Seda hotel chain eyes 3.5K rooms by 2019

MANILA -- Ayala Land Inc., through Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp., plans to ramp up the rollout of its Seda hotel brand to more than double capacity to 3,500 rooms by 2019, as it rides the tourism boom.

Senior group general manager Andrea Mastellone said the hotel chain will increase the current 1,409 rooms in seven locations to 15 hotels in two years.

Following the launch of Seda Lio in El Nido, Palawan in the first half of 2018, new Seda hotels will be inaugurated in the next two years in Circuit Makati; Arca South, Taguig; the Cebu Business Park; Ayala North Exchange, Makati; Bay Area, Paranaque; and the Cebu IT Park.

In response to the Bonifacio Global City’s (BGC) sustained expansion, an additional 342 rooms will also be added to Seda BGC in Taguig, the brand’s flagship hotel.

Seda currently has six other operating hotels located in Cagayan de Oro, Davao City, Nuvali in Laguna, Iloilo City, Quezon City and Bacolod City.

Mastellone expects tourism and traditional firms on expansion mode to be Seda’s growth drivers and to fill the more than 2,000 rooms coming on stream in the next few years.

She said Seda will focus its expansion primarily in Metro Manila and Cebu-Mactan areas.

Mastellone cited studies by the Department of Tourism (DOT) indicating projected room gaps of 69,185 in Metro Manila, and 14,913 in Cebu-Mactan by 2022.