Saturday, February 10, 2007
Hotel expects growth with coming of Indians
A Filipino hotel chain operator plans to tap the “huge” market of Indian travelers to hike its revenues and room occupancy rate this year.
“The hotel aims to expand our reach to other Asian tourists and India is a potential market for us,” said Hembler Mendoza, hotel manager of Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino (WAHC) in Lapu-Lapu City.
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WAHC sales and marketing manager Shelly Arciaga said that while Koreans, Japanese and Taiwanese nationals as well as Filipinos are among the hotel’s top market visitors, Indian business travelers are “now slowly eating up the pie.”
Capitalizing on this new market, Mendoza told Sun.Star Cebu that a sales team from Waterfront Philippines Inc. (WPI) is scheduled on a trip to India this month to market WPI’s other properties as a business and leisure destination.
The Gatchalian-led WPI controls Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino (WCCHC), WAHC, Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao and Manila Pavillion Hotel (MPH).
Arciaga said she is optimistic the tour will result in an increase in the number of Indian nationals who will book in different WPI hotels by the second quarter of 2007.
According to Mendoza, the hotel management is also expecting an increase in the number of corporate bookings and frequent individual travelers this year, especially since WAHC has been renovating most of its rooms and amenities.
“We need to compete and innovate. We can’t afford to be left behind,” Arciaga said, adding that this will be the first major renovation the hotel has undergone after 10 years of operation.
Last December, the hotel’s 23 guest rooms on the seventh floor, including its Ambassador’s Lounge, were refurbished.
Meanwhile, renovations for the suite rooms and villas will begin this month, and is slated to be finished by March this year.
For the renovation of the villas alone, Mendoza said WAHC will invest some P4 million.
He said the hotel will also enhance its fitness facility by investing about P7 to P8 million for a gym that will be run by the same group operating Citigym in WCCHC. The gym is scheduled to open in the third quarter of the year.
“By the end of 2007, guests will expect a different WAHC,” Mendoza said.
He said, though, that because of the planned renovations, room rates will increase “twice as much.”
Mendoza said because of the hotel’s huge investment in upgrading its facilities as well as intensifying its marketing and promotion efforts, WAHC’s revenues are expected to increase by 10 percent by the end of the year.
WAHC, which opened in July 26, 1996, has an average occupancy rate of about 60 to 70 percent, which is expected to increase by 15 to 20 percent by the end of 2007 as the hotel continues to tap new markets of visitors, Mendoza said. (MMM )
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