A treat for the Manileños. There's a lot of hype about these days, but few doubt that the Manila Hotel was one of the finest in the world, and that it was at it's finest pre-war. (Hey Guys, this is not a paid plug, I wish it was). What many don't realize was that MacArthur had already retired from the US Army pre-war because there weren't too many places to pasture once you'd been Chief of Staff and Superintendent of West Point, so the prospect of becoming a very highly paid consultant to the Philippines Army was an offer too good to refuse. He was granted an extraordinary large gratuity, and was able to parlay his private monies and top level contacts in Manila to become an immensely wealthy, powerful and influential businessman with many lucrative commercial interests which history has been sufficiently gracious not to mention.  Rather than acquire his own household,  numerous household servants etc., he took up permanent residence at the Manila Hotel, which essentially provided him just that. Besides, the Philippine treasury funded the bill.