All about HIM

As everybody knows, Ayala Land, Inc. is currently reviewing the Intercon Group’s management contract for Hotel Intercontinental Manila.

The final decision will be made by new president Jaime Ayala amid industry talk that the same group that pushed for the sale of ALI’s Davao Insular Hotel to William Gatchalian’s Waterfront-branded hotel chain is now pushing for the closure of HIM. This group thinks ALI is better off just keeping two hotel properties – the Cebu Marriott Hotel, which caters to businessmen, and Oakwood, a full-service residence/hotel in Makati.

There’s also talk that a Thailand based group is exploring a 15-year lease contract on the property where HIM currently sits.

The first hotel in the Ayala Commercial Center, HIM is beginning to look like a mature woman who has had too many, uh, facial enhancements (and some of these are beginning to show). Besides, the Intercon Group’s flagship brand no longer has the same recall as its newer brands such as Holiday Inn, which cater to the mid-income leisure traveler.

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It took just one phone call from Araneta Center, Inc. chairman Jorge Araneta to make Robinsons Land Corp. rename its Gateway Mall at the corner of EDSA and Pioneer St. to Robinsons’ Place Pioneer.

Basically, Nene Araneta appealed to RLC group general manager Frederick Go to give up the brand name, Gateway, in favor of Araneta Center, which is building its first mall (yes, called Gateway) in close to 20 years.

In contrast, RLC’s Pioneer project is one of three new malls being constructed on top of the 15 the company already has nationwide.

Robinsons Place is one of three brand names RLC uses for its malls. The other two brands are Galleria, which is carried by the company’s flagship mall, and Metro.

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Did you know 1: Energy Secretary Vicente Perez Jr. has finally decided he’d rather be prudent than popular by agreeing that National Power Corp. should raise its rates for power sold to electricity distributors like Manila Electric Co.

Then again, Vince Perez may end up still dealing with Napocor even if he is moved to another Cabinet-level position.

As everybody knows, Napocor’s accumulated debt is the single biggest expenditure of government and its viability is, therefore, a crucial factor in reducing the country’s gaping budget deficit.

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Did you know 2: When special envoy to the Middle East Roy Cimatu flew to Iraq last week for hostage negotiations, he used a private jet owned by Prime Projects International simply because he couldn’t wait for the once-a-week commercial flight between Dubai and Baghdad.

Prime Projects currently employs more than 4,000 Filipinos who work in American military camps in Iraq and expects to hire another 4,000 OFWs in the next six months through a Makati-based recruitment agency called Anglo-European Services, Ltd.