Older hotels urged to renovate

hotels in Metro Manila should renovate and upgrade their facilities to keep up with tightening competition brought by the entry of newer hotels, industry analysts said.

Jones Lang Lasalle head of research, consulting and valuation advisory Claro Cordero Jr. told The STAR older hotels should be able to carry out an effective refurbishment and capital expenditure program during this time.

“Regular enhancements create opportunities to introduce new technologies/design-efficient programs and improve the quality of fit-out to enable a smoother and more effective roll-out of maintenance programs in the future,” Cordero said.

“This will help preserve the property and enhance the competitive advantage of the older, existing hotels in the market,” he added.

Based on a recent report from Colliers International, a total of 7,850 new hotel rooms are forecast to enter the Metro Manila hotel market from this year until 2020, with 1,700 rooms to come online in the second half of 2017.

Among the hotels scheduled to be completed this year are the 200-room Tryp by Wyndham Manila and the remaining units in I’M Hotel and Seda Vertis North.

The 255-room Seda Circuit in Makati is scheduled also for completion next year.

“The hotel should benefit from the spillover demand from Makati CBD brought about by the demolition of two five-star hotels in 2015 – Mandarin Oriental and Intercontinental Manila,” Collliers said.

Marco Polo Ortigas general manager Frank Reichenbach told The

STAR it is good to have competition in the market, as it offers customers more options.

“Yes, certainly, there is a lot of new competition, but I think it’s good for the customer, it’s good for Manila, it’s good for the market,” Reichenbach said.

He said Marco Polo Ortigas has an advantage in the local hotel market, as it is rather new compared to other hotels in the Ortigas area, having opened three years ago.