RLC says 3 Go Hotels to open within next 3 years

THE GOKONGWEI group looks to expand its chain of budget hotels with openings in three new locations until 2019, banking on the surge of local and foreign tourists in the country.

Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) General Manager of Hotels and Resorts Elizabeth Kristine D. Gregorio said they will be developing Go Hotels located in Iligan, Naga, and Tuguegarao in the next three years, with the Iligan branch set to open by the first quarter of 2018.

“Iligan is a hundred rooms, Naga is a combination of a Go Hotel and a Summit Hotel, so it will have a total of over 100 rooms combined, and Tuguegarao is another 100 rooms also,” Ms. Gregorio told BusinessWorld during the last week’s opening of Go Hotel Timog in Quezon City.

This will be added to the company’s current chain of 15 Go Hotels across the country. RLC is expanding the chain by partnering with other property companies who would then carry the homegrown hotel brand.

“We continue to look for other sites, other properties. Our goal is to populate Go Hotels throughout the Philippines. So we continue to look for areas where we could partner and sites that we could purchase,” Ms. Gregorio explained.

Asked on how much the company is investing for the construction of the hotels, the RLC executive explained that the investment cost is discussed directly with the franchisee of the brand.

For Go Hotels Timog, RLC partnered with Roxaco-Vanguard Hotels Corp., the hotel development group of Roxaco Land Corp. This is the fifth time RoxacoVanguard has franchised the Go Hotel brand, as it also operates Go Hotels Ermita-Manila, Go Hotels North EDSA- Quezon City, Manila Airport Road Parañaque, and Cubao- Quezon City.

Roxaco Land President and Chief Executive Officer Santiago R. Elizalde noted they chose to open their fifth Go Hotel branch in Timog Avenue, Quezon City because of its prime location.

“The property was made available to us by our friends who were the previous owners. We were looking for a location within the vicinity because we feel the Quezon City market is a very strong one and Timog just seemed like a very central location with a lot of activity going on,” Mr. Elizalde told reporters in a briefing during the hotel’s opening last week.

Go Hotels Timog has a total of 219 rooms, that comes with free Wi- Fi, spa, parking spaces, and 24-hour CCTV security.

Ms. Gregorio noted the government’s efforts to bring in more tourists in the country is driving the company’s expansion.

“The strong tourism industry, particularly domestic tourism. Then we also have a lot of increase in foreign travel to the Philippines. So it’s actually the efforts of the government to improve tourism,” she said.

The Department of Tourism reported a 10.61% year- on-year growth in international tourist arrivals in the January to August period to 4.47 million.

By the end of September 2017, the hotel segment contributed 8% or P1.37 billion to RLC’s total revenues, up 5% against from year-ago levels. This was primarily driven by a system-wide occupancy rate of 66% during the period.

RLC, meanwhile, booked an attributable profit of P4.57 billion for the nine months ending September, a 1% increase from the same period in 2016.