LAST New Year, my family and I tried something new and different, spending the start of the year outside the country, firecracker- and accident-free in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a first for all of us. We just watched the magnificent fireworks show at the iconic Petronas Towers.

This year, we still had the same mindset, again opting to spend it outside our home (but not outside the country), this time a New Year’s Eve countdown at the prestigious Manila Hotel for an incomparable evening of feast and festivities in a manner worthy of the country’s oldest bastion of hospitality.

Manila Hotel was opened for the first time to the public on July 4, 1912. The original $700,000 hotel, also the country’s first air-conditioned building, was designed in the California Missionary-style by American architect William Parsons in 1910. At the time, this magnificent white-walled, green tile-roofed edifice had 149 spacious, high-ceiling rooms. Its fifth floor penthouse, designed by architect Pedro Luna (son of painter Juan Luna), was from 1935 to 1941 the home of Gen. Douglas MacArthur (its first chairman of the board), his wife Jean and son Arthur.

The hotel played host to author Ernest Hemingway (who said “It’s a good story if it’s like Manila Hotel”), actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Edward, then Prince of Wales and later the King of England; playwright Claire Boothe Luce and, during the Japanese Occupation, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita. During the liberation of Manila, it was severely damaged by room-to-room fighting. Reopened on July 4, 1946, it hosted author James A. Michener, actors Bob Hope, Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, John Wayne, Tyrone Power and Burgess Meredith; US Secretary John Foster Dulles, US Sen. Robert Kennedy, British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, the Rockefeller brothers, publisher Henry Luce, King of Pop Michael Jackson, US Vice President Richard Nixon, US Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson, the Beatles and other notable personalities.

In 1977, the hotel underwent a $30,000,000 renovation with an 18-story tower, designed by the late National Artist Architect Leandro V. Locsin, built behind the old building. The lavish interiors were done by Americans Patricia and Dale Keller and the renovated hotel reopened on October 6, 1977.

We made our own grand entrance at the hotel’s main lobby on the afternoon of December 31. The 125 ft. (38 m.) long by 25 ft. (7.6 m) wide main lobby, lined with white Doric columns, was designed, not only for making grand entrances but for sitting as well, its furniture carved with Philippine mahogany. The lobby floors are made of Philippine marble while the ceiling is lined with chandeliers made of brass, crystal and seashells. Traditional Filipino art also adorns its walls.

The hotel that day was 90 percent booked for the countdown, with a long queue at the check-in counter, and it took some time before we finally checked into our fourth-floor Sunset Suite, one of 570 traditionally decorated and elegantly furnished rooms that reflect the hotel’s storied past blended with the conveniences of a modern luxury hotel. Our suite had two bedrooms, a dining area and a living area.

Amenities here include individually controlled air conditioning, remote-controlled TV with cable channels, minibars, separate bath and toilet with extension phone, and secure in-room safes. Our suite had a bird’s eye view of Manila’s famous sunset, the harbor, Manila Ocean Park and the historic Luneta and Quirino Grandstand.

Once settled in, we then went down for our crossover buffet dinner (6 to 9 pm) which extends through all the hotel’s celebrated food and beverage outlets: Cafe Ilang-Ilang, Champagne Room, Mabuhay Palace (an impeccable Chinese restaurant), Tap Room Bar and Lobby Lounge. That night, it was not a choice of which restaurant to go to, but, rather, which restaurant to visit first.  We first chose the famous Cafe Ilang-Ilang which was recently renovated and launched as a three-period meal buffet restaurant. It opens to the newly renovated Pool and Garden areas and boasts of nine live cooking stations.

Here, we faced a stunning and wide array of Filipino and international cuisine (Korean, Japanese, Indian, etc.), tried-and-true dishes prepared by Filipino and foreign chefs, all backed by years of professional experience in acclaimed restaurants around the world. To fully enjoy the cafe’s stellar main courses, we ate small portions of everything. Dessert was scoops of gelato ice cream, pastries and fresh fruits.

After our filling buffet dinner, we next moved on to the Tap Room Bar for dessert and brewed coffee. We capped our evening with the New Year’s Eve Countdown at the lobby where, prior to bidding farewell to 2011 and counting the seconds to 2012, we enjoyed live entertainment, with music and dancing provided by the Filipinas Band.