Hotel industry ready for more tourists

CHARMIE JOY PAGULONG

DAVAO CITY – The hotel industry is ready to accommodate the influx of local and international travelers as tourism bounces back to recovery after years of pandemic lockdowns and restrictions.

SM Hotels & Conventions Corp. executive vice president Peggy Angeles said at the press conference for the 10th year celebration of Park Inn by Radisson Davao that the hotel industry is “certainly ready” for the arrival of tourists in the Philippines. “This hotel, it has done so well last year unexpectedly. I think it’s because domestic tourism is very, very strong,” said Angeles even as she admitted challenges in keeping employees.

“While we try to keep as many employees as we could during the pandemic, many also have decided to go to other industries… They wanted to stay home and work from home,” she said.

This situation was addressed by reinstating the on-the-job training program and hiring new graduates.

Park Inn by Radisson Davao general manager Sven Toune said: “It is indeed a challenge nowadays to find a qualified staff… But also people, they don’t want to work anymore in the hospitality (sector). Why? Because you work when other people are home.”

Despite this, he said occupancy has rebounded strongly. “We have a good business, we are actually back in pre-pandemic (situation). We (have) some good working staff and maintained them.”

With occupancy rates of the SM hotels firing up optimism, Angeles said they plan to expand the Park Inn by Radisson brand nationwide with five or six more properties in the pipeline in the next five years.

Over the course of the pandemic, there was much to learn for the hotel industry, she said.

“Being creative is one that has really come out of the pandemic. For you to survive, you have to think out of the box,” said Angeles.

Toune said “flexibility” played a key role in their operations during the pandemic.

“We had some staff from our finance department that were doing the checking. We had some people from food and beverage that took care of our reservations. So, we opened the opportunities for everyone to make sure that we could give the service,” he said.

Radisson Hotel Group Southeast Asia Pacific vice president for operations Andre de Jong said via teleconference that they had to “change our business models” with some hotels turned into “quarantine facilities and hospitals in some occasions in order to try continue operating.”

Most important of all, said De Jong, was they “minimized the expenses” as well as the losses.

Now, he expressed hope that they “can close that chapter” and move forward. “We had the vision to open again in the Philippines… And we are on the right track to recovering,” said De Jong.