Filinvest to add 2,000 hotel rooms in five years

The hospitality arm of the Gotianun family’s Filinvest Development Corp. (FDC) is off to a strong start toward its goal of adding 2,000 additional keys over the next five years, with a number of major developments lined up this year, according to a report by Philippine Star.

Filinvest Hospitality Corp. first senior vice president Francis Gotianun said the company would start construction later this year of Crimson Clark Hotel, a five-star hotel within the Mimosa Leisure Estate, offering over 300 rooms.

Gotianun said they would also launch by the end of the year Grafik Baguio, a 5,700-square meter, 256-room full-service hotel being constructed in accordance with the EDGE Green Building Program of the International Finance Corp.

“So we’re looking for intrepid new travelers to try our hotel and hopefully we will bring something super new and exciting to the Baguio scene,” he said.

Aside from its new projects, Gotianun said Filinvest Hospitality is also undertaking a lot of renovations across its properties.

“For example, Crimson Mactan has a whole set of new restaurants and we’ll be launching our new rooms by the end of this year as well there. And then we’re also been doing a lot of work at Mimosa Leisure Estate. We’ve continue to renovate the Quest Hotel there as well,” he said.

Last year, the Filinvest Group announced plans to expand aggressively its hospitality business by adding close to 2,000 additional keys in its portfolio over the next five years.

The company has identified key tourist destinations such as Baguio, Clark and Bohol for its expansion.

“We’re still on track to do that. We have a whole bunch of land lined up for us to be able to build across the country. We have properties in Bohol for instance, we have a little bit of land also in Boracay and of course our land in Dumaguete. So a whole bunch of other areas and we’ll be bringing it to the market at the right time,” Gotianun said.

Filinvest Hospitality’s roster of hotels includes Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay, Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan, Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila, The Quest Hotels & Resorts in Cebu, Clark Pampanga and Tagaytay.

According to Gotianun, the company has set more aggressive targets this year and they have been hitting them so far.

“So from that aspect, we’re doing better. But we need to see how the rest of the year plays out because we’re about to enter into the low periods which is normally July, August, September and then back into the high periods which is the ‘ber’ months at the end of the year,” he said.

“Travel typically is a luxury to most people so anything that shocks the economy, shocks the consumer is difficult for us. Any geopolitical tension obviously affects.