Marriott bows out of Cebu City, Seda fills void

Deluxe hotel operator Marriott International will bow out of Cebu City by yearend but the 301-room hotel property will continue to operate under Ayala Land’s homegrown hospitality brand Seda.

AyalaLand Hotels and Resorts Corp. (AHRC) announced on Friday the conclusion of its contract with Marriott International Hotels to manage Cebu City Marriott Hotel by the end of 2017 and the appointment of its wholly-owned Seda to manage the hotel in 2018 after refurbishing the hotel’s rooms and amenities.

In a press statement, AHRC president and CEO Al Legaspi expressed appreciation for 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. He also expressed gratitude to the hotel employees for their dedicated service.

Legaspi disclosed that the excellent performance of its wholly-owned and wholly-Filipino brand in other parts of the country, notably in Bonifacio Global City, prodded the appointment of Seda to manage the Cebu Business Park property.

“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 will further be underscored by the construction of another Seda hotel at the Cebu IT Park. It will be the first Seda hotel and serviced apartment complex outside of Metro Manila. 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.

Since its launch in 2012, the Seda hotel brand has flourished 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 set its room inventory to twice the current number in the next two years.