Warm, intimate vacations beckon at new ALI resort
Creamy undiscovered beaches ringed by emerald seas are among the best attractions of Huni, a homegrown Ayala Land Inc. resort brand that recently opened in Northern Iloilo’s Sicogon Island.
The 52-room bed and breakfast is part of an emerging ALI tourism estate currently 45 minutes by boat from Estancia, the nearest port on the Panay mainland, and another 90 minutes from the Roxas City airport and twoand-a-half hours from Iloilo international airport.
But the island favored in the 1980s by the rich and famous will remain remote only up to the end of the year when the island’s airport will be ready to receive Air Swift flights.
In the meantime, Huni, named after the hum of the sea in Pilipino, has been designed to allow guests to fully enjoy marine life and the flora and fauna of the 1,100 hectare Sicogon acquired by ALI in 2013. The beachfront property with well-appointed rooms ranging from the 33 sqm deluxe room to the 53 sqm family suite offers large windows that offer calming vistas of the sea and the surroundings.
The rooms that carry a contemporary theme are complemented by a naturally-ventilated, all-day dining facility, a lounge and an expansive swimming pool a few steps from the sea.
Nevertheless, Joey Bernardino, Sicogon Resorts group director for sales and marketing, envisions that guests will return to this intimate-scaled resort for “its warm personable service supported by the professional and reliable standards of Ayala Land.”
In addition to Sicogon’s highly-rated beaches and its 350 meter-high Mt. Opao for trekking, guests also enjoy island hopping to the nearby Gigantes Group of Islands where natural attractions like the Tangke Saltwater Lagoon wait to be explored. Before the end of the year, guests will also have the option to experience cliff diving, mountain biking and zip-lining from a nearby islet to the main beach.
In a few years time, these activities will be complemented by a range of dining, retail and entertainment options from a planned resort town in the Sicogon Island Tourism Estate.
Bernardino explains that other Huni resorts will be established in other ALI tourism estates. “Our long-term goal is to make new tourism destinations accessible to a broader market that appreciates value through this brand. Because we set high standards for ourselves, we can assure Huni guests that their vacations will be comfortable and always relaxing.”