Filinvest unit expanding hotel property portfolio

THE GOTIANUN family-led Filinvest group expects to hit its goal of having 5,000 hotel rooms owned or managed by 2020 as the group raises its investments in tourism-oriented property development.

Francis Gotianun, assistant vice president at Filinvest Hospitality, said that after ending 2015 with 1,062 hotel rooms, more rooms will be added to exceed the 3,000 mark this year, especially with the group’s takeover of the Mimosa leisure estate in Clark, Pampanga.

The group is set to open another 164-room hotel under the “Quest” brand in Tagaytay and another 180-room “Quest” hotel in Dumaguete.

As part of the Activa complex in Cubao, the group is introducing a new 220-room lifestyle hotel brand called Canvas.

Activa is a 1.1-hectare block at the junction of MRT-3 and LRT-2 railways that was earlier acquired by the Filinvest group from National Bookstore of the Ramos family.

“Canvas caters to the lifestyle market for the millennial generation, (will offer rooms for) between P4,000 and P5,000 a night. It’s probably in between a five-star and three-star rate,” Gotianun said.

“We felt there’s a hole in the market for something that’s younger, more upscale for the millennial travelers. We have a very established five star hotel (Crimson), then we have something in the middle that’s cool and affordable,” he said.

After Canvas’ first hotel in Cubao, plans are underway to build another hotel under this brand in Mactan, Cebu, which will likely have 180 to 222 rooms, Gotianun said.

Quest, on the other hand, offers lower room prices of between P2,000 and P3,500.

“There’s a few more that we’ll talk about as we grow closer to the launch,” he said.

The group also expects to open this year a 192-room luxury hotel on Boracay island, which will be the third under the Crimson hospitality brand. The first Crimson hotel is located at Mactan while the second Crimson hotel opened in Filinvest City, Alabang in 2012.