Opening December 2026

Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila

Name: Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila
Address: Manila, Philippines

Mandarin Oriental's return to Manila after the original Makati hotel closed in 2014

Manila, Philippines

Get notified when it opens

The day it opens + our first honest verdict. No paid placements. Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

First look

Mandarin Oriental is heading back to Manila. The brand shut its original Makati hotel in 2014, and this new property brings it back to the same district, with around 275 to 276 rooms set above Ayala Triangle Gardens. The dates are a little fuzzy: the official site points to November 2026, while developer Ayala Land cites December 14, 2026, so we're calling it late 2026 until the two line up.

Not yet scored. We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — this is a first look, not a verdict.

What we'll be watching

We haven't stayed yet — here's what will decide whether it lands when we do.

Whether the return narrative holds up on the ground. Mandarin Oriental operated in Manila from 1976 until 2014, so this is a comeback story the brand is leaning into hard. Whether the new property earns that weight, or just borrows it, is the first thing we'll be watching.
Whether the opening date actually sticks. Ayala Land's own bond prospectus quietly mentioned 2027 at one point, and construction progress slipped before recovering — the developer has since reaffirmed late 2026, but that kind of setback leaves a margin for further slippage.
Whether five dining venues spread across one urban hotel deliver on the promise. The official site describes modern Cantonese, Filipino, and international concepts across five outlets. That's a real dining program for a 275-room city hotel — and city hotels in Manila face a sharp local restaurant scene. We'll be watching whether it pulls diners in from outside or just feeds guests.
Whether the Filipino-wellness angle reads as genuine or cosmetic. The spa is built around indigenous healing traditions — Hilot massage and Philippine botanical treatments — which is a more specific, grounded proposition than the usual luxury-spa menu. The 25-metre outdoor pool over Ayala Triangle Gardens is the other test: city-hotel pools live or die on access and atmosphere, not size.

First look · gallery

Renderings & press imagery, courtesy of the hotel — details may change before opening.

Sofie, who runs the Fat Voyage booking desk with Nicolas

Want us to get you in when it opens?

Nothing to book yet — rates usually load a few months out. We're Sofie and Nicolas; tell us roughly what you're after and we'll come back the moment Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila is bookable, with rates, what the rooms are actually like, and whether we'd go in the first season.

You'll be dealing with the two of us the whole way through, which is why we only take on a handful of trips at a time — if we're full, we'll say so. We reply by email, usually within one working day. The hotel pays us, not you: your rate is the same as booking direct, and the perks come on top.

Before it opens

When does Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila open?

The hotel is slated to open in late 2026, with December 2026 the date most widely cited by press and the developer Ayala Land. The timeline has shown some movement — Ayala Land's own bond prospectus referenced a 2027 opening before the company publicly reaffirmed 2026, and construction progress slipped at one point before recovering — so treat it as expected rather than fixed.

Where is Mandarin Oriental Makati located?

It sits above Ayala Triangle Gardens at the corner of Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas in Makati, the Philippines' financial district. The hotel is reported to be about 15 minutes by car from Manila's international airport.

Is this Mandarin Oriental's first hotel in the Philippines?

It will be the brand's only property in the country when it opens. Mandarin Oriental operated an earlier Manila hotel from 1976 until 2014, so this is a return after a 12-year absence rather than a debut — and it reopens on a different site within the same Ayala Triangle area.

How many rooms will Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila have?

The hotel will have 275 rooms and suites, spread across a roughly 99-metre tower above Ayala Triangle Gardens. Rooms start at around 50 square metres, with club-floor options that include access to a dedicated lounge and 24-hour butler service.

What restaurants and facilities will it have?

Five dining and bar concepts are planned, spanning modern Cantonese, Filipino, and international cuisine alongside cocktail bars. The wellness floor covers around 800 square metres and draws on indigenous Filipino healing traditions including Hilot massage; a 25-metre outdoor pool overlooks the gardens and Makati skyline. Event space includes a grand hall that reportedly accommodates up to 1,000 guests. No named architect or interior designer has been confirmed in official press materials.

Will Fat Voyage score Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila?

We publish a Fat Score only once a hotel is open and real guests have stayed and written about it — drawn from luxury travel communities, editorial publications, and verified guests, never paid placements. This is a first look, not a verdict; we'll score it once there's enough independent signal to be fair.

Open now

What you can book today

Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila is still under wraps. Here's what's already open and scored in our collection — more from Mandarin Oriental, and nearby in Philippines.

