MANDURRIAO, Iloilo—Seda Atria, fully owned and managed by Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts (ALHR), has already gained traction in the hospitality industry in Iloilo during its first 12 months of operation.
ALHR opened the fully integrated, mixed-use development called Atria Park District in Mandurriao.
“Business has been doing well since the beginning. As is normal with a new hotel, it took a few months to ramp up and establish the brand name in the city, but after that, occupancy has been growing, the traffic of clients is improving, and market response has been very favorable,” Seda Group General Manager Andrea Mastellone told the BusinessMirror.
He attributed this to the positive reputation of the brand, service quality, infrastructure, location, and the combination of Filipino hospitality and efficiency that is up to par with global standards.
Since its opening on September 15, 2015, Seda Atria’s occupancy rate has averaged 60 percent, the top executive said.
“We are confident we will meet the forecast for the end of the year. We’re very much on track and the hotel is performing beyond our expectations,” he said.
The hotel now is the leading accommodation player in Iloilo based on the proportion of occupied and vacant rooms.
Seda Atria Hotel Manager Joseph S. del Rosario said if other accommodation facilities in the province have a total of 80 rooms and have the same occupancy rate or higher, Seda Atria would still be performing better.
“We can say we are No. 1 in terms of the number of rooms sold based on our room inventory. We have only been here for one year, yet we already have gained the trust and loyalty of the market. Our primary clients are corporate and feedback from them has been very encouraging,” he noted.
Del Rosario said the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions, or the so-called MICE, sector is contributing to their business growth, together with the leisure market.
He said a high 42 percent of their total room nights come from returning guests.
Performance-wise, Mastellone said Seda Atria—being the latest Seda facility that opened in the third quarter of 2015—is now contributing around 15 percent to the consolidated revenues of all the Seda hotels, which have a total of 817 rooms in five properties nationwide.
The flagship Seda BGC located in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Mastellone said, is the top earner as it accounts for 35 percent, with its existing 179 rooms.
The rest comes from their hotels in Cagayan de Oro (150 rooms), Davao (186 rooms) and Laguna (150 rooms).
Pressed on their business expectations, del Rosario remains upbeat about their growth, especially given the booming economy of Iloilo.
“Definitely, we’re very bullish and have even set higher targets next year,” the hotel manager said of their revenue objectives in 2017. “It is an exciting challenge, but we have gained market support and will strive to keep that by giving them the best hotel experience in Seda Atria.
ALHR is a fully owned subsidiary of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), one of the largest property developers in the Philippines.
In the first half of 2016, ALI reported a 16-percent growth in net income to P9.74 billion, from P8.39 billion during the same period last year.
Consolidated revenues, likewise, increased by 8 percent to P54.76 billion between January and June of this year, from P50.61 billion in the first semester of 2015.
The first six-month top figures from commercial leasing, which covers the operation of shopping centers, offices, and hotels and resorts, aggregated to P12.76 billion, or 12 percent higher than the P11.40 billion recorded a year ago.
Revenues from hotels and resorts portfolio rose by 8 percent from P2.96 billion to P3.19 billion during the two periods in review.