[ bworldonline.com ]
AYALA LAND, Inc. (ALI) will be spending P8-10 billion until 2020 for the expansion of its homegrown hotel brand, as Seda Hotel enters new locations while expanding existing developments.
“The total investment is maybe around P8 to 10 billion for the future developments. This is the budget for today and the new properties (until 2020),” Seda Hotel Senior Group General Manager Andrea Mastellone said during a press briefing in Taguig City on Monday.
The listed property developer is set to launch in 2019 a second tower for Seda Bonifacio Global City (BGC) with 342 additional rooms, 214 rooms for Seda Cebu IT Park, and 293 rooms for Seda Residences Makati.
ALI decided to expand Seda BGC given the strong demand from the international corporate market in the area, noting that there are only a few players present in the city. Seda BGC is the company’s top performer in terms of revenues, with an average occupancy rate of 80% coupled with room rates of about P6,000 to P8,000 per day.
“The occupancy varies according to the areas, but the busiest is here in BGC. We’ve experienced fabulous occupancy since two months after opening, we were fully booked almost every day. We are still experiencing minimum 80%,” Mr. Mastellone said.
Across the group, Seda enjoys an average occupancy rate of about 80%.
All three hotels to be opened in 2019 will be the first in Seda’s portfolio to feature serviced residences, as the company looks to cater to guests who stay longer than two to three days.
In particular, all units at Seda Residences Makati and Seda Cebu IT Park will be serviced residences, while Seda BGC will have 48 serviced apartments.
“These guests are mostly business travelers on assignments for months and who would opt for temporary dwellings that are bigger than a hotel room, with basic home conveniences,” Seda Group Director of Sales and Marketing Melissa J. Carlos said during the press briefing.
Mr. Mastellone noted that the serviced residence concept will only be established in business districts, as there will not be much demand in the provinces.
The company will further unveil 350 rooms at Seda Manila Bay in Aseana City, Parañaque and 206 rooms at the second tower of Seda Nuvali.
The expansion forms part of the company’s plan to have 3,268 rooms across 11 locations by 2020. ALI currently has 1,863 room across nine locations, namely BGC, Cagayan de Oro, Davao City, Nuvali in Laguna, Iloilo, Quezon City, Bacolod, Cebu, and Palawan.
“With 1,863 rooms now in our portfolio and having achieved most of our annual targets, we are confident that our goal of building 1,405 more rooms in the next two years to hit our target of 3,268 rooms by 2020 is achievable and will be positively received by the market,” Ms. Carlos said.
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