Hilton Manila sees need for more premium rooms in prime site, readies early opening
HILTON MANILA looks to open its doors to the public in October, banking on its prime location near the country’s premier gateway to capture both corporate guests and the staycation market.
Located in Newport City in Pasay, Hilton Manila will be the newest addition to the pool of internationally branded hotels in the integrated resort and casino complex near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
While the hotel has started to book reservations for November, Hilton Manila General Manager Simon McGrath said they hope to open a few days before that.
“We would like to open a little bit earlier than the first (Nov. 1) because obviously that’s leading in to a four-day weekend. We already have good bookings for that weekend, around 50 rooms are booked on that Sunday night,” Mr. McGrath told reporters in a media round table in the hotel last week.
Hilton Manila will offer a total of 357 guest rooms and suites. The smallest room covers 40 square meters (sq.m.), while the largest — called the two-bedroom governor suite — spans 160 sq.m. Each room will feature Hilton’s signature Serenity bed, a pillow menu that allows guests to choose from different variants of pillows, bathroom with separate bathtub and shower, a 55-inch smart TV, and Wi-Fi access.
The hotel will also house six flexible meeting and event spaces, an executive floor and lounge, a resort-style pool, fitness center, kids’ play areas, and digital checkin features. The digital check-in will allow guests to enter their rooms through an app on their phones, doing away with the usual card key used by most hotels.
Mr. McGrath said Hilton Manila’s target market includes leisure guests looking for places to stay in during long weekends and holidays.
“Given where we are, we’re looking at local leisure. From the statistics, 50% of the Filipino domestic market travel to a tourism attraction in the last couple of years. It’s a growing market. The staycation market, obviously we have to look at for weekends and public holidays, the leisure market is going to be a huge part of the business,” Mr. McGrath said.
From leisure travelers on weekends, the hotel manager said the hotel also hopes to attract the meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibition (MICE) crowd on weekdays, driven by the convention centers in Newport City.
Newport City houses the Marriott Grand Ballroom, which spans 3,000 sq.m. and can accommodate 4,000 guests for cocktails and 2,500 for a banquet set-up. The facility describes itself as the largest hotel convention center in the country.
With this, Mr. McGrath noted that despite the presence of several hotels in the area, there is still a lack of premium rooms whenever the Grand Ballroom hosts large events.
“When you have a big event and everybody wants premium rooms, there’s currently not enough rooms available. The addition of the inventory of rooms at Hilton will certainly help stimulate further the MICE market using that facility,” he explained.
The hotel also looks to leverage on corporate accounts that frequently travel abroad and stay in Hilton hotels, given their Hilton Honors program. The rewards system will allow members to earn points every time they stay at a Hilton hotel, which can then be exchanged for rewards such as free hotel stays, access to travel packages, and dining privileges, among others.
Hilton Manila is being developed by Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc., the gaming arm of tycoon Andrew L. Tan. It is among the three international luxury hotels the company looks to add to the Resorts World Manila Grand Wing, with the other being Sheraton Manila Hotel and Hotel Okura Manila. The three hotels will have a combined 940 rooms. —