Biz Buzz: Booming ‘Diamond’ business

IT’S BEEN a little more than a year since the Makati Diamond Residences opened its doors to the public on a “soft launch” basis, and to this day it has yet to have a grand opening fit for an establishment of its stature and location.

And if it were up to the serviced apartment’s boss, Cecille Ang, it would stay that way because she’d rather have Makati City’s newest serviced apartments’ service speak for itself to the its current and prospective clients than be marketed aggressively (and who knows how much that would cost?).

But inside the 28-storey building that stands right across from Greenbelt 1 mall along Legaspi Street, there is no evidence that the property has yet to be launched as business has been buzzing along nicely these past few months. Last week, Ang told Biz Buzz that construction of the last few facilities of the serviced apartment (“It’s not a hotel.”) has been completed and that all 418 rooms are ready for occupancy.

In fact, the Makati Diamond’s rooms have been selling rapidly on online booking websites and staff are busy round the clock attending to guests both local and foreign. So good has business become that Ang finally decided to augment Makati Diamond’s basic restaurant facility with a “Champagne Everyday” food service. On weekends, clients could have a “weekend champagne brunch” from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for P1,000 per person. On weekdays, they could have “weekday champagne buffet” from 6 to 9 p.m. for P850 per person. And on select weekends of February and March, “holiday champagne brunch” could be availed of for P2,000 per person. More importantly, the restaurant is open 24 hours for people who want to have “recovery food” after a long night of partying, for example, Ang said.

But what’s really bringing in the money for Makati Diamond this past year are the long-staying guests—mainly expatriate businessmen—who need to be in the Philippines to conduct business given the country’s robust economy. While it does have guests who stay for one, two or three nights, a significant number of guests book stays lasting from a week, to a month or even six months. One expatriate businessman was even booked a room by his firm for a whole year, we’re told. Now that’s impressive. Daxim L. Lucas

PLDT’s year of changes

IT’S NOT only the Philippines that would have a new President by the middle of 2016. The country’s biggest telco, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., is also considering its own leadership turnover sometime “mid-year”, PLDT’s top boss Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

Recall that Pangilinan last December assumed the role of CEO and president on top of his responsibilities as chair, after Napoleon Nazareno pursued a well-deserved retirement after a 17-year stint with the company.

Pangilinan told Biz Buzz that the process for finding Nazareno’s successor hasn’t actually begun and that he was busy learning all about PLDT (again) on a day-to-day basis.

It’s a crucial time, too, both for the next CEO as Pangilinan described the industry climate that they were facing—from the digital shift to heightened competition from existing and even new players. “It’s really transforming fast and radically,” Pangilinan said.

“We’re still really trying to understand fully what that transformation really means.” Exciting times ahead, indeed. Miguel R. Camus

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).