Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp.’s (AHRC) wholly-owned Seda hotels announced yesterday that it would be adding nine more hotels to add to its current five properties. With estimated P15 billion spending, more than 2,400 rooms will be added to its inventory in nine destinations from 2017 up to 2019. Melissa Carlos, group director of sales and marketing, announced in a media briefing: “Our goal is to be the leading Filipino hotel brand catering to global travelers in the Philippines.”
Since its founding in 2012, Seda has built up its room inventory to 817 rooms spread over five properties in Taguig City (BGC), Laguna (Nuvali), Cagayan de Oro (Centrio), Davao City (Abreeza), and Iloilo City (Atria).
All five hotels met their targets in 2016 that according to Carlos guest satisfaction scores ranged from 83 to 86 percent. On the other hand, best performing property has been Seda BGC which registered an average occupancy of 87 percent in 2016 or far more than the 65 percent industry average occupancy rate of Makati hotels.
The excellent performance of Seda BGC has prompted the addition of a new tower with 342 rooms including 48 serviced apartments to cater to long-stay guests many of whom are project consultants and remain in the country from three to six months. To be completed in 2018, the new stand-alone Seda BGC second tower will interconnect with the current tower at three levels. The expansion includes an all-day dining outlet to seat 300 persons and function rooms that can seat up to 450 persons.
Prior to the BGC hotel extension, there are 3 Seda hotels set to open this year: Seda Vertis North in Quezon City with 438 guestrooms and serviced apartments by April; Seda Capitol Central Bacolod with 154 rooms by July; and, the first resort hotel Seda Lio in El Nido Palawan with 154 rooms that is expected to be completed by the end of the last quarter.
The two-storey Seda Lio has been designed to have a low environmental impact on its surroundings and may serve as a model for future Seda hotels in other AHRC resort areas. The resort hotel will be targeting MICE, destination weddings, families, and foreign leisure travelers markets.
By 2018, 255-room Seda Circuit Makati is set to open along with Seda BGC second tower.
Completing Seda’s full expansion will be in 2019. Four new hotels totalling 1,122 rooms will be added. These are Seda Suites, Makati (293 rooms), Seda Bay Area, Paranaque (350 rooms), Seda Central Bloc, Cebu (214 rooms) and Seda Arca South, Taguig (265 rooms).
Carlos concluded that Seda’s expansion is in line with Ayala Land Inc., its parent firm, vision having a total of 6,000 hotel rooms by 2020. These rooms include El Nido Resorts in Palawan, Raffles Makati, and the new Mandarin that is undergoing construction.
