Megaworld Corp. on Tuesday said it will open two new hotels this year in its townships in Iloilo and Newport City in Pasay.
The company said the two hotels will add a combined 631 rooms this year, and boost Dr. Andrew L. Tan’s exposure to the country’s hotel sector.
Richmonde Hotel Iloilo will open in June, while Belmont Luxury Hotel Newport City in Pasay will start receiving guests by the second half of the year.
Richmonde Hotel Iloilo occupies eight levels of the 12-story Richmonde Tower in the 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, Iloilo City. The business hotel will be the first Richmonde Hotel outside Metro Manila and will have 151 guest rooms.
Megaworld has commissioned architectural firm Gettys to design the hotel’s façade, grand lobby, restaurant and guest rooms.
Gettys took inspiration from the city’s agricultural roots for the hotel’s design concept, the company said.
“Finally, we are bringing a new hotel experience for Iloilo, where business, indeed, meets sophisticated pleasure. The people of Iloilo can now be proud of having a hotel that truly provides first-class standards. We will certainly set the bar of hotel lifestyle in Western Visayas,” said Carmen Fernando, managing director, Prestige Hotel and Resorts Inc., the hotel management company of Richmonde Hotel Iloilo and a subsidiary of Megaworld.
On the other hand, the 10-story Belmont Luxury will open in Newport City and will be located in front of the new Marriott Grand Ballroom and a walking distance from Resorts World Manila, Tan’s casino venture in partnership with Malaysia’s Genting. The hotel will have 480 suites, it said.
“We have been experiencing an increasing demand for hotel rooms in Newport City because of its proximity to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and, of course, the presence of Resorts World Manila. Belmont Luxury Hotel Newport will primarily cater to business travelers who expect luxurious hotel experience in a private enclave,” Megaworld said.
Last year Tan announced that the real-estate giant, together with its sister company, Travellers International Hotel Group, will be building hotels around the country with a total of 12,000 rooms.
In the next five years, both companies will be expanding to 10,000 new hotel rooms, all of which will be in Megaworld’s township developments.
At the moment, both Megaworld and Travellers International have already built 1,900 rooms in its existing hotels. These are Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas, and in Eastwood City in Quezon City, Marriott Hotel Manila, Maxims Hotel and Remington Hotel in Newport City; and Fairways and Bluewater in Boracay Newcoast.