GOTIANUN-LED Filinvest Hospitality Corp. (FHC) said it is looking to open 60 new rooms at its five-star Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan in Cebu this year.
“Our two phases of room renovations should be finished by the end of this year. So, we’re looking at about, if I’m not mistaken, 60 rooms,” FHC Senior Vice-President Francis Nathaniel C. Gotianun said during a media briefing on Thursday.
“We’re working to elevate the Crimson brand across all our properties. So, we’ve been reinvesting in the room experience, the customer experience, and the dining experience.”
FHC manages seven hotels with a total of 1,800 rooms under brands like Crimson and Quest.
Properties under the Crimson brand include Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay, Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan, and Crimson Hotel Filinvest City Manila.
By yearend, the company is also scheduled to open the 256-room Grafik Hotel Collection Baguio. It also plans to break ground on its 300-room Crimson Clark Hotel in Pampanga within the year.
The company has maintained its goal of opening about 2,000 new rooms by 2029, Mr. Gotianun said earlier.
FHC is also looking to further integrate tech-related services such as AI (artificial intelligence) chatbots into its operations, Mr. Gotianun said.
“We have been reworking our whole tech staff across the hotel business so that we can work more intelligently, put people where we really need them, and let the technology do the rest of the groundwork,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Philippines’ expected rise to upper middle-income status next year is seen to bolster the domestic tourism sector, Mr. Gotianun said.
“This is a big thing for the country because that means we will start moving into a stronger consumption economy… that means that domestic tourism should continue to be strong.”
The government is optimistic that the country will reach upper middle-income status next year. This comes amid trade uncertainties caused by the United States’ tariff policy, as well as conflicts in the Middle East and Europe. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz