2 Savoy hotels rising within 5 yrs

Two new Savoy Hotel branches are set to rise in five years, adding to its current three branches, which is another indicator that the hospitality industry is back on track.

In a media luncheon a day after its 6th anniversary, Savoy Hotel Manila general manager Den Ferdinand Navarro said the two Savoy Hotels will be built in San Vicente, Palawan, and San Fernando, Pampanga.

“These two new township projects will be all finished in five years. This is an addition to the 12 hotel properties that Megaworld Hotel and Resorts (MHR) is running. MHR is seeking to have 25 properties in the next five years,” Navarro told the media Thursday.

He said the township projects to bring economic activities and provide substantial jobs to its locales.

To date, Savoy has three hotels, namely Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu; Savoy Hotel Manila inside Newport City in Pasay, and the Savoy Hotel Boracay in Malay, Aklan.

Megaworld’s homegrown brands include Savoy Hotels, Belmont Hotels, Richmonde Hotels, Kingsford Hotels, Twin Lakes Hotel Tagaytay and Hotel Lucky Chinatown.

Revenue continues to peak

Meanwhile, Navarro disclosed that revenue this year was good compared to last year, as the country has fully-opened and recovered from the restrictions of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

“The revenue this year is better than last year because we have already fully opened. Also, there’s very good support from the Department of Tourism, such as the trade missions they are doing, involving the private sector. It helped us as well,” he said.

Navarro said Savoy Hotel Manila finished 100 percent DoT’s Filipino Service Brand of Service Excellence, which promotes the best qualities and positive values of Filipino hospitality, envisioned to enhance and uplift the quality of tourism services in the country aimed at fostering excellent service to tourists as part of our distinct Filipino brand.

He said the projected occupancy rate for Savoy Hotels Manila alone is around 79 percent to 80 percent of the 684 hotel rooms because of the hotel’s proximity to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the country’s premiere gateway.

Earlier in a separate interview, the Philippine Hotel Owners Association said the whole hotel industry is considering establishing 50 hotel projects in the next five years or adding roughly 15,000 hotel rooms to the current 40,000 rooms.

“Savoy is catering not only to individual local and foreign travelers but also families doing ‘staycations’, as well as businessmen. Savoy Hotel Manila is near BGC in Taguig City, and Alabang so they conduct meetings here, as we have MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) events place, though with only 200 capacity. We can always use our sister hotels to house these MICE guests,” Navarro explained.

He said balikbayans, overseas Filipino workers, and local guests remain Savoy’s top market as they carefully crafted special packages for them, followed by foreign visitors from the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea.