Gokongwei’s Manila Galleria Suites to be run by Holiday Inn

Robinsons Land Corp. has awarded two management contracts to the Singapore-based Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) for the operations of the Manila Galleria Suites in Mandaluyong and a new hotel also to rise in the Ortigas area.

RLC president and COO Lance Gokongwei said that with the agreement, Manila Galleria will be rebranded into a Holiday Inn hotel starting June 1, 2003.

The 284-room Galleria Suites will be rebranded into Holiday Inn Galleria Manila in advance of a 12-month refurbishment program.

Another hotel, the Crowne Plaza, will also be handled by IHG as soon as this new building is completed by 2005. The new 260-room hotel, at a prime location at the corner of Ortigas Avenue and Asian Development Bank Avenue, will cater to the meetings and convention markets.

The two new additions will add to IHG’s portfolio in Asia Pacific which presently includes 144 hotel properties with close to 40,000 guest rooms in 22 countries in the region.

There are two existing Holiday Inn hotels being managed in the Philippines, the Intercontinental Manila and Holiday Inn Clark.

‘We are confident that our partnership with IHG is a positive move that will contribute to building value for our properties, our shareholders and the Philippine tourism industry," Gokongwei said.

RLC recently announced that it will be closing the Manila Midtown Hotel in Ermita by end-May this year due to the hotel’s poor business performance. – Conrado Diaz Jr.