In Baguio, Mrs. B will take care of you

After Socorro Rojas-Baylon’s two sons finished university in Canada where they all lived, the boys said to her and her husband, “Mom, Dad, why don’t you go and do your bucket list? You seem happy when you go to the Philippines.”

So off they went, back to their home country. And while there, Rojas-Baylon—now known to many as Mrs. B—was asked another question, this time by cousins: “Can you run the house?”

By house, they meant their beautiful vacation home in Baguio, the one Mrs. B, originally from Bacolod, often visited and spent time in as a little girl. Over the years, they had rented it out to long-term tenants but they had the idea of making it available for people just visiting Baguio.

Running it was absolutely up Mrs. B’s alley—after all, she had spent many years as a hotelier in Toronto.

Mrs. B had moved to Toronto with her parents when she was 16 or 17. She studied there and soon entered the hotel industry, starting in housekeeping, getting promoted to supervisor, moving to reservations, then front desk. “Working in the hotel industry, you learn how to handle people, you learn how to read people,” she told Lifestyle.

Free

It wasn’t the first time relatives had asked her to run the house. But the first time they did, her kids were still in high school. She was devoted to taking care of them—in fact, some years back, she cut down her days at the hotel where she was working after one of her sons wrote this Christmas wish: “I wish my mom can stay home with us.”

This time, though, she was free. Her sons were all grown up and she had retired. Mrs. B talked to her husband. “He said, ‘Okay, let’s give it a try.’”

She got to work, training the staff and getting The Country Place ready for guests.

The Country Place, built by architect Carlos Arguelles in the 1950s, is actually three houses, now called Residence 1, 2 and 3. They can be booked separately, and each residence can accommodate a maximum of 10 guests.

The house is pristine—hats off to Mrs. B’s cleaning staff—and so well-maintained. There’s plenty of space for everyone to enjoy. Residence 1 has four bedrooms while Residence 2 and 3 have three each. Each house has a spacious living room with comfy couches and the long

dining tables are perfect for meals, or even just sitting around for a chat. Guests can cook in the kitchen, use the fireplace, have a bonfire.

Greenhouse

There’s also a greenhouse and a garden. “It’s nice to take pictures there,” Mrs. B said.

If the guests don’t feel like cooking, Ella, Mrs. B’s girl Friday who’s in charge of the kitchen, can cook for them for a fee. “She makes the best fried chicken, very good chop suey, bulalo, champorado.”

She can do breakfast too, including what Mrs. B calls “the best tinapa in Baguio” from her suki, Tuvera longganisa and more.

One of the many beautiful things about staying at The Country Place is you can pretend you live in Baguio, in a gorgeous Baguio home at that, even for just a few days.

“Our tagline is ‘Make it your own,’” she said. “I worked in a 200-suite hotel. A hotel is different. When you check in, it doesn’t feel like home. What I really want and what I really try to accomplish here is that guests will come in feeling like this is their house, not a rental.”

The first client was Mrs. B’s best friend from Negros. That was 12 years ago. Since then, many clients have come and gone—and a number of them keep returning to The Country Place, their home away from home.

“They would come in and call out to me, ‘Mrs. B, we’re home!’”

Memory books

Mrs. B has two memory books full of messages, drawings and doodles from happy guests.

“Such a wonderful feeling to be back in this lovely place.”

“Thank you for opening your home to us.”

“Our family had the best experience at The Country Place.”

“We will be back soon!”

Mrs. B is one of the reasons they keep coming back. In many ways, she’s like an ambassador of Baguio. She really is a great host—a force of nature, thoughtful, fun, funny and her attention to detail is remarkable. She said, “They come here for vacation. So we try to anticipate what our guests need. We try to remember their likes and dislikes.”

Once a guest’s booking is confirmed, she emails them her Baguio recommendations—restaurants, places to see, pasalubong ideas and more. She would even remind them to bring marshmallows, in case they’d want to make S’mores.

Family bonding

You won’t find The Country Place on any booking platform. The only way to make reservations is through Mrs. B. And she likes it that way. She likes being able to talk to guests before they come.

“What do I expect from the guests? For them to respect the house, enjoy and make memories here. When they leave, I send them a message saying, ‘Thank you for creating memories with us.’”

A lot of beautiful memories have been created at The Country Place. Families come to celebrate birthdays, balikbayans bring their loved ones there for reunions, barkadas go to relax and have fun, coworkers have their team building, and sometimes, couples even book one of the residences for some quiet time together.

Mrs. B said, “People ask me, ‘Are there any ghosts here?’ I tell them, ‘Of course there are.’ And they say, ‘Really?’ And I reply, ‘You’re looking at her.’”

The staff play a huge role in the success of The Country Place. Mrs. B continues to train them, taking them to hotels so they can learn more about hospitality.

Tips are centralized. Mrs. B reminds the staff, “Whether the guests give or don’t give, you give the same service, because that’s our job. Our job is to take care of the guests.”

And how does she make sure they do that? “You take care of them. You feed them, you pay them well, you respect them. Then they’ll take care of you even when you’re not around. The secret to maintaining your staff is respect. Your people are your strengths.”

Scholars

Even during the pandemic, that did not change. “It was really hard for everyone, but the most important thing for us was to take care of the staff.”

She added, “The good thing about it is, it doesn’t matter—rich, poor—everyone realized that life is too short, and it can happen anytime, and the thing that you have to do is just be good to people, right?”

That’s something she learned from her mom, she said. “She would say, ‘Day, love yourself first because otherwise, you cannot give love … Kapag naghatag ka, halin sa tagipusuon. When you give, you give from the heart, or don’t give at all.”

That’s something Mrs. B lives by, inside and outside The Country Place.

When she and her husband returned to the Philippines, they started thinking about the legacy they want to leave behind. “My husband wants to send kids to universities. That’s what we’ve been doing.”

But that’s actually something they were also doing in Canada—they were supporting kids in the Philippines through a Canadian organization.

This time, though, Mrs. B gets to pick the scholars herself. How? Somehow, the scholars just come. Like the Pizza Hut employee she met in SM City Baguio—Mrs. B and her husband sent her to school and now she’s graduated and is already working. Or Ella’s daughter (“Ella used to be my playmate because her mother was the original caretaker of this house,” Mrs. B said). Or Ella’s sister’s daughter who is studying tourism at the University of Cordillera. Or Van, who was referred by her cousin’s household help, and has finished Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Baguio. Or the daughter of Steve, the security guard at The Country Place, who excels in accounting.

Mrs. B tells the scholars that they will help as long as they are able to. She recalled a time when she was short P20,000.

Before leaving The Country Place, a guest handed her two envelopes. “One was his payment, the other I thought was his tip. But no, he had another envelope for that. I said to him, ‘I think you made a mistake.’”

His answer: “No Mrs. B, I don’t make mistakes, I’m a finance guy. This is for your scholars.”

When Mrs. B opened the envelope, there was P20,000 inside.

Mrs. B appreciates her relatives who own The Country Place.

“My husband and I are not the typical balikbayans who retire. I’m very lucky and very grateful to my relatives who paved the way for us. It’s costly to live here, to start over again … So I’m grateful for them, and also very grateful that because of them, I get to do what I love most, which is to take care of people. I’m thankful that they gave me the opportunity to take care of this house and to bring it to the next generation.”

How long does she intend to keep running The Country Place? “As long as I have the strength to make people happy staying here, as long as everybody’s happy. If you like what you’re doing, you can do it till the day you die.”

Contact The Country Place at tel. 0917-8528228 or email tcp.baguio@gmail.com.