Posted on February 09, 2011 10:01:54 PM [ Businessworld Online ]
LISTED HOTEL operator Waterfront Philippines, Inc. will spend around P300 million to renovate its flagship project, the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.
The renovation, which will start this year and end early next year, is expected to increase revenues, the company told the local bourse late on Tuesday.
“The project will be segmented into three phases: the renovation of the grand and lower lobbies of the hotel; the renovation of the function rooms; and eventually the renovation of the larger convention facilities of the hotel,” Waterfront Philippines said in the disclosure.
Each phase will cost around P100 million, with money to be obtained from “internally generated funds,” it added.
The first phase of the renovation will start this year while the convention facility rehabilitation will start early next year.
In the same statement, Weslie T. Gatchalian, vice-president for special projects of Waterfront Philippines, said: “This will further enhance our product and service offerings that will eventually yield better guest experience and revenues.”
Waterfront Philippines wants to transform its “single-dimension grand lobby” into a “multi-dimensional lifestyle-concept space.”
The hotel operator also wants to improve “traffic patterns” by putting up larger check-in areas and maximizing the lobby’s three entrances.
It will be the first time in 10 years that Waterfront Philippines will be renovating the Cebu hotel’s lobby, which is 22 meters wide, 96 meters long, and 35 meters high.
Waterfront Philippines, through its Waterfront Hotels and Casinos brand name, claims to be the largest Filipino-owned hotel chain in the country.
It operates five hotel-casino properties. Aside from the Cebu City hotel, it operates Waterfront Airport Hotel & Casino Mactan, Manila Pavilion Hotel & Casino, Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao, and G Hotel Manila.
The company has a controlling stake in listed Acesite Philippines Hotel Corp., the owner of Manila Pavilion Hotel near Rizal Park.
Shares in Waterfront Philippines -- whose net income went up to P108.24 million in the nine months that ended in September last year from P92.69 million in the previous year -- closed P0.005 higher at P0.37 per share yesterday. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
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