Megaworld building 1,500-room hotel, largest in PH

MANILA  -Billionaire Andrew Tan’s Megaworld Corp. is preparing to open the first phase of Grand Westside Hotel, which will be the country’s largest hotel upon full opening, within the property giant’s 31-hectare Westside City township in Pagcor Entertainment City casino complex.

The Grand Westside Hotel will have a total of 1,500 rooms, eclipsing other hospitality facilities in terms of room keys. The first tower will open before the end of 2023 while the second tower will open in 2024, a statement on Monday showed.

The hotel project will coincide with the planned opening of an integrated casino project in Westside City that is being developed by Suntrust Resort Holdings Inc., owned by Hong Kong-listed LET Group Holdings (formerly Suncity Group Holdings).

Suntrust, which is also partly owned by Megaworld, earlier announced a target to open Westside City casino in 2024. This will be the fourth casino in Entertainment City after Solaire Resort & Casino, City of Dreams Manila and Okada Manila.

Megaworld earlier committed to invest about P64 billion to develop Westside City, which will also feature residential condominiums, a luxury mall, as well as international and homegrown hotel brands, the developer said in its annual report.

“Part of the company’s vision for Westside City is to become the ‘Broadway of Asia’ as the township highlights facilities for the performing arts. It will be home to the Philippines’ first Grand Opera House, having a total capacity of approximately 3,000 persons,” Megaworld said in the report.

Megaworld said on Monday the Grand Westside Hotel will be its 19th hotel project overall and the second homegrown brand to rise within the sprawling township along Manila Bay.

The hotel will also feature a two-level retail and commercial space covering nearly 2,000 square meters of floor area. Megaworld’s 19 hotels include 12 optional facilities with 7,700 rooms and seven more projects in the pipeline.

The operational hotels were Richmonde Hotel Ortigas, Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Richmonde Hotel Iloilo, Savoy Hotel Newport, Savoy Hotel Boracay, Savoy Hotel Mactan Newtown, Belmont Hotel Manila, Belmont Hotel Boracay, Belmont Hotel Mactan, Kingsford Hotel Manila, Twin Lakes Hotel in Tagaytay and Hotel Lucky Chinatown in Binondo, Manila. —Miguel R. Camus INQ