ALI hotel unit to invest B until 2019 to build up Seda Hotel brand

Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp. (AHRC), a subsidiary of listed Ayala Land, Inc., is investing R15 billion over the next three years to increase the number of its hotels under the Seda Hotel brand.

Melissa Carlos, Seda Hotels group director of sales and marketing, said in a briefing held in Taguig City on Wednesday that by 2019, the company should be operating 3,281 hotel rooms, an inventory that would help position the company as one of the leading Filipino hotel brands.

This, according to her, will be supported by Seda's plan to more than double the number of its hotel branches in the next few years.

As of now, Seda has room inventory to 817 rooms spread over five properties as follows: Seda Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Seda Centrio in Cagayan de Oro, Seda Abreeza in Davao City, Seda Nuvali in Laguna, Seda Atria in Iloilo City.

Carlos said that nine more Seda Hotels are on the way until 2019 including Seda Vertis North in Quezon City (to open in April); Seda Capitol Central in Bacolod City (to open in July 2017); Seda Lio in Palawan (to be completed this year); Seda BGC tower 2 (to start construction in 2018); Seda Circuit Makati (to open in 2018); Seda City Gate in Makati (to start construction in 2019); Seda Bay Parañaque (to start construction in 2019); Seda Central Block in Cebu (to start construction in 2019); Seda Arca South Taguig (to start construction in 2019).

"The total investments for all the new hotels until 2019 is R15 billion," Carlos told reporters. "Our goal is to be the leading Filipino hotel brand catering to global travelers in the Philippines."

Carlos said that Seda's best performing property right now is Seda BGC, which registered an occupancy of 87 percent in 2016 or far more than the 65 percent industry average occupancy rate of Makati Hotels.

This has prompted the company to build a new tower with 342 rooms, including 48 serviced apartments to cater to long-stay guests many of whom are project consultants and remain in the country from three to six months.

"The new stand-alone Seda BGC tower to be completed in 2018 will seamlessly interconnecct with the current tower at three levels. The construction will not disrupt operations and will allow the expansion of facilities like an all-day dning outlet with 300 seats and function rooms that can seat up to 450 persons," Carlos said.

Seda Vertis North in Quezon City, on the other hand, will be the company's biggest city hotel with 438 rooms.

“Seda has been successful in highly underserved areas,” said Carlos.

Seda Lio, meanwhile, will have a resort hotel format and is located in AHRC’s new tourism estate in El Nido town in the Palawan mainland called Lio.

Seda Lio will have 153 rooms and will be completed in the last quarter of 2017.

The two-story Seda Lio has been designed to have a low environmental impact on its surroundings and may serve as a model for future Seda hotels in other AHRC resort areas.