Philippines Hotels Topped Pre-Pandemic Occupancy Rates in January

The Philippines Hotel Sales and Marketing Association said hotels in the country remain optimistic of the industry’s performance this year as the average occupancy has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. For the month of January, hotels were hitting 80% occupancy as compared with 60% to 70% pre-pandemic.  The association attributed the higher occupancy to the strong domestic tourism market, which covers both leisure groups, such as those on staycations or family vacations, as well as the MICE industry. ADR is also higher that pre-pandemic as most of the bookings are being done online so hoteliers have a dynamic rate structure.  Colliers Philippines reported a 14.1% increase in ADRs of hotels in Metro Manila last year, higher than its initial full year projections of an 8% growth.  For this year, Colliers is projecting ADR to grow by about 6%.

Marriott International is planning 14 new luxury properties opening in the Asia Pacific region this year. Marriott currently has 156 properties in 27 countries and territories here. Some of the openings include the Ritz-Carlton in Melbourne this March and the W Sydney in October. The Ritz-Carlton will take the mantle of Australia’s loftiest hotel with panoramic views and a sky lobby located on level 80, with 257 luxury hotel rooms and suites below. The W Sydney will have 585 guestrooms, suites and studios with harbor views. Another Ritz is will open in Fukuoka in Japan this year. China will see a Ritz-Carlton Reserve Residence estate in the history Chinese valley of Jiuzhaigou. W Hotels will open in Macau and JW Marriott properties will open in India, China and South Korea. The St. Regis brand has debuted its signature rituals and experiences in beachfront Goa and the St. Regis Jakarta recently opened its doors. EDITION Hotels will expand its footprint in Japan with The Tokyo EDITION in Ginza and the brand’s first hotel in Southeast Asia. The Luxury Collection’s new destinations include Narmada, Ahmedabad in western India while Bulgari Hotels & Resorts will debut in Tokyo in a new ultra-skyscraper near Tokyo Station. Japan’s city of Nara will also see the opening of a Luxury Collection hotel, slated for the third quarter of this year.

IHG Hotels & Resorts announced the signing of voco Bangkok Surawong with Tawanna Property Company Limited, a real estate investor and developer in Thailand. The 242-room voco Bangkok Surawong will rebrand from the former Tawanna Bangkok hotel and reopen in 2025 following a full renovation. The hotel is situated in the heart of Surawong, a district near Silom and Sathorn, within walking distance of Lumphini Park, a 40 minute drive from Suvarnabhumi International Airport.  The new voco Bangkok Surawong will have two restaurants and bars, more than 500 square meters of meeting rooms, an outdoor pool, gym and Kids Club.  Since launching globally in 2018, IHG’s voco hotels has enjoyed rapid growth with 41 open hotels and 34 in the pipeline. The voco Bangkok Surawong is the second voco hotel signed in Bangkok, alongside voco Bangkok Sukhumvit 11.

Visitors to Macau during the fourth quarter of 2022 primarily chose to spend their money on shopping. Official data showed shopping took up 62.5% of the total non-gaming spend, while food and beverage made up 17.2% and accommodation comprised just 14.1%. Total visitor spend during the quarter dropped 23.5% to MOP4.83 billion with the main drop in same day visitor spend. Overnight visitor per-capita spending was up, rising to MOP5,572. Macau visitor arrivals in the fourth quarter of 2022 fell by -31.5% to 1.36 million. Same day visitation was down by -48.4% to 597,000 while overnight visitation was down just -6.8% to 793,300.  Hotels recorded an average occupancy rate of 41%, down -7.9 percentage points with some 1.36 million guests, down -41.3% year over year. At the end of the fourth quarter of 2022 there were a total of 37,698 hotel and guest rooms.

Galaxy Entertainment Group in Macau is planning to finally open its signature hotel project Raffles in April. The hotel will feature approximately 450 suites. It had been expected to open in the second half of 2021.  Also soon to open will be the Galaxy International Convention Center and Galaxy Arena. Both were also supposed to debut in the second half of 2021.  The 16,000 seat Galaxy Arena will host two concerts in May by South Korean mega-pop group Blackpink  The one good thing about the delay is that Galaxy gets to use these non-gaming amenity openings to satisfy their pledge to invest nearly 97% of the $3.5 billion in total new investment in non-gaming under the terms of their new gaming license.

The Treasure Island Hotel Macau, previously owned by a subsidiary of Genting, is also preparing to open this year. The opening was previously scheduled for December of last year. Following the strong rebound in visitation in January following Macau’s reopening of its borders, some delayed hotel projects are likely to accelerate their pace to enter the market. The push is on to attract a younger clientele so they are trying to convince everyone that hotels and other amenities need to be focused on non-gaming. The same thing occurred in Las Vegas and it took until the pandemic for Las Vegas properties to really start making money again. They did it by closing most of the non-gaming amenities and focused on successfully growing gaming revenue, which is now setting new records.

ITC group firm Fortune Park Hotels plans to add 15 new properties in India with 1,500 rooms in the next two and a half years to its portfolio as part of its expansion across India. Fortune currently has 42 properties will room inventory of around 3,200.  They are looking at growing into various parts of the country, whether it is Tier One, Tier Two or Tier Three. In the near future the company expects new hotels located at Kalimpong, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Tirupur and Goa to open up.  These are the first hotels expected to open out of the 15 properties they have in their two and a half year pipeline. These next to open will add around 1,200 rooms. Fortune Park said they are looking at some future locations like Shirdi, Ajmer as well as some of the Jyotirlinga locations like Deoghar.

BWH Hotel Group announced the opening of its first Aiden hotel in India.  Aiden by Best Western @ Vagator, Goa was added to its portfolio. The hotel is located in the heart of north Goa at Vagator, just 950 meters from Vagator Beach. The hotel includes an outdoor swimming pool, onsite gym a restaurant and bar. BWH Hotel Group said they signed 20 new hotels in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Their regional pipeline now features 36 hotels and over 3,000 rooms.

BWH’s Best Western Hotels & Resorts unit expanded its footprint in Bangkokwith the opening of Best Western Chatuchan, a new hotel just steps away from the Chatuchak Weekend Market in North Bangkok.  The hotel includes 192 rooms and suites, 280 square meters of pillar-free floorspace extending out to a 3,200 square meter outdoor terrace and garden.

CBRE Hotels said they are marketing the Highview Holiday Village on the Yorke Peninsula coast of South Australia for sale. CBRE, together with Caravan Park Brokers Australia are managing the sale via an Expression of Interest campaign closing March 16, 2023.  The current lease is coming to an end offering the ability to acquire both the freehold and business assets. The 4-star holiday village is situated on 7.46ha and comprises chalets, cabins, ensuite sites and a large residence.