Plantation Bay invests in more rooms

Plantation Bay Resort and Spa has invested into building another four rooms to add to its existing 220 five-star resort accommodation.

Plantation Bay, which is the only Cebuano-owned five-star resort in Cebu, is focusing its expansion plans on additional rooms, and widening the accommodation of its Spa service, said Efren P. Belarmino, the resort's general manager.

The eight-hectare Plantation Bay now has a total of 224 rooms, of which 19 are suites. The resort transformed a roof deck to create the additional room facilities, classified as Lagoon View room each having a balcony that provides generous view of the beach and the saltwater lagoons.

"The hotel's effort to construct the additional number of guestrooms is due to the increasing demand from tourist arrivals in Cebu," Belarmino said in a press conference.

The resort hit a record-breaking occupancy rate in 2005 averaging 84 percent with the Koreans and Japanese dominating huge parts of the pie. But still, the domestic guests top the list with the highest number of arrivals, already including the balikbayans. In the later part of 2005, the hotel observed increasing counts of guests coming from United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and Russia giving the hotel more confidence to pursue more promotions in these areas, Belarmino said.

"Joining travel fairs, exhibits, and regular sales trips to potential countries are some of the ways we plan to keep at the top of travelers' sought-after destinations," he added.

Significantly, Belarmino stressed that the resort would also continue to support the Department of Tourism (DOT) related programs to help sell not only its property, but Cebu and the Philippines as a whole.

Of the total eight-hectare property, Plantation Bay has only utilized 6 hetares, 3.5-hectare of which is covered by the artificial sea-water lagoon. Belarmino said the company is considering a number of expansion plans to fully develop the entire property.

Meanwhile, the resort's priority investments will go to expansion of room and spa facilities, as well as trainings of its staff to attain internationally-at-par services.

Every year, the resort invests on sending a management team to Cornell University in New York to training, Belarmino said. Also, with the strong demand for wellness services, he added that next in line for investment is the widening of its Mogambo Springs Spa.

Since Plantation is a five-star resort- it is one of the most expensive resorts in Cebu. Its suite accommodation called as Penthouse which accommodates six persons is pegged at US$480 per night during off peak season, and US$580 during peak season.

"But we are selling the experience, not the rates," Belarmino concluded. - Ehda M. Dagooc