Real estate tycoon Andrew Tan is raising his stake in the hospitality space of newly mended Boracay Island with the opening next month of the 442-room Belmont Hotel inside its Boracay Newcoast estate.
The P2.1-billion hotel of Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (Geri), the leisure estate arm of Megaworld Corp., is the group’s second hotel development inside the 150-hectare Boracay Newcoast. The hotel, which has three towers, is located on the sloping area of the estate beside Savoy Hotel Boracay, overlooking the eastern beach of Boracay Island.
“Our second hotel under the Belmont brand will offer an exclusive nature experience in the paradise island of Boracay, as it allows guests to see the island’s panoramic natural scenery from one building to another—from the vast sea to the lush mountains and hills of the island and other nearby islands,” said Raymundo Melendrez, managing director at Luxury Global Hotels and Leisure Inc., the company operating Belmont Hotels under the Megaworld Hotels Group.
Belmont Hotel is the second homegrown hotel brand introduced under Megaworld Hotels. The first Belmont Hotel opened in Newport City in 2015. Another Belmont Hotel is set to open in Iloilo Business Park by 2023.
The new hotel will offer rooms priced P5,000 to 8,000 per night. The property has deluxe twin or queen, premiere deluxe and executive suites, with sizes ranging from 27 square meters to 52 sqm. It also offers special rooms for persons with disability.
Belmont Hotel Boracay offers all-day dining at Belmont Café, featuring cuisine with Asian and Mediterranean influences. Located on the ground level, the restaurant has vowed to utilize local fresh farm produce to support the farmers in Aklan and other nearby provinces.
“Our continuing thrust to help boost tourism in the country is even gaining more momentum as we open more hotels across our tourism townships. Geri, as the developer of Boracay Newcoast, remains committed to help build our country through tourism developments,” Geri president Monica Salomon added.
Megaworld Hotels has five homegrown brands so far: Richmonde Hotels, Belmont Hotels, Savoy Hotels, Twin Lakes Hotel and Hotel Lucky Chinatown with close to 3,000 hotel rooms. In the next five years, the company will also open new homegrown brands in Parañaque, Bacolod, Iloilo, Boracay and Laguna.
During the first quarter, Megaworld’s hotel business grew by 56 percent year-on-year to P574 million, becoming the group’s fastest-growing segment. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA