By Kaye Estoista-Koo The landscape of Tagaytay has changed considerably over the past decade. Today, it feels very much like Metro Manila, with all the major mall properties putting up condominiums up and down Aguinaldo Highway. Yet some things have remained the same, such as the charm of small boutique hotels and the value of a prime view of the lake. Properties that front Taal Lake and volcano are 10 times more expensive than those on the other side so snapping up a coveted piece of real estate entails good fortune, patience, and a healthy capital. Domicillo Design Hotel, which opened its doors on Dec. 23, 2014, used to be a small design store in the Cliffhouse Tagaytay complex back in 2004. Tagaytay is for the most part still peaceful on weekdays, with traffic picking up on weekends as is custom. Now three years later, Domicillo is expanding, not by adding more rooms to its eight-room hotel but by offering its view deck up as a venue for intimate weddings. With world-class views of the famous Taal Lake and volcano, the hotel is situated in an ideal location for this purpose. In an intimate wedding fair where they invited local coordinators, Domicillo showcased the different themes and packages good for 50 to 100 guests. In order to ensure this expansion would match its logistics, Domicillo prepared ample parking with free valet services in another lot, so despite its small facade seen from the highway, you won’t have trouble parking. The eight rooms have been designed by three designers, making it the first and only design hotel to date in Tagaytay. Marianito Alcala, whose family owns and runs the hotel, partnered with his friends in Movement 8 to create the design aesthetic that makes up the Domicillo charm. The three lower lake view Premier rooms are designed by Budyi Layug while the upper lake view Superior rooms are designed by Milo Naval. All five rooms have a veranda but the Premier comes with a garden. The layout of the Premier rooms is best for brides preparing for their big day while the Superior rooms are ideal for grooms. The other three remaining rooms are garden view Deluxe rooms designed by Tes Pasola. A wedding party can find themselves booking the entire hotel stay for P8,000 to P9000 for the Deluxe, P10,000 to P11,000 for the Superior, and P12,000 to P13,000 for Premier. This comes out to around P60,000 for five rooms on weekends and just over P80,000 for eight rooms on weekends. Each room comes with breakfast (Premier and Superior can be served on the veranda), free mini bar, milk and cookies at night, organic bath amenities, one-hour body massage for Premier and Superior rooms, and a bottle of wine for the Premier rooms. You will want for nothing when it comes to picturesque backdrops and visuals as each room comes with furniture designed either by Budyi Layug, Milo Naval, Kenneth Cobonpue, and Domicillo among others. The different designers come together artfully in each room and give each space their own accent and personality. The hotel also boasts all original artworks from Filipino painters and artists in each room and throughout the hotel’s common spaces. Wood and organic materials are in abundance, with the bed frames of the Deluxe rooms made from old newspapers and pillow cases and other bed accents sourced from the Isabela region. Rivershells were used by Domicillo to create distinct-looking cabinets and mirrors. Guests have been known to nest and cocoon in these rooms, according to Alcala, especially because the rooms feel both comforting and elegant rolled into one package. When it comes to space, each room actually looks bigger and more spacious than its stated size, because of the well-appointed interior design layout. Alcala shared that Budyi Layug insisted on hidden air conditioning units (masked by wooden slats in the ceiling) to provide a free-flowing aesthetic of wood, raw-finish wall, and other organic textures. On the same floor as the Superior and Deluxe rooms, the Lounge Area is oftentimes used by companies for their meetings and planning sessions, but for a wedding party, the Lounge Area can double as the preparation for entourage and guests who not checked in. This can also serve as the breakfast area for guests as it fronts the lake and volcano. Red sculptures decorate the garden area, sculptures that share a signature look with the larger-than-life Reg Yuson sculptures on Bonifacio High Street. Big and small details in the way Domicillo looks and feels is largely due to Alcala and his friends in Movement 8 hands-on design experience and craftsmanship. There is a story behind every piece and like most boutique hotels, chairs—in this case a Cobonpue original—and other furniture are for sale and can be customized. “We once had a guest who decided to buy the lamp in the room and the guest did not wait for another piece to be commissioned, insisting on getting the one already in the room,” Alcala recalls. He also relates how Domicillo retains its small-hotel charm. “Every year, Movement 8 original members like Budyi Layug, Ely Pinto-Mansor, Kenneth Cobonpue, Milo Naval, Tes Pasola would invite a new designer to join, someone who worked with new materials, designs, and trends. I was one of the last designers to join, my family’s specialty is in export and import of handicraft and furniture. So a friendship was formed and bonded over our mutual attendance at trade shows abroad and, after the show, we would all stay on, especially since our tickets to those cities in Europe for example were not cheap. We all liked to travel and stay in small hotels because we could experience the culture more that way. The desire to come up with our own hotel started there because in our group, we had everything you would need to open a hotel.” With Domicillo’s move into wedding packages also come pre-nuptial packages that allow for flexibility and creativity in crafting beautiful pictures in the Domicillo property from the view deck all the way down to the lounge area. By opening the view deck not just to hotel guests but wedding parties as well, Alcala is hopeful about their growth and awareness of Domicillo. He ends, “Depending on how it goes, this is small and easier to manage. Now, more people will know about the hotel, not just guests staying at the hotel.”