In September of 2017, I decided to attend the PR Congress at Shangri-La at the Fort. I was still feeding Lucas, and pumping regularly. I wondered where I could pump during the Congress, so I emailed the hotel.

Me: *sends message to Shangri-La at the Fort through their website*

Their reply:

Greetings from Adventure Zone Shangri-La at the Fort, Manila!

Your concern has been forwarded to us. Please be informed that Adventure Zone, which is located on the 5th level of Kerry Sports Manila, has a Nursery Room and is just right next to the washroom.

It has a chair by the window where you can sit nicely, however currently there is no electrical outlet inside. For this reason, we would suggest a manual pump. Should you be using an electric pump, we can provide you an electrical extension, however please be advised that because of the extension there will be a bit of gap, and we will not be able to completely close the door for your privacy.

Please be advised as well that Adventure Zone Membership Club requires a dress code in the play area, may we request you to kindly bring and wear socks inside and leave your shoes at the cubby hole. We will inform the rest of the team for your easy access; for Security purposes please present your ID.

Should you have any questions, please let us know and we would be glad to assist you.

Me:

Thank you very much for your email. It makes me very happy to see that your establishment supports breastfeeding moms like me.

I have a manual pump, so the lack of an electrical outlet is no problem.

Thank you for letting me know about the dress code. I will make sure to bring socks.

Is there a refrigerator where I can store my milk during the day? And can I get hot water?

Please know that I am very very happy with your response. I will let my friends know that Shangri-La at the Fort is supportive of breastfeeding. 🙂

Them:

It is our pleasure to assist you and we’re glad to hear your positive comments. Yes, we have a (hot) water dispenser for drinking in the Adventure Zone Café, and washrooms have temperature controlled faucets. We also have a chiller meant to store food items. As per hotel’s Hygienist, we can store breast milk, provided it is placed in a Ziploc bag. We will have a dedicated container for this bag and we will keep this inside the chiller within the day. We will just request you to sign an indemnity form as part of our standard procedure.

We hope you enjoy your time in Shangri-La at the Fort, Manila.

I also received an email from the Adventure Zone staff!

SLFM-Adventure Zone:

Thank you for your inquiry. It is our pleasure to accommodate you to use the Nursery Room at Adventure Zone for the duration of your event here in the hotel. We would like to ask if you will be needing an electric outlet for your milk pump.

+ + + + +

It’s a bit tricky to find the Adventure Zone. From the ballroom where the congress was, I had to take the elevator to the fifth floor, where the Kerry Sports Manila gym was. Then I had to take another elevator to get to the Adventure Zone.

When you get there, there are cubby holes where you can leave your shoes. There are also benches where you can sit down to put on your socks. Then you just present an ID, and the staff will show you to the nursing room.

For each day of the Congress, I went there twice, at around lunch time and towards the end of the day. The nursing room was really just a small room with an armchair and a window. No other accommodations, but good enough if you’re just breastfeeding or pumping.

As they advised in their email, they let me keep my milk in their refrigerator, properly labeled, so that I didn’t have to bring it to the congress with me.

More important than the facilities was the fact that they were so pleasant and accommodating about everything. I was so happy, and I promised to tell my friends how nice they were.