HRRAC asks Owwa to hike rates of quarantine hotels

HRRAC president Alfred Reyes (From Alfred Reyes Facebook)
HRRAC president Alfred Reyes (From Alfred Reyes Facebook)

THE Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) has proposed to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) to increase the fees per night to accommodation properties that serve as quarantine hotels for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and returning Filipinos (ROFs).

HRRAC president Alfred Reyes said Manila-based hotels get P2,500 to 3,000 as fees per night while Cebu-based quarantine hotels charge only P1,400 per night.

“Our proposal is to make it P2,400 for the four- and five-star hotels and P2,000 for three-star hotels and below,” Reyes said.

He said the proposed rates are already inclusive of packed breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The hotel organization is expecting to receive a positive response from Owwa.

“Currently, I am coordinating with Owwa 7,” he said.

Reyes said a hotel can’t survive on a P1,400 fee per night, especially with the mounting bills from water, electricity and other factors.

On May 14, 2021, the Mactan-Cebu International Airport stopped accepting international arrivals for two days due to the lack of available quarantine rooms.

Reyes, in an earlier interview, said some hotels expressed hesitation at accepting ROFs, given the price of Owwa, which is half of the price it pays Manila hotels.

In a separate interview, Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 Director Shahlimar Tamano said increasing the fees per night will encourage more hotel properties in Cebu to reconsider reopening and functioning as quarantine hotels.

“This way we won’t have difficulty encouraging them to operate as quarantine hotels,” said Tamano. “We don’t want higher rates than that of Manila. We just want it to be fair to quarantine hotels that have been helping the government.”

According to Tamano, there are about 40 quarantine hotels in Cebu.

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