SIENATEL

Imagine a hotel managed and administered by religious sisters. About fifteen minutes drive from Puerto Princesa Airport, by the bay of Palawan, is the Holy Trinity University Sienatel Training Hotel. Holy Trinity University, which will celebrate its 75th foundation anniversary next year, is owned and administered by the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena.

Along the South National Highway in Tiniguiban is an imposing entrance gate that leads to a Medditeranean inspired complex more popularly known in Puerto Princesa as Sienatel. Barely a year old, Sienatel was inaugurated and blessed by no less than the good bishop of the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Princess, Most Rev. Pedro D. Arigo,DD on September 8, 2013. It was built in fulfillment of one of the requirements for the course in Hotel and Restaurant Management being offered by Holy Trinity University.

Conceptualized by three young architects, who are graduates of the University of Santo Thomas in Manila, Sienatel sits on a seven hectares property which used to be a barren land. In it was a modest facility where the students of Holy Trinity University held their retreats and other overnight activities. Today, Sienatel has twenty seven rooms, in varying classifications such as Suite, Deluxe, Superior and Family Rooms. Each room is well designed and fully furnished, just like any other hotel. The lobby is classy yet simple, with the front office on the right and a small prayer room on the left.  Beyond the lobby is a restaurant and a terrace overlooking the bay beyond the mangroves. There is a cafe and bar at the second floor and several function rooms which can accommodate between ten and twentyfive guests. A large hall located below the lobby and restaurant can accommodate about two hundred guests. With an in house chef and an fabled staff, Sienatel can accommodate and cater food for various occasions such as weddings, birthdays, seminars and workshops, among others.

Students of Holy Trinity University who are taking up Hotel and Restaurant Management hold their laboratory courses at Sienatel like housekeeping, baking, bartending and food and beverage. It is also in Sienatel that they fulfill the required number of hours for their on the job training. The university also has an extension program called “Tulong Sa Kabataan”,  which offers a six months course to enable them to work as staff in the hotel and restaurant industry. At least a handful of graduates from Holy Trinity University and its extension program are now employed at Sienatel.