Fat Legend

Mandarin Oriental

Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand

Almost every recent stay circles back to the same thing: people mention the river view or the cake shop, but what they actually write paragraphs about is what the staff did for them. A butler who arrives even after you cancel the call button. A therapist who remembers your name after a two-year gap. A pastry chef's grandmother of a bakery counter that still, once in a while, gets the tone wrong with a tired customer at 5pm on a Sunday. The service here is the whole case, and it holds up across a genuinely large and busy operation, which is the harder trick. The building is the trade-off worth pricing in honestly: this is a nearly 140-year-old hotel with three separate wings, and the river-wing rooms run smaller than what Capella or the Four Seasons across town now offer for similar money. A few guests who'd stayed at all three Bangkok heavyweights called the standard rooms dated next to the newer builds, and the location, while gorgeous for breakfast on the water, means real traffic time getting anywhere off property. The Chao Phraya setting is either the whole point or a genuine inconvenience, depending on whether you're happy staying largely on property. Book it for the history, the butlers, the spa and gym (recently redone with an ice plunge that regulars rave about), and Le Normandie or Baan Phraya for dinner. Skip it if you want the biggest room in Bangkok or need to be five minutes from Sukhumvit's nightlife — travellers chasing modern scale and outdoor space tend to land at Capella instead. For everyone else, book it for the boat ride, the breakfast terrace, and the staff who make the whole thing feel personal.

Fat Legend

Mandarin Oriental

Mandarin Oriental, Tokyo

Tokyo, Japan

A room here runs large by Tokyo standards, and that's before the staff start doing the things that make people write paragraphs about a hotel stay. A duty manager met one couple at 11pm during a typhoon and personally walked them to their room; a guest experience host found out it was someone's birthday and had a cake waiting, then came down in person to help sort their taxi at checkout. That's not an isolated nice touch. It's the operating standard, and it shows up whether you're at the front desk, the spa, or three drinks into a night at the Mandarin Bar. The Pizza Bar on 38th is the hardest reservation in the building, an eight-seat counter serving two sittings a day, and it's good enough that people rank it against pizza in Naples and Manhattan. The spa has a jet pool with a night view over the city that a few guests plan their whole evening around, and breakfast pastries get name-checked almost as often as the staff do. The rooms themselves are the trade-off worth knowing about going in: some guests flagged dated bathroom fittings and equipment that wasn't fully working, which is a fair ask at this rate. It's also not the most central address in the city, sitting in Nihonbashi rather than Ginza proper, though the subway is right there. Book it for a Tokyo stay built around food and genuine hospitality rather than the newest building in town; the Okura and Aman Tokyo get raised constantly by people who've done both, usually on design terms rather than service ones. If you want the newest rooms in the city, that's a fair reason to look elsewhere. If you want staff who remember your name on a second visit and a pizza reservation worth fighting for, this is where you book.

Fat Favorite

Mandarin Oriental

Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong

Hong Kong, China

This is Central, not Kowloon, and that's the first decision to make before anything else: you're a walkway from Landmark's restaurants rather than surrounded by mall culture, and if you want to spend your days on Hong Kong Island rather than crossing the harbour, that alone settles it. The building is old-school in the way that means something here: the doormen and front-desk staff get named constantly and specifically, not for grand gestures but for small ones, a lobby ambassador remembering an elderly guest in a wheelchair, a receptionist quietly confirming an extra bed was already made up before anyone asked twice. The rooms are comfortable rather than spacious, and that's the honest trade-off against the flashier Kowloon-side competition. One guest landed on a lower floor during renovation work and woke at 4am to construction noise for their whole business trip, so ask for a higher floor if the hotel is mid-refurbishment when you book. Man Wah's Cantonese cooking and the Mandarin Club's breakfast-to-cocktails run are the two things worth paying the club-level premium for, and the gym and spa, cold plunge, steam room, sauna included, are a genuine cut above a typical city hotel's afterthought fitness room. Book it if what you want is a Central address with a kitchen that can do proper Peking duck and staff who remember your coffee order without a system prompting them. If flashier design and bigger rooms matter more than location, the Kowloon-side alternative is worth a look, but nothing else in Central touches the combination of service and food this hotel has going.

Fat Favorite

Mandarin Oriental

Mandarin Oriental Downtown, Dubai

Dubai, UAE

A junior suite here runs you a large room with a proper soaking tub and a balcony looking at the Burj Khalifa, in a hotel that only opened in November 2025 and still feels it: fresh carpet, new gym kit, staff who haven't gone through the motions yet. The breakfast alone is worth planning a morning around (the French toast gets brought up by name more than any dish has any right to), and Yu & Mi's Peking duck service is the kind of thing that turns a random Tuesday dinner into the reason you remember the trip. The catch is the building itself. The lobby sits on the 36th floor with rooms below it on 19 through 32, so every check-in and every pool trip means riding up, then back down, then up again, often in a towel and dripping. Book Club access and you may not get what the name promises either: several recent stays found the lounge shut and replaced with the same afternoon tea on repeat, no separate breakfast room, and evening drinks shared with whoever's in the restaurant. None of that undoes what the place gets right, but it's worth knowing before you pay the upgrade. If you want a quiet, private Dubai stay, people who've done both keep landing on the Bulgari for that specific thing. But for a hotel that's fun with kids over a long weekend, serious about its gym, and still finding its rhythm on the club-floor details, this is worth booking now, before the rates catch up to what the rooms and the breakfast already deliver.

Get notified

Be first when Mandarin Oriental Makati, Manila opens

We'll email you the day it opens — and our first honest verdict once guests have actually stayed. No paid placements, ever.

Joins the Fat Voyage list — leave any time.

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