Listed-property developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) is chasing after millennials for its latest hospitality project.
Yesterday, The Ascott Limited (Ascott) signed its first lyf brand in the Philippines with CLI.
Named lyf Cebu City, the new project is a 153-room serviced residence targeted towards the young generation of travelers.
lyf is Ascott’s latest hotel property brand launched last month.
CLI also topped off yesterday the first two towers of Base Line Center, a mixed-use project slated for completion next year.
lyf Cebu City is CLI’s second venture with Ascott in Cebu, after Citadines Cebu City, a 180-hotel room at the Base Line Center.
These two Ascott-branded hotels are erected within the Base Line Complex along Juana Osmeña St.
CLI also inked an agreement with Ascott to manage the Citadines Riverside Davao set to be operational by 2021.
In four years' time, CLI will have a total of 600 rooms under its hotel business.
“The growth potential offered by tourism is very promising and we are happy to be teaming up for the third time with The Ascott Limited in this project set to introduce new industry benchmarks,” said CLI chairman and chief executive officer Jose Soberano III.
“With lyf Cebu City and Citadines within one big development, locals and foreign tourists will have more options on where to stay,” said Soberano.
lyf Cebu City offers a range of apartment designs from 16 square meters (sq.m) to 60 sq.m in Base Line Prestige, the third tower of CLI’s Base Line Center.
Arthur Gindap, The Ascott Limited regional general manager for the Philippines and Thailand, described lyf Cebu City as a “fun, quirky and unique accommodation” designed to promote collaboration and connection in a community.
It will have communal spaces or co-working areas that can be easily transformed into zones for workshops or social gatherings.
It will also have a social kitchen where guests can prepare home-cooked meals, take cooking classes and socialize.
Gindap said the lyf brand was created to address the two main trends of today’s generation—the concept of shared economy and the emergence of the new traveling tribe who are millennials.
“The millennial is a large untapped global phenomenon, who requires different ways of travel and accommodation needs,” said Gidnap, adding that the lyf brand goes beyond the traditional hospitality concept, as it highlights the idea of social spaces and interaction.
Gidnap said lyf offers a lower rate than the Citadines brand because room sizes are a bit smaller. He, however, clarified that lyf is not classified as a budget hotel nor a hostel.
CLI believes lyf Cebu City will address the room gap in Cebu and Mactan, which is projected to be at 14,931 by 2022.
During its annual stockholders meeting last month, Soberano announced that CLI will launch more hotel projects next year.
He said that these new hotel projects will serve as strong anchor projects for the firm’s mixed-use developments in key cities in the country.
Since its launch last month, Ascott already has five properties under the lyf brand including those with CLIs. KOC