THE HOTEL Investments Group of listed holding firm SM Investments Corp. is planning to put up a hotel chain nationwide in order to tap the growing consumers in the domestic tourism market.
To be called Casa SM, the hotel will be built in 14 sites that the company has yet to be determined by the company. The hotels, which will be marketed to local tourists and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) visiting the country, will feature a minimum of 50 rooms at an average size of 24 square meters each and will have a rate of P2,000 per night.
‘We’re fine-tuning the 14 sites. Once we select the sites, we’ll finalize the [budget],’ said Merril F. Yu, senior vice-president of the Hotel Investments Group. ‘There’s a growing demand for hotel accommodations from multiple users in second- and third-tier locations and we’re going in those areas,’ he added. Mr. Yu also said that the strategy was to open one Casa SM in places where the SM malls exist. There are 30 SM malls nationwide.
‘As the tourist number increases, we want to develop hotels that add value to SM products,’ he said. ‘We’d like to capture synergies of an existing mall structure and build a hotel [near the mall],’ he added. Mr. Yu said the group aims to open two beta sites by the end of 2009, which would serve as the springboard to the balance of the 12 other units they would be coming up.
He also noted the possibility of partnering with an international management operator for the hotels depending on how many rooms a site requires. The Hotel Investment Group is now busy completing the expansion of Taal Vista Hotel from 128 rooms to 262 rooms, Mr. Yu added.
He said the group has also jump-started the renovation and conversion of the 400-room Cebu hotel beside SM City Cebu into a five-star operation by Sofitel of the Accor Group, a European hotel management firm.
The P2.8-billion five-star hotel was designed by United States-based master planner and architect Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo. Preparations are also being made for a Radisson Hotel in the Mall of Asia Complex which will have about 400 rooms, Mr. Yu said.
The hotel will be developed and managed by Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific, and aims to be the country’s premier business and tourism district by the Manila Bay. The Hotel Investment Group is positioned as a progressive development group that will optimize multiple investment vehicles in travel and tourism, and consequently, add value to the existing businesses of SM Investments.
The group contributes 8% in the total revenues of SM Investments Corp.’s property development business. SM Investments is the Sy family’s publicly listed holding firm, which handles its real estate, retail merchandising, shopping malls, and banking businesses.