Q1: Your had a ‘trinity’ policy of ‘no smoking, no drinking and a compulsory Bible study’ in your Laguna resort. What was the insight behind this unique policy? What made you soften on this policy?
A: The “trinity policy” of no smoking, no drinking and a compulsory Bible study was made at the onset when Caliraya Resort Club was established. Caliraya Resort Club was set up in 1992 to be the top of mind choice destination for both spiritual and physical recreation. Our resort’s theme verse was 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
We wanted a haven for people looking for a “safe” place to have wholesome fun and to reconnect with Jesus; a place that is far away from the buzz and busyness of everyday life. A lot of our infrastructure was built around this purpose, namely spiritual rejuvenation (The House of Prayer, Pool that can be used for Baptism, Valley Theater, etc) and physical recreation (Sky Bicycle, Wave Pool, Slide & Fly, Super Slide, Mud Slide, Zipline, Free Fall, Earth Ball, Zorb Ball, Basketball, Swimming Pool, Wall Climbing, etc) in a lush green scenery of lake and mountain resort.
During the late 90s, Caliraya Resort Club started gaining popularity not only amongst the religious groups, but amongst families and corporations as well. Our niche positioning of spiritual, physical recreation in a wholesome lush environment attracted more than we can imagine. The high demand drove us to eventually soften the policy by setting up smoking areas in the resort, offering minimal drinks and offering bible study as non-compulsory.
Q2: What are challenges running this resort?
A: By God’s grace, our challenge has always been the high demand for bookings, specifically :
1. Sustaining record breaking sales year after year.
2. Handling clients whom we need to refuse booking
3. Increasing resort capacity
Q3: Who is your primary target market? Where do you find your prospects?
A: While our primary target market are corporate accounts, we also serve schools, churches, government accounts, families, and barkadas (youth)
Given we are blessed with a strong brand awareness as a Resort, most of the inquiries find us instead of us finding them. This is due to our strong awareness campaigns driven by our distribution of millions of fans in high traffic areas, online presence and bus ads along key thoroughfares. We also have above-the-line advertising through TV.
Q4: What’s the Brand DNA of Caliraya resort? If he or she is your best friend, describe Caliraya Resort?
A: If Caliraya is my best friend, she is a “fun, fun, fun” companion, always looking for a way to delight you, surprise you and excite you! She is into wholesome and Christian, good clean fun!
Q5: What’s your capacity per day? How many bedrooms do you have?
A: Capacity per day is around 1,000 persons who can stay overnight and 1,500 persons for daytour. Number of Bedrooms is around 150.
Q6: What’s your employee profile like? Are they required to be devout Christian?
A: They are fun loving, service oriented people who aim to delight each and every customer with a smile.
There are not required to be devout Christians but are welcome to attend our weekly bible studies especially scheduled for them.
Q7: Other than being wholesome, what do you have? What is your uniqueness as a resort?
A: Aside from wholesome fun, we also have fun adventure and extreme sports.
Our amenities include the following :
1. Sky Bicycle- Ride a bicycle in the sky, 80 feet high
2. Wave Pool – Swim in a pool that produces waves like an ocean
3. Super Slide- Experience a 550 feet slide of pure happiness
4. Free Fall – Jump off safely from a platform 40 feet high
5. Slide and Fly- Ride along a slide that makes you fly up and land with a big splash at the pool
6. Zipline-Glide from platform to platform suspended on cables high above the ground
7. Wall Climbing – Climb up walls like Spiderman
Sky bicycle
Free fall
Zipline
Q8: What is your vision for the resort?
What are your success or performance metrics?
A: Vision : To be the most inspiring and exciting resort that helps bring people closer to God and to one another.
Key performance indicators are :
1. Number of Guests (New)
2. Number of Guests (Repeat)
3. Revenue
4. Average Revenue per Guest
