, depending on the settings. So we will be the only ones, at least at this stage, to have an event space with that capacity. We will have a nice rooftop space, and of course, the beach, for ceremonies or outdoor events. And finally, a smaller function room for about 40 people, similar to The Gallery here.
And how about Coron?
Coron, Palawan
As for Coron… I’ve been there, as well as El Nido, done activities in both, and I found Coron just so much nicer – the diving, island hopping, and it’s just less developed. They say as a parent, you shouldn’t have a favourite child, but maybe between the three properties, I would say, Coron is the one I’m most passionate about. It’s very remote, and this is what I like about it. For people who go to a destination to really relax, where there are not many people, and just like that style of vacation, then this is the place to go.
We have the main house, where we will have the restaurants, infinity pool, spa, the banqueting facilities, and outdoor spaces. And then we have our entry-level rooms, but I don’t like to use that term because these rooms in Coron are like our premium rooms here [in Boracay]. We start with a Sea View, so it’s premium, and then it just goes upwards from there. And then we have the five houses (Sea Premier) with a different configuration, but the view is the same. The hotel is on a peninsula, so even our storage has a sea view.
Now I understand why the Coron property is your favourite. Is there anything else?
What’s unique about The Lind Coron is that we have villas. So we kind of operate two resorts in one. The villas will have elevated service – there will be a dedicated villa host, which is similar to a butler concept. If you would like something, the villa host will take care of it. The villa host will also accompany the housekeeping to clean the rooms. And if the guests order in villa dining, the villa host will go with the F&B team to set up and serve the food. It’s a very different level of service compared to the main hotel.
And of course, the activities. Currently, we are building a dive centre. I mean, it’s not just a dive centre, but an activity centre. We will have non-motorised water sports like canoes, paddle boards, diving, and snorkelling. And if guests would like to do island hopping, we can get the boats to take them to some private beaches. We also have a pickleball court and other land activities. And then, of course, we have Juno, our kids’ club that will have activities for the children, as well as teenagers. So overall, it will be a very different experience there.
That all sounds really exciting! Do you plan to open The Lind Coron this year or next year?
I can’t give you an exact date, but we are doing everything we can. It would be great if we could have a soft opening this year. We are probably going to open with a small number of rooms first. Because it’s all new, it will take some time for our team to familiarise themselves with the facilities. If you open everything at once, you might not deliver the level of service the guests expect. From there, we can gradually open the rest. There will be 91 rooms and villas in total.
You have lived and worked in different places like Germany, Canada, Switzerland and the Maldives, and now here in the Philippines. What do you think is special about it that you haven’t seen somewhere else?
Everywhere you go, you will always find Filipinos working in the hospitality and healthcare industries – anything customer-facing. And why is that? Because I think the service culture is something deeply embedded, it’s just part of their DNA. I’ve been to many places, finished contracts, and moved on to another country. But here’s where I stayed the longest. I came here in 2015, and I’m still here. My daughter was also born here, so it just feels like home. You just feel welcome. Everything is positive. Wherever you go, you see a smile.
There’s this thing called cultural training where we train staff on how to smile and greet guests. But it’s something you don’t need to implement in the Philippines. They do it here naturally. Even the security guards in the malls will greet you with a smile. And to be honest, that’s what really makes the Philippines stand out.
Learn more about The Lind Hotels
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