A TOTAL of 71 accommodation establishments in Davao Region are now allowed to operate as of July 9, 2020.
The Department of Tourism in Davao Region (DOT-Davao) has issued the Certificate of Authority to Operate (CAO) to 23 hotels, 44 inns, three resorts, and one apartelle.
For hotels, these are the Red Planet Hotels, Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, Seda Abreeza Hotel, Park Inn by Radisson Davao, DusitD2 Davao Hotel, Blue Lotus Hotel, The Madeline Boutique Hotel and Suites, Acacia Hotel Davao, Grand Menseng Hotel, Microtel by Wyndham Davao, Go Hotels Davao, Inc., Ruemango Apartelle and Suites, Hotel Tropika, Lispher Inn, Star Hotel, The Ritz Hotel at Garden Oases, The Royal Mandaya Hotel, Apo View Hotel, Home Crest Hotel, Infinity Suites, Green Banana Business Hotel, Panorama Summit Hotel, and Sunny Point Davao.
Inns permitted to operate are the Hotel Midori, Davao Obrero Suites, Midori Inn, Red Knight Gardens, The Lanang Suites, Tinhat Boutique Hotel, Domicilio Lorenzo Apartelle, Sumo Asia Hotel, Twin Teres Inn, Queen Karla’s Inn, City North Inn, A Travellers Inn, Roadway Inn, Circle B Inn, Abi Yhors Inn, Princess Perrine Suites, Mushroom Inn, Rhina Treasure’s Inn, Big Ben Apartelle, First Pacific Inn, Jade Dragon’s Suites, Jotel Inn, JBQ Inn, Metropolis Suites Davao, Nath Fen Suites, Inc., Bababoom Inn, Amaranta Suites, Palm Tree Residence, Davao Airport View Hotels, Oyo 165 Circle B Apartelle and Suites, Vismin GV Hotel Inc, Sun My Hotel, The Strand Suites and Dormitel Inc., D’Garden Inn of RJEM Ventures, Emma Victoria’s Inn, Munda Bed and Breakfast, Faircrown Realty Corporation, Megiko Dormitel, VBH Inn, Drive Park Inn, My Hotel, Hotel Unno, Hotel Esse, and Jazzy James Country Hotel.
Villa Carmelita Resort, Mamay Inn and Resort, and Eden Nature Park and Resort and the Linmarr Apartelle were also issued the CAO.
According to DOT’s guidelines, CAO is granted to tourism establishments in modified general community quarantine areas who wished to resume operations.
“All accommodation establishments that intend to commence commercial operations in Community Quarantine Zones, whether for the accommodation of guests or operations of in-house food facilities for take-out or delivery, shall secure a DOT Certificate of Authority to Operate prior to any operations,” Section 3 of the Administrative Order 2020-002, otherwise known as the Guidelines on the Operations of Hotels and other Accommodation Establishments under a Community Quarantine, read.
The tourism establishments authorized to operate are deemed compliant to the health and safety protocol set by the tourism department and the Department of Health.
With this, Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) head Generose Tecson is optimistic that this would help the industry bounce back gradually since it is not yet opened for leisure.
“It is well and good because at least meron nang future from the Covid-19 already although hindi sya pwede for leisure talaga. Plain tulugan lang sya talaga (it is not yet for leisure but only for temporary stay),” she said.
She added the pandemic also helped hastened the accreditation of the establishments, which the office has been pushing for quite some time.
“It is also a great opportunity because yung mga establishments are forced to get yung DOT accreditation which is matagal na nating kina-campaign,” she said.
However, Tecson found the need to extend the accreditation to self-styled accommodations.
She said the office is set to craft guidelines for condominium units being rented out through home-sharing applications such as Airbnb.
“Siguro by next week mailabas na natin because susundin lang naman natin yung health guidelines used for the accommodation sector (we might be releasing it by next week because we will only pattern it with the existing guidelines),” she said.
“Ito din ay para yung may mga business permit na mga condominiums can operate as well but not for leisure. Mainly, tulugan lang sila (this is also for the benefit of those who have a business permit so they can operate),” she added.
The CTOO has been urging self-styled accommodations to secure business permit and tourism certification.
She said she has also been receiving complaints from the client of these self-styled accommodations during the pandemic.
“Maraming mga condominium management dyan na nagsasabi wala daw but we discovered kasi mas maraming mga complaints na lumabas against condominiums kasi merong mga cancellations at yung mga stranded na mga tourists and their addresses are all in the Airbnb (condominium management denied that they have units being rented out but we will only discover it when we receive complaints such as issues on cancellations),” she said.
“We can't do anything about it because the place is not legal,” she added.