MONTEBELLO Villa Hotel is aiming to hit 65 percent occupancy this year, confident that the market will continue to patronize its facility despite the opening of new accommodations in the city.
“With the sprouting of new hotels and continued price war among hotels, it is definitely a challenge. Montebello is optimistic we can achieve our target by having a strong market presence as well as focusing and giving our customers the following: good facilities, excellent service and value for money,” Montebello Villa Hotel president and general manager Luis Martin Alvarez said in an email interview.
To keep up with the competition, the 150-room resort hotel recently underwent renovation. A total of 43 rooms and suites at the third wing of the hotel were newly refurbished.
According to Alvarez, attention to detail and the emphasis on the garden feel was the focus in designing the rooms. They also maintained the inspiration of a Spanish villa while giving attention to modern features and amenities.
“The market should expect awesome new changes at Montebello,” he said. The hotel, however, declined to disclose total investment for the renovation.
Montebello bills itself as the only garden resort in the city that sits on four hectare property in Banilad. The hotel started out as an exclusive, members only country club in 1972 and later expanded into a garden resort hotel.
Montebello, which means “beautiful mountain,” is a family-owned hotel by the Alvarez and Borromeo.
At present, the hotel is one of the top choices for weddings and special events for being low-rise with sprawling tropical gardens. Mice or the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions market is also a priority market for Montebello.
“Montebello is different from other hotels in the sense that we are sprawling and function rooms have access to our beautiful gardens,” said Alvarez.
The hotel features one ballroom, three mid-sized function rooms, five meeting rooms, and four garden venues for outdoor functions. Other amenities include three swimming pools, two restaurant outlets, a bar outlet and cabanas.
Improvements will not only be limited to rooms, according to Alvarez.
The next project, he said, is the enhancement of the hotel’s sprawling garden to make it more appealing to guests. The hotel will also invest in improving its services by conducting regular trainings to its employees and switch to online platforms for marketing and promotion efforts to attract not only the weddings and Mice but also the leisure market of baby-boomers and millennials.
“This year we are not looking at any expansion plans but will be busy making sure our standards are maintained and will be putting attention to continued improvement to further meet our guests’ expectations,” said Alvarez.