04 October 2018 — One Central Hotel has officially opened today. Located in downtown Cebu City at the corner of Leon Kilat and Sanciangko Streets, a convenient location for business and leisure as the hotel is near to historical and cultural sites,  the bus terminal and port area. 

The hotel offers 157 rooms measuring 24 sqm for Deluxe rooms to 75 sqm for Junior suites and 85 sqm for Executive suites. It has two meeting rooms (with 10- and 30-person capacities) and a grand ballroom (250 sit-down) that can be converted into four smaller venues for meetings and social functions. The hotel’s all-day dining restaurant, Café Tartanilla offers delectable buffet spread and downtown’s longest happy hour (from 6pm to 11pm). Guests can use the plunge pool or continue their fitness regimen at the gym.

In the press conference that followed the launch, Steven Yu, CEO of One Central Hotel, mentioned that current economic position of the country strengthened their position not to sell the land but put their investment in it. He also expressed that One Central Hotel can be advantageous as a base for cultural exploration

“It is just 10 minutes walk from the hotel — the Sto. Nino Church, Magellan’s Cross and Fort San Pedro.”

The hotel has interesting trivia. Built on the site of an old lumber store, One Central Hotel rose from the grounds near the location where Cebu’s Central Train Station once stood. The area is the epicenter of trade and commerce and has been a witness to Cebu’s modernization.

In the early 1900’s, the birth of the train paved the way for the rise of businesses and the modernization of Cebu. The Central Station sprawls from the site of the current Development Bank of the Philippines and Cebu City Medical Center. Aside from the train, horse-drawn carriages, or tartanillas, also played a part in transporting the passengers to and from the train stations. The 57-mile railway stretches all the way from Danao up north to Argao down south. There is also a short railway that leads up to the port along Leon Kilat Street. The dawn of World War II ended the train operations in Cebu.

Yu also revealed that the hotel will be highly accessible from the Mactan airport soon.

“There are other emerging developments like the upcoming third bridge of the city, the Cebu-Cordova link that is a game-changer. It will cutdown travel time from Mactan airport by half-an-hour,” he added.

One Central Hotel is managed by Bluewaters Hospitality, best known for its homegrown and wholly-Filipino owned chain of resort hotels in the Visayas and Mindanao. Having their over three decades of experience in the hospitality industry, Bluewater enters their agreement with One Central as their first venture into hotel management.

“Our amuma hospitality will also be one of the reasons why people would want to stay at One Central. We are grateful to Steven for getting us the management group of this hotel. We pride ourselves with giving warm service which is the amuma (pamper) excellence,” said Julie Alegrado, Bluewaters Resort president.