Filinvest to expand its hotel business

MANILA, Philippines - Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC), the investment firm of the Gotianun family, plans to grow the number of its hotel rooms in the country by about five times over the next five years as confidence remains strong for the country’s tourism sector.

FDC president and CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap said the company intends to bring its total number of hotel rooms across the country to 5,000 by 2019 or even earlier.

Gotianun-Yap said FDC to date has over 1,000 rooms under its various hotel brands.

FDC plans to put up seven hotels with 200 to 300 rooms each through different brands in commercial centers, exisiting mixed-use developments, and tourist spots nationwide in the next few years.

“For those seven hotels that’s almost 2,000 rooms already, which will give us 3,000 adding the existing rooms. So I think 5,000 rooms is doable. There is a possibility we can do that in less than five years,” Gotianun-Yap said.

“We are very bullish about the tourism market and we’ve been able to do well with our brands,” she added.

FDC has identified tourist spots Boracay and Tagaytay for its new hotels while mixed-use projects of property arm Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) in Binondo, Cubao and Ortigas Center would feature hotels,

Gotianun-Yap said another area being eyed for a new hotel location is in Cebu where it currently operates Quest Hotel and Conference Center.

FDC also owns Crimson Resort and Spa at Seascapes Resort Town in Cebu and Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila.

Subsidiary FDC Hotels Corp. has already started the construction of the P3.49-billion, 192-room Crimson Resort and Spa in Boracay Island that targets operation in 2016.

Gotianun-Yap said two out of the seven new hotels in the pipeline will carry a value hotel brand, enabling the company to offer a complete portfolio of hotels ranging from the affordable segment to the upscale brands.