Speed up payment for quarantine stay of OFWS, hotels ask OWWA
THE Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Inc. (HSMA) has appealed to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to pay them for the hotelquarantine stays of returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWS).
In a recent press briefing to announce the organization’s September Online Sale (SOS) promotion, HSMA President Christine Anne U. Ibarreta stressed “the hotels badly need funds” to remain in operation. But, she said, the hotels are still having difficulty getting OWWA to pay for the booked stays of the OFWS.
Based on her conservative estimates, OWWA now owes about 50 hotels some P1 billion, based on an average unpaid debt of P20 million per property. Ibarreta told the Businessmirror in Filipino, OWWA “now owes almost all hotels.”
In July, OWWA owed some P36 million in hotel payments to just nine properties, and only started paying them after Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and other officials of the Department of Tourism intervened.
(See, “OWWA starts paying hotels that hosted OFWS on quarantine,” in the Businessmirror, July 20, 2020.)
The Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) allowed hotels and other accommodation establishments to accept bookings from returning OFWS, Filipino residents flying home from overseas assignments and schools, for quarantine purposes.
“This is our worst nightmare in terms of business, revenue and earnings,” said HSMA Treasurer Carmela Bocanegra of the Covid-19 outbreak and ensuing travel restrictions. While the group failed to give total losses incurred by their sector since March—when the government implemented international travel restrictions—a number of hotels have reported a drop in revenues by as much as 80 percent.
In the past few months, several accommodation establishments have suspended operations, beginning with the iconic Marco Polo Davao in June 15, followed by some branches of the popular Victoria Court motel chain; and, just on August 31, Movenpick Hotel in Mactan, Cebu.
Still, HSMA members are looking forward to improved revenues during the Christmas and New Year holidays, especially now that staycations will be allowed in Metro Manila.
In a letter to the Tourism Congress of the Philippines dated September 11, 2020, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said, “[The] IATF-EID approved during its Principals Meeting on September 10, 2020, to allow staycations under general community quarantine [GCQ].” Metro Manila is still under GCQ due to continued increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.
In the Department of Tourism’s draft guidelines, “a staycation shall involve a minimum overnight stay for leisure purposes in a Dot-accredited accommodation enterprise located in proximity [to] one’s residence. For instance, residents of the NCR [National Capital Region] can staycation within NCR subject to the requirements of the LGU [local government unit].”
The DOT chief added, “The IATF-EID also further defined guests allowed in hotels under GCQ in its Omnibus Guidelines to include markets of specialized programs of the DOT. Specialized programs of the DOT are focused on specific target markets that can safely contribute to the efforts of restarting economic activities through tourism.”
“We are optimistic that the hotels will be receiving bookings during the sale,” said HSMA Spokesperson Pearl Maclang in the organization’s online presser on its SOS promo. “Most of them are already fully booked for Christmas and New Year,” she added. These holidays are traditionally a peak season for the hospitality industry, with increased guest bookings from visiting relatives from abroad and social events such as Christmas parties and weddings.
SOS will run from September 15 to 30, 2020, with e-vouchers valid from October 1, 2020, until September 30, 2021. The sales promo is being held in partnership with the DOT and its marketing arm, the Tourism Promotions Board. For a full list of participating hotels and resorts and their offers, visit www.hsma.org.ph.