Torre Lorenzo, Dusit Thani unit earmark P9.4B for hotel, residential ventures

Torre Lorenzo Development Corp. (TLDC) and Dusit Thani Philippines Inc. are investing P9.4 billion in building new hotels and developing residential areas in Lipa City and the Davao Gulf, company officials announced on Wednesday.

TLDC chief executive officer and president Tomas Lorenzo said in a briefing that the company was diversifying to hotels and leisure projects, after making a name for itself in the area of university residences.

Officials said P4.5 billion had been earmarked for the Dusit Thani Residence Davao and dusitD2 Hotel, the first five-star luxury complex in Davao and also Dusit International’s first residence in the Asia Pacific region.

Hotel facilities will be opened by the end of the year and the turnover of residences will follow in the first quarter of 2019.

Some P1.9 billion was allocated for Dusit Thani Hotel at Lubi Plantation, a five-star luxury resort in a 36-hectare leisure development in the Davao Gulf.

In total, Davao would host three projects, accounting for P6.4 billion of the investments.

Dusit Princess Lipa Hotel in Batangas, scheduled for completion in 2021, has an estimated cost of P3 billion.

The move is in line with the company’s aim of opening new revenue sources, said chief finance officer and senior vice president for support services Emmanuel Rapadas.

“In five years, the objective is to generate 40 percent of our revenue from recurring income, hotel operations, and 60 percent from development revenue, or sale of condominium units,” he said.

By 2020, he said about 25 percent of revenue was expected to come from hotel operations.

Rapadas also said the company had posted P1.8 billion in reservation sales in 2017, up 35 percent from year-ago level.

For this year, the company is aiming for reservation sales of P2.4 billion to P2.5 billion worth of reservation sales, a growth of more than 38 percent. He said the company also has an inventory of university residences worth P6.2 billion.