PROPERTY giant Megaworld Corp. has announced the development of an iconic hotel inside its 34-hectare township in Bacolod City, which is seen to boost the local tourism industry.
Megaworld officials, in a media briefing at the Lanai by Fresh Start Organic in the city yesterday, November 22, said the country’s second Kingsford Hotel after Manila will soon rise within its The Upper East development.
The firm is pouring in P2 billion in investment for the development of the 12-storey and almost 300-room property will be the “most iconic and biggest” hotel in the Negros Occidental capital city.
Its target completion is 2028, generating at least 300 additional employment opportunities for the Bacolodnons and Negrenses.
For Bacolod City Chief Tourism Operations Officer Teresa Manalili, this development will augment the city’s need for more accomodation facilities, especially rooms, as it prepares to be the top Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions (Mice) destination in the country.
Currently, the city has 1,587 hotel accomodation rooms, 636 Mabuhay accomodation rooms, and 150 resort accommodation rooms, still short for the city’s need for at least 7,000 rooms to host bigger Mice convention.
Manalili said the local government is currently in the planning stage and they will putting budget and allocation next year to promote Mice in Bacolod City.
“We also need to develop the capabilities of our people and frontliners. We will be prepared,” she said, adding that the vision of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to make Bacolod a “super city” will soon be realized, surely by 2028.
Megaworld, in a statement, said Kingsford Hotel Bacolod will be strategically located between the four residential condominium towers of One Regis, Two Regis, One Manhattan, and Herald Parksuites.
It will feature a unique and iconic design that blends its modern glass architecture with a podium showcasing neoclassical architecture, the firm said.
This new hotel will offer almost 300 room keys, with varied room categories ranging from Twin or Queen Deluxe Rooms (25 square meters), Junior Suites and Specially-Abled Suites (32 square meters), Executive Suites (from 50 square meters to 72 square meters), and a curated Presidential Suite (more than 100 square meters).
All rooms will be equipped with an electronic key card system, it added.
To be managed and operated by Megaworld Hotels & Resorts, Kingsford Hotel Bacolod will be packed with “first in Bacolod” amenities and features, making it a game-changer in the city’s hospitality industry.
Cleofe Albiso, managing director of Megaworld Hotels & Resorts, said they are bringing the Kingsford Hotel brand to Bacolod with so many upgraded facilities and amenities including a wider choice of room categories and several food and beverage outlets.
“This will certainly be another iconic landmark for The Upper East and even for the entire Bacolod City because of its unique architecture that truly stands out when you pass by The Upper East Avenue,” she added.
Kingsford Hotel Bacolod will have an expansive high-ceiling lobby with through-and-through entrances and drop-off areas in both Regis and Manhattan Streets of the township. As an added security and safety feature, it will also feature its own entry vestibule with baggage scanner and walk-thru metal detectors before entering the main hotel lobby.
The new hotel will also have four F&B outlets, which include a specialty restaurant, an all-day dining restaurant with both private dining and alfresco dining areas, a Zabana Lounge at the ground floor, and a Grill Bar by the poolside with both indoor and outdoor dining areas. It will also have its own Gift Shop in the Main Lobby area and a two-level retail arcade outside the hotel lobby fronting the plaza.
Kingsford Hotel Bacolod will also have its own Executive Lounge, exclusive to VIP guests, including those booked in higher category rooms, where they can eat breakfast, do their express check-in and check-out, and even partake in the hors d'oeuvres with unlimited tea and coffee at certain times of the day.
Megaworld said that the hotel will also have a high-ceiling, pillarless Grand Ballroom with a banquet-style seating capacity of 400 persons.
It will also have three smaller Function Rooms with an individual capacity of 80 to 100 persons each. The Grand Ballroom and the function rooms will also feature a pre-function foyer area, it said.
Most of the hotel amenities will be located at the landscaped third level, which includes an adult swimming pool and kiddie pool with pool deck, outdoor lounge areas, fitness and contemplation deck, state-of-the-art Fitness Center, Sauna and Steam Rooms, and a Kid’s Club with activity areas.
Just by the mezzanine above the pool area, there will be an outdoor events place with a capacity of 220 persons. It will also be connected to a landscaped outdoor garden area.
“We are bringing the best to Bacolod because we have a very sophisticated market here. Moreso, we want to help boost Bacolod’s position as a very attractive Mice location,” Albiso said, adding that “we are building this hotel that will hopefully match the requirements of the very discerning business travelers.”
For Manalili, the new development will also boost the city’s efforts to promote food tourism, “smart” tourism or the use of technology in making the people’s lives better and easier, as well as heritage, arts and culture tourism.
Megaworld Corp. Vice President and Head of Public Relations and Media Affairs Harold Brian Geronimo, who was also present at the briefing, said the P2 billion budget for the hotel development is part of the P28 billion investment of the company for the entire township development for 10 years.
Geronimo said there will be a MassKara dancer (figure) on top, which will look like floating in the sky because of the blue glass,”
“We’re making a very iconic visual... that will be different from the exisiting hotels that you have here in Bacolod City,” he said, adding that Bacolodnons and tourists visiting the city will marvel at the archetecture that will trully be an iconic landmark for Bacolod City.
Moreover, residential sales in The Upper East have more than doubled over the past few years, Megaworld - Visayas Vice President for Sales and Marketing Jennifer Palmares-Fong said.
Palmares-Fong said with Kingsford Hotel Bacolod, at the heart of the four residential towers, they expect that property values will continue to increase further.
“The hotel will provide a huge boost to the character and appeal of The Upper East as Bacolod City’s iconic central business district and we are very excited to showcase the latest addition to this New York-inspired Megaworld township, which is shaping up to be a major driver of tourism and economic growth here in the City of Smiles,” she added.*