The growing competition among hotels in Ortigas is pushing longtime players in the district to rethink their business plans. Between 2013 and 2015 alone, room count in the district will have increased by 40 percent to more than 4,000 rooms.

Scheduled to finish a three-year renovation this March, 15-year old The Linden Suites has responded to the new wave of competition by re-launching its brand before the media on Wednesday.

“It’s a total package,” says Dominic Dorol, general manager of the 168-room property. “First, we updated the logo… We tweaked it a bit, made it contemporary.” He explains that the current logo has not veered far from the original; they still want repeat guests to recognize the brand that has been in Ortigas since 2000.

Second, hotel employees went through a refresher course on customer service training and even brand management, adds Dorol. “During the best years of Linden – the first 10 years of Linden – we were enjoying occupancies of 84 to 95 percent without doing anything because of the few hotels then. With minimal effort, the hotel was running full. Now, it’s a different story,” he says.

As a re-launched product, The Linden Suites will sell itself through the line “Rooms to Refresh”, a reference to spacious guestrooms and facilities for relaxation. The Linden Suites’ smallest room category is 38-45 square meters big, while its largest is at 278 square meters. The hotel also boasts The Linden Suites Health Club – a facility with a gym, temperature-controlled indoor pool, Jacuzzi hot tub, poolside lounge, and sauna and massage rooms – and Mesclun, the hotel’s concessionaire, which offers a mix of Asian, European and Mediterranean cuisines.

Leisure market in Ortigas?

Hotels in Ortigas have traditionally relied on business travelers and corporate accounts to fill their rooms. With more hotel players coming in, the business direction of hotels has been to diversify to other markets such as leisure.

But doing so will require collaboration among players in the district. Other Ortigas-based hoteliers told Hospitality News in past interviews enumerated the following challenges of developing the leisure market in the district:

• Ortigas has not been promoted by the government as a leisure destination as much as other areas in Metro Manila like Makati and Intramuros
• Although a shopping destination, Ortigas has very few options for nightlife. There are opportunities though in golf and medical tourism
• Traffic congestion within and around Ortigas is discouraging