Hilton Cebu to host Japanese delegation

Five-star Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa will be the main host of the Japanese delegation led by its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, during the 12th ASEAN Summit next month.

About 230 Japanese will be housed at Hilton Cebu during the four-day activity, said the resort's general manager Peter Pedersen in an interview.

According to Pedersen it's a great privilege for Hilton Cebu to host the Japanese visitors, including some members of the Japanese press, as the hotel is trying to attract the Japanese market.

Taking advantage of its vast Hilton network, Pedersen said help will be flying in from Hilton Japan, to help any Cebu operations achieve an excellent Japanese service.

Extra attention will be given by the resort in terms of bath and kitchen detail preparations, the reason why Pedersen said "colleagues from Tokyo Hilton will be coming in."

Hilton will also intensify its back-up operational support, in technical aspects, Internet connection, and communication, among others. He said the resort will outsource back-up support services in order to assure uninterrupted operation during the ASEAN Summit week.

He said everything should be excellent, so that Hilton Cebu will be able to further make its name in Japan's travel market.

"Our business focus now is the Japanese market. It is a welcome choice for us. We hope to have positive write-ups about our resort in Japan (immediately after the Summit)" Pedersen said adding that having the Japanese delegation in their resort is a "perfect match".

As of the moment, the 246-room Cebu Hilton is trying to fill up its remaining rooms or the un-reserved rooms during the first two weeks of December.

There are eight Hilton hotels in Japan. Pedersen said one of the reasons why the Japanese delegation picked the Cebu Hilton Resort as their main venue, because of its true international name, and strong brand name in Japan.

On the issue of increased room prices in Cebu during the ASEAN week, Pedersen said it is a natural reaction of supply and demand equation, for businesses, especially hotels. However, a 200 percent hotel rate increase seems to much him.

Reportedly, some hotels in have jacked up their per room price by 200 percent during first two weeks of December because of the strong demand for rooms.

Any resort, or hotel, wherever in the world, will automatically adopt the peak season rate whenever there is a demand, and vice versa during the lean season periods, but 200 percent is too high of a jump.

He admitted though, that Hilton has also adopted rate increase because of the high demand, and extra expenses for preparations, but he refused to divulge the resort's exact rate adjustment.