Biz Buzz: From Traders to Jen

The “Traders Hotel” logo on Roxas Boulevard may soon be gone with the trade winds as the hotel chain rebrands into a more hip “Hotel Jen.”

According to Hong Kong-based Shangri-La International Hotel Management Ltd., Hotel Jen would cater to a “new ‘Jeneration’ of independently minded business and leisure travelers.”

The company said that the Hotel Jen brand “is inspired by the virtual persona Jen, a professional hotelier who loves life, travel and the adventure of discovering new places.”

Starting next month until March next year, Traders Hotel in Manila alongside those in Beijing, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Johor Bahru, Maldives, Penang, Shenyang and Singapore will be the first few to be renamed Hotel Jen.

“The Traders brand has had a 25-year history of success in generating solid business, carving out a niche amidst a highly competitive industry and building a loyal base of customers. However, we are looking to the future and—based on extensive consumer research and insight into the way our target market lives and travels, including talking and listening to our customers—we are recognizing and responding to the global travel trends and particular needs of this new generation travelers. This will keep us relevant and competitive for the next 20 years to come,” Shangri-La Hotels president and CEO Greg Dogan said.

The Shangri-La group is eyeing more Hotel Jen developments in key Southeast Asian cities, and don’t be surprised if it puts up another one in Manila amid the bustling tourism and gaming scene. Ben O. de Vera

Banatao scores again

US-BASED Filipino entrepreneur and innovator Diosdado “Dado” P. Banatao has added another feather to his Silicon Valley cap as he joins the board of directors of IT firm Skyera Inc.

Skyera, based in San Jose, California, claims to be “the leader in highest density, all-flash arrays that maximize data center efficiency.”

“Dado’s success as an entrepreneur, an investor, an executive and as a person makes him an extremely valuable addition to Skyera, and we are excited to have him guide us to greater success as a company,” company chief executive Frankie Roohparvar said in a statement. “His years of experience and in-depth knowledge of the technology market will help us better navigate our way to the top of the industry. I welcome Dado to our board and look forward to his assistance with expanding the reach of our high density, all-flash arrays to organizations throughout the world.”

According to Skyera’s website, Mapua and Stanford alum Banatao pioneered the personal computer (PC) chipset and graphics acceleration architecture, which “continue to be two of the foundation technologies in every PC today.” Ben O. de Vera

Short on time

VARIOUS groups have a lot of things to say about proposals for government to have emergency powers in dealing with a potential electricity crunch in the summer 2015. But what may be lacking in the end is time.

While all that talk is happening, what does the country’s Chief Executive, at least, have to say on the matter?

“I’d rather have it and not use it than need it and not have it,” was apparently what President Aquino said previously, according to Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.

However, Petilla said during a presentation to members of the Management Association of the Philippines that there could be a hitch: It takes about six months from contracting diesel power generating units (for back-up power) to actual delivery, and that a decision has to be made soon about whether government should invoke emergency powers.

However, the Department of Energy is apparently still in talks with energy stakeholders to check whether there will really be a shortfall despite all the embedded capacity in manufacturing facilities, malls, and other big power users in the form of power generation units.

“We are running out of time,” Petilla said.

So when is the deadliest deadline, so to speak, for government to invoke emergency powers? “By end-September, probably. We could still make it (contracting for summer 2015),” Petilla said. Riza T. Olchondra

Tycoon joins Challenge

THE FLOOD of support for the fight against amytophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, has reached even the highest levels of the country’s business sector.

No less than Andrew Tan, chair of conglomerate Alliance Global and one of the country’s richest men, took part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, allowing someone to pour a bucket of supposedly ice-cold water over his head.

In true billionaire style, Tan’s minute-long ice bucket video looked well-produced. Tan himself looked relaxed in a pink button-down shirt.

For those living under a rock, the ice bucket challenge goes like this: Anyone nominated to take part should either pour a bucket of ice over their heads or donate money to the ALS Association to fund research aimed at finding a cure.

Tan nominated Asian Institute of Management president Steven DeKrey, Accenture country managing director Lito Tayag, and McDonalds Philippines CEO Kenneth Yang to the challenge.  Paolo G. Montecillo and Doris C. Dumlao

E-mail us at [email protected]. Get business alerts and a preview of Biz Buzz the evening before it comes out. Text ON INQ BUSINESS to 4467 (P2.50/alert).