ALI unit to build 4,000 hotel rooms in 2 yrs

MANILA, Philippines - The hotels and resorts arm of property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) plans to grow its portfolio to as much as 4,000 rooms nationwide in the next two years.

This will allow Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp. to be a substantial contributor to the income of ALI, an executive said.

“We target 3,000 rooms within two years. We will be at that level of 3,000 to 4,000 rooms under planning or open already,” said Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts president Junie H. Jalandoni.

So far, the tourism and hospitality company has launched five hotels under the company-owned Seda brand.

The Seda urban lifestyle hotel in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig has 179 rooms while the 170-room hotel in Abreeza, Davao and another one in Nuvali, Laguna are scheduled to begin commercial operations in the first and fourth quarters this year, respectively.

The Seda Centrio Cagayan de Oro, on the other hand, will offer late this year 150 rooms located within the Centrio ALI mixed-use development that includes offices and retail.

Late last week, the tourism and hospitality company announced that it will spend P1.5 billion to P2 billion for a 250-room Seda lifestyle hotel in Circuit Makati entertainment complex.

Benchmark investment for each hotel is P1.5 billion to P2 billion, Jalandoni said.

“We need that in the Philippines if we are trying to grow the tourism business,” Jalandoni said.

The government, through the Department of Tourism, targets 10 million foreign tourists by 2016.

“The government is very helpful right now. They are promoting tourism,” Jalandoni said.

So far, the hotel portfolio of Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts include Intercontinental Manila, Cebu Marriott, El Nido Resorts, Raffles and Fairmont Makati and Seda Hotels.

The company will also introduce the Holiday Inns and Suites brand, Jalandoni said.

Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts wants a larger income contribution to ALI, which is also into shopping malls, office rental, residential development.

“We hope to contribute meaningfully to the whole portfolio,” Jalandoni said.

In the nine months to September, ALI’s earnings reached P6.62 billion, up 27 percent from P5.23 billion a year ago on the back of the strong performance in all its business lines.