Marriott leaves Cebu as contract expires
Deluxe hotel operator Marriott International will bow out of Cebu City by the end of the year but the 301-room hotel property that it managed for the last two decades will continue to operate under Ayala Land’s homegrown hospitality brand, Seda.
Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corp. (AHRC) yesterday announced the conclusion of its contract with Marriott International Hotels to manage Cebu City Marriott Hotel by the end of 2017. It also announced the appointment of its wholly-owned hotel operator, Seda, as the new operator of the hotel starting 2018 after refurbishing the rooms and amenities.
In a statement, AHRC president and CEO Al Legaspi hailed Cebu City Marriott’s “consistent performance” over the past 20 years and observed that the hotel had helped spur the growth of the Cebu Business Park and the rest of Cebu City as a global business center.
Legaspi also expressed gratitude to the hotel employees for their dedicated service.
The “excellent” performance of Filipino brand Seda in other parts of the country—specifically in Bonifacio Global City— prodded AHRC to appoint Seda to manage the Cebu Business Park property, Legaspi said.
“Seda in Cebu Business Park will be our biggest hotel in the Visayas which is but fitting given Cebu City’s transformation as a global business center,” he said.
“Seda, which now has 1,255 rooms throughout the country, is ready to fill the needs of Cebu Business Park locators and visitors,” he added.
AHRC’s commitment to Cebu is underscored by the construction of another Seda hotel at the Cebu IT Park. The Cebu IT Park property is set for completion in 2019.
Both hotels will uphold the Seda brand pillars of a strategic location close to shops and restaurants within a vibrant Ayala Land mixed-use development combined with service at par with global standards that draws from innate Filipino hospitality, the statement said.
Since its launch in 2012, the Seda hotel brand has performed well in various locations nationwide. Aside from Bonifacio Global City, it also has properties in Cagayan de Oro City, Davao City, Iloilo City, Nuvali in Laguna, and Quezon City, where it recently opened the biggest hotel in the city with 438 rooms, a ballroom and presidential suite.
The Ayala group believes that Seda’s success has merited an aggressive expansion program that will scale up its room inventory by twice the current number in the next two years.
