Araneta group launches Novotel hotel project

By the end of 2014, the Araneta Group will start accepting guests at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center, the “crown jewel” of the multibillion-peso redevelopment of bustling Araneta Center in Quezon City.

Novotel Manila is envisioned to be the only upscale hotel in Quezon City that will offer a “five-star experience at four-star prices,” according to Araneta Group chairman and CEO Jorge L. Araneta, who led the launch of the hotel with the ceremonial lowering of the time capsule.

Michael Issenberg, chairman and COO of Accor Asia-Pacific, flew to Manila to take part in the ceremony and expressed confidence that the hotel would be a “great success.”

“It’s going to add to the vibrancy of the tourism industry here in Manila. And of course it will be very exciting for us to add Manila and the Philippines to Novotel,” said Issenberg.

Accor, the European leader in hotels and tourism with operations in nearly 100 countries, is the biggest operator of hotels in Asia-Pacific with more than 480 hotels in the region under different brands, including Novotel.

“We have 400 Novotel hotels around the world and we locate them all in key cities around the world: New York, Paris, London and around Asia-Pacific: Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, Bangkok, Shanghai and, of course, here in Manila,” said Issenberg.

“I’m very delighted to be here with the Araneta Group to bring this project to completion and I look forward to being back when we actually open the hotel. It’s one thing to launch but it’s a lot more fun to actually open the hotel,” he added.

Novotel is designed to have 415 rooms, a 600-square-meter ballroom and large meeting facilities. It will cater to the needs of 56,000 registered businesses in Quezon City and the meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions market.

According to Los Angeles-based design consultant Sudhakar Thakurdesai, who also designed the award-winning Gateway Mall, Novotel was “designed for natural living” and offers new features to the market, including a wedding garden, garden terraces and all-day dining areas that bring the outdoors in.

“Overall, the composition of the hotel breathes elegance and functionality that will serve as a further catalyst for business in the area,” Thakurdesai told the Inquirer.

Novotel Manila Araneta Center is adjacent to the Smart Araneta Coliseum and connected to the Gateway Mall.

The Araneta Group invested in the hotel as part of the overall redevelopment of the center.