Philippine Hotel Owners Association, Inc. (PHOA) executive director Benito C. Bengzon Jr. at the Philippine Furniture Furnishing Market (PFFM) forum at the Conrad Manila Hotel in Pasay on May 8, 2023–Photo by Alden M. Monzon
MANILA -An association of hotel owners in the Philippines is looking to complete within this year an industry roadmap and an upgraded standards system that it is crafting with the government—two frameworks that, it says, can serve as national policy guides and will map out the hotel infrastructure needs in the country.
Benito Bengzon Jr., executive director of the Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA), said that they, together with the Department of Tourism, started work on the “Philippine Hotel Industry Strategic Action Plan” in November last year and were now reviewing the draft final report.
Bengzon, whose trade group consists of 60 member companies and 250 member-hotels in the Philippines, said the original plan was to have this industry roadmap finished by June of this year, but said they would know this week if they could meet the target date.
“It will basically tell us where to develop hotels, what category, and terms of the configuration and the volume,” Bengzon said last week during a forum organized by the Philippine Furniture Furnishings Market last week.
The PHOA official said they were also working to upgrade the Philippine hotel industry’s standards system.
“Basically, the idea is to make the Philippine accommodation standards more globally competitive, and to standardize the kind of facilities that you would find in our hotels, resorts,” he said during the same event.
Bengzon said PHOA members have at least 30 new hotel projects in the pipeline for 2023 to 2026, which will mean an addition of about 8,000 new hotel rooms when completed. INQ
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