Filinvest to put up budget hotel chain

The Filinvest group has teamed up with a Singaporean firm to roll out starting this year a nationwide chain of budget hotels, adding to its array of tourism-oriented products for different market segments.

During the company’s stockholders’ meeting on Friday, Filinvest Development Corp. president Josephine Gotianun-Yap said a joint-venture company had been set up with the Archipelago group of Singapore, an affiliate of Aston International, to introduce to the local market the budget hotel brand “Fave.” The chain is expected to offer hotel rooms for about $50 a night.

“We have two in the planning process and then there’s a couple of other locations we’re looking at,” Yap told reporters after the stockholders’ meeting.

Yap said FDC was jumping off from the successful launch last year of Crimson Resort and Spa in Cebu, which caters to the upscale market. Two more FDC hotels are under construction—another Crimson hotel in Alabang and the Grand Cenia Residences in Cebu.

The new budget hotel chain would be managed by the joint-venture firm Fil-Archipelago Hospitality Inc. Each of such budget hotels would have about 150 to 200 rooms, Yap said, noting that the “Fave” brand was quite popular in Indonesia.

“We’re targeting middle-level businessmen plus it will be located in very good locations. It’s [low] budget, clean and efficient,” she said, adding that the upcoming hotel chain would also be suitable for families. “The locations can also be for leisure travel. We’re expecting people who want a nice bed, clean sheets and the price is just right.”

She said the launch of “Fave” would complete FDC’s hotel offering for different market segments, which also include Crimson for the high-end market and Quest Hotel, a three-star hotel in Mactan, Cebu.

FDC, the holding arm of the Gotianun group, is a conglomerate with interests in property, banking and sugar industries. It has also mapped out a program to build four liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled power plants across the country with an installed capacity of up to 1,800 megawatts over the next five years.

In 2010, FDC grew its net profit by 79 percent to P4.94 billion from the previous year on the back of a 37-percent rise in revenues to P21.02 billion. For the first quarter of this year, net income hit P1.1 billion, up 20.3 percent year on year.

“We are pleased with the healthy growth trajectory and strong performance of our businesses, which we have strategically positioned to take advantage of the strong economic fundamentals of the country,” Yap said.

“Our sustained efforts to strengthen our financial position across all subsidiaries have prepared us to take on more challenges in the future. The proven resilience of our core business and our new investments in high-growth areas will establish the new platform for FDC’s future growth,” she said.

The power business is seen growing to be the third leg of FDC’s business in the next five years after the property and banking units.