As the center of the religious and civic events of the Peñafrancia Festival, Naga City draws crowds of pilgrims to the biggest Marian celebration in Southeast Asia. The city is home to major universities and regional educational institutions and as such plays host to many high school and college alumni homecomings – at times closing traffic along downtown areas to let school people parade on the narrow busy streets. It is a favorite destination for travelers looking for culinary and tourism adventures and a hub for corporate and government conferences and trade fairs.
Chances are when you’re traveling to Naga City to attend the Peñafrancia fiesta, connect with friends at a school reunion, go Bicol food tripping, close a business deal or simply meet up with family, you would have chosen Villa Caceres Hotel – confident about your decision as it continues to rank high among the best hotels in Bicol.
The man behind Villa Caceres Hotel is Robert Lee Obiedo. His success as a hotel owner is not only due to his business acumen but also to his passion for people and his dedication to exceptional customer service. His approach to hospitality has inspired his staff and his customers, and he has set a high bar for the hotel industry in Bicol.
A hands-on owner who is always visible in the hotel’s RJ Buffet, Obiedo enjoys greeting guests as they stream in for breakfast and joining them for coffee to chat about their Naga visit before they rush to their day’s event and morning appointment. Donned in his trademark suspenders, bright shirt and white pants, he cheerfully spends time with his customers and listen to their stories.
Dutifully addressed by his hotel staff as Sir Robert, his hands-on approach and his focus on customer satisfaction have inspired his people to work harder and to provide better service. He encourages his staff to engage with customers and to anticipate their needs. One time, with a smile on his face, he shared his hiring secret with the writer, “I only employ people who know how to dance and take good pictures.”
Obiedo’s dedication to customer service has paid off. Villa Caceres consistently receives excellent reviews, and he has many loyal customers who return year after year. His hotel has won awards for exceptional service, such as from Agoda, the Singapore-based international booking engine, in 2021. He is recognized as a leader in the Naga City business community. In 2009, when the Metro Naga Chamber of Commerce and Industry bestowed on Obiedo its Halyao outstanding entrepreneurship award, it acknowledged his meritorious “rags to riches story”.
Robert Lee Obiedo was born to a Chinese family in Casiguran, Sorsogon. His family moved to Goa, Camarines Sur during his childhood, then to Manila in search of better opportunities. At the age of 14, he helped in his father’s retail business in Divisoria, doing manual work and running errands. Attaining only second year in college, he had to get schooled in trade and commerce the hard way. He learned the ups and downs of business early in his life. In the ‘70s, tough business conditions forced him to engage in peddling wares and fruit vending on the Divisoria bangketa just to earn money.
Through prudent savings of earnings coupled with raising his own capital, making strategic decisions, and practicing good public relations, he was able to eventually go on his own as a young business owner. Perceiving less business competition will be to his advantage, he decided the Bicol region was a good place to invest.
Obiedo was a daring 28-year-old when he opened a store in the lobby of the La Trinidad Hotel in Legazpi City. Two years later in 1983, he opened Robertson’s the first air-conditioned department store in Legazpi City. He expanded to Naga City with a 1000 square meter store in 1988. Located in the Land Bank Building in General Luna St., it was to be the biggest and first fully air-conditioned mall with a cinema in Naga City. In 1990, he established another department store in Sorsogon City with local business partners. Eventually, in 2000 he opened the Roberston’s and Roberto’s Restaurant at ALDP Plaza Mall, Diversion Road in Naga City, competing head on with new and big players in the retail business.
Amid Obiedo’s forays into the retail business, he would by accident, as he describes it, go into the hotel business. With five investment partners, he acquired Casa Catalina in 1993, then a struggling resort hotel owned by an architect. Originally a 30-room hotel built on an 800 square meter land along Magsaysay Avenue, a secluded area back then, but which Obiedo saw as a business opportunity. Renamed Villa Caceres, hotel guests liked its quiet location and ample parking spaces as compared with the downtown hotels. Later, as a consequence of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, his business partners divested their investments, making Obiedo the sole owner of the hotel.
To stay ahead of competition, Obiedo refurbished rooms in Villa Caceres and expanded until it had 65 rooms, Bistro Roberto with a live performance band and a hall for ballroom dancing. He invested in a modern gym with sauna, showers and lockers. The hotel was first in Naga City to feature a swimming pool and Jacuzzi, also made available to elite health club members.
Late in 2008, the hotel inaugurated 50 additional rooms in its newly built Mediterranean-inspired extension wing. It featured a 1200 person capacity convention hall equipped with a high tech sound system – an ideal venue for conferences, large assemblies and trade exhibits. On the ground floor of the original wing, the Bistro Roberto stage, lighting and sound equipment were retrofitted to accommodate to live entertainment by local and Manila based music bands.
The new hotel rooms were equipped with state-of-the-art TV, beds, bathrooms and closets. New elevators were installed, one of which with a scenic feature located in the front of the hotel. New surveillance and communications systems were likewise outfitted for optimum security. Parking spaces were added for the convenience of the hotel guests.
Obiedo thrived and survived through diversified investments which involved at some time a bus line, a radio station and cable TV. He divested from the retail trade to focus on his hotel operations. At present, his business interests include the Villa Obiedo subdivision, the Eternal Garden, both in partnership with local investors, and real estate properties held for future development. In all, these enterprises make him one of the longest running entrepreneurs in the Bicol region.
Through community service, Obiedo has endeared himself with the people of Naga City. With the generous support of corporate and individual sponsors, especially from the Filipino-Chinese community, he spearheaded relief operations in 2020 when three typhoons ravaged the region amid the pandemic. In 2022, he supported the Caceres Archdiocese Commission on Communications in its Lenten recollection for media practitioners in Naga City and Camarines Sur by providing free venue and food for the event. He is a regular food donor to the city poor and underprivileged during the Christmas season.
(Reported by Jose Victor “Jojo” De Jesus of Dateline Ibalon, based on information provided in the company profile entitled “The 15-Year Episode of Villa Caceres and the vision of a man who made it happen.” Supplementary information was obtained from “Obiedo: Putting eggs in many baskets,” Juan Escandor, Jr., Bicol Mail, July 2009; “Villa Caceres Hotel mounts relief operations for Bicol victims,” Jason B. Neola, Bicol Mail, November 2020; “A snapshot of Bicol through the eyes of Robert Obiedo,” Joseph C. Tay, Manila Bulletin, October 23, 2021; and, “Media members in Lenten recollection,” Ana-Liza S. Macatangay, Bicol Mail, April 2022.)
The featured image of Villa Caceres Hotel appeared in the Qantas Airlines travel website.