Waterfront Phils sets aside P300-M for 3 new units

Waterfront Philippines Inc. (WPI), a hotel and resort development holding company owned by plastics king William Gatchalian, has allotted P300 million for the establishment of three new subsidiaries to efficiently manage the group's businesses.

The new subsidiaries are Waterfront Entertainment Corp., (WEC), Waterfront Management Corp. (WMC) and Waterfront Food Concepts Inc. (WFCI).

WFCI will be assigned to manage WPI’s chain of restaurants, as well as facilitate the introduction of new brands that will cater to Filipino and foreign tastes. WPI is now planning to put up two to three more restaurants on top of the two existing ones to attract more tourists.

Another subsidiary, WMC will be in charge of pursuing management contracts for leisure and tourism-related ventures within the country.

WEC, meanwhile, will be in charge of producing and co-producing Las Vegas type of shows in the WPI hotels. This is seen to add value and increase revenues for the hotel network.

WPI’s hotel chain include two hotels in Cebu (Mactan Island and Cebu City) and another in Davao.

A fourth hotel, Manila Pavillion in downtown Manila, has been acquired earlier this year but a dispute over the ownership transfer is still pending in court.

WPI had also invested P50 to P60 million in hotel management systems to further improve operational efficiency and profitability. This is connection with its vision of a fully-computerized hotel system company-wide.

The company said it continues to streamline its operations and reduce costs by cutting its manpower and by disposing some idle assets.