CEBU, Philippines – To intensify their operation and meet the growing demand for more quality rooms in the city as preparation for the much awaited upswing in the economy, home-grown Sarrosa International Hotel and Residential Suites will be adding an initial of 51 more rooms to its former 105 hotel type and residential suites.
In an interview with its sales account manager Henrik Ryan Tan, he said that Sarrosa International Hotel and Residential Suites will have a grand opening of its additional 51 rooms by June 10. These rooms are in its newest North wing composed of grand superior rooms, family suite, grand deluxe, and Sarrosa suite that are guaranteed bigger and than its current 65 hotel type rooms and 40 residential suites in its South wing.
He said that their latest hotel expansion is geared towards capturing a wider scope of the market from the lower-end to the higher-end of the spectrum and to also accommodate more number of guests especially during peak seasons in the city like the celebration of the Sinulog Mardi Gras.
The construction of the rooms started first quarter of last year and the new wing is composed of 10 stories, which will accommodate additional rooms and hotel facilities like a spa, a gym and dorm type rooms that are targeted to capture the growing student market in the area.
The expansion also paves way for the expansion of the hotel’s function rooms from five to 11 spacious rooms to accommodate more guests and serve more events such as weddings and debuts in which the hotel is popular for as they hold an average of more than eight wedding receptions in a week.
The 51 additional hotel rooms will cover the new wing’s third to fifth floors while the sixth to seventh floors will accommodate the dorm type student rooms and the eight to tenth floors is being initially eyed to accommodate the hotel’s penthouse, ambassador suites and presidential suites depending upon the condition of the economy.
“We are still finalizing our plans for the eighth to 10th floors. Considering that we are still under a crisis, we know that not everyone will likely want to pay more so our plans for these floors are still pending as we are still waiting for the outcome of the economy,” said Tan.
Sarrosa International Hotel and Residential Suites was established in 1997 by Tan’s family and it has an average of 70 percent monthly occupancy rate serving both local and foreign clientele.
Its new sales and marketing manager Rolette Veloso said that with the hotel’s new wing, Sarrosa will also intensify their sales and marketing efforts to get ahead of competition which has gotten tougher due to the influx of new players and the aggressiveness of existing ones.
She said that they also aim to strengthen their hotel’s brand image so that they can capture more markets and establish a stronger hold in the city’s hospitality industry as one of the city’s business hotels.
Veloso said that currently they are active in targeting new foreign markets such as Kuwaitis and other nationalities to also grow their foreign client-base.
“Before the hotel is not very active in its marketing efforts like capturing new markets but now we are trying to coordinate with local travel agencies and give them special rates so we can try to get new markets like Kuwaitis and other international tourists. We also want to capture government agencies to hold their functions here. We have realized the need to do strategic marketing to make the hotel known,” said Veloso.
Tan said that after their expansion and after the economy recovers, they are eyeing to open sales office in Davao and Manila to establish presence in those areas and after strengthening their brand, they are also eyeing an opportunity to put up a new branch outside Cebu.