On the sidelines of the company's annual stockholders meeting, ALI president Antonino Aquino said the property company is conceptualizing a "more economic" hotel brand with room prices at $60 or P2,500 per night. Rates at the Seda business man's hotel averages $128 or P5,000 per night.
Junie Jalandoni, senior vice president and head of AyalaLand Hotel and Resorts Corp, said the affordable hotel brand will rise initially in its South Park District development in Alabang, in Bacolod and in Iloilo. The firm will break ground on the first site in the second half of the year and it will be operational a year later.
ALI is also going upscale with the development of Seda Suites, which will have bigger room sizes. The first Seda Suite will rise in Bonifacio Global City (BGC).
"Tourism is one of the major items that has very good tailwind as far as the Philippine economy is concerned. All of our product initiatives are related to what is getting a lot of tailwind from the Philippine economy," said Aquino.
ALI is opening Seda hotels in Quezon City, Arca South in Taguig City, Nuvali in Laguna and Circuit in Makati after rolling out the brand in Davao, Cagayan de Oro and BGC.
By the end of the year, ALI will have a network of 2,000 hotel and resort rooms. It recently opened the Holiday Inn and The Raffles and Fairmont in Makati.
Aside from putting up more hotels, ALI is working to acquire more land and expand its island resort portfolio.
“What is attractive relative to the tourism estate sector is where you have the Visayas islands, that’s the place where marine life is good, a lot of corals have been formed, beaches are nice. That’s the target area where we are very interested,” Aquino said.
The firm had said it wants to double its land bank for tourism estates to 1,000 hectares in the next 2-3 years. It is preparing the master plan for a 300-hectare El Nido property in Palawan, which may include residential developments, among others. El Nido is an island resort complex consisting of the Lagen, Miniloc, Apulit and Pangulasian island resorts.
The real estate firm vowed further developments in El Nido will have limited impact on the environment.
“It will be very balanced. If ever there will be a conflict, it will be in favor of nature,” said Aquino.
ALI has also partnered with Subic Bay Development and Industrial Estate Corp for the development of Anvaya Cove, a 320-hectare leisure complex in Bataan.
source: interaksyon.com
