191-room TRYP hotel opens at MOA

Betting on brighter Philippine tourism prospects, industrial conglomerate Phinma Corp. has officially opened its biggest hotel property to date—the first under the TRYP by Wyndham brand—and is set to open two more hotels under the no-frills brand Microtel.

Phinma recently held a grand opening reception for the 191-room TRYP at the Mall of Asia (MOA) complex, the first of the eight TRYP properties that Phinma has committed to develop in the Philippines in the next 10 years.

The Phinma group now has a total of 1,150 rooms in its hospitality portfolio, which includes 13 operational Microtel hotels to date.

“Tonight is like a graduation day for me,” said Jose Mari Del Rosario, president and chief executive officer of Phinma Microtel Hotels, the Philippine master franchise holder of both Microtel and TRYP, both of which are international hotel chains under US-based Wyndham Hotel and Resorts group.

“Launching TRYP is like graduating from elementary school to high school as we face a greater challenge to address today’s more sophisticated travelers,” Del Rosario said during the grand opening ceremonies.

While Microtel provides all the basics, TRYP is a “levelling up” from the no-frills hotel concept, he said.

The 18-story TRYP hotel at the MOA complex, which had cost Phinma and its partners some P650 million to build, is a “select-service” urban hotel. It has a roof deck pool and bar, an on-site restaurant, a gym and lounge areas.

But still in line with his vision to establish a chain of international class hotels and upgrade the quality of accommodations in key destinations across the country, Del Rosario said Microtel would continue to expand.

There are currently 13 Microtel hotels across the country, while another one is set to open later this year in San Fernando, Pampanga.

A new franchise agreement is likewise in the works to build the 15th Microtel in Tagum, Davao, he said.

At the other side of MOA also lies another Phinma-owned hotel, a 150-room Microtel.

Before taxes, Microtel MOA offers rooms at P4,100 to P5,000 per night, while TRYP charges P500 to P1,000 more than its sister brand. However, TRYP also offers several guest rooms for bigger groups, such as loft rooms with as many as triple bunk beds for families or barkadas. There are also sunset suites with a pantry and a panoramic view of Manila Bay. The family rooms and the sunset suites cost about P15,000 per night. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA