Philippines’ Largest Hotel Complex, Grand Westside, to Open Tower in 2023

According to a report by Morgan Stanley, Bloomberry Resorts’ new Quezon City integrated resort in the Philippines, Solaire Resort North, will be delayed even further. The opening had been pushed back to the first quarter of 2024, but Morgan Stanley thinks it will be pushed back to the second quarter but did not give any reasons for the likelihood of the change in the timeline. Bloomberry has not mentioned any further delays to the opening timeline, at least not yet.

Philippines developer Megaworld will open the country’s largest hotel complex this year, located within the Westside City development in Manila’s Entertainment City. The 19-story, two-tower Grand Westside Hotel will feature 1,530 rooms, with the first tower scheduled to open its doors before the end of the year. The second tower is not expected to open until 2024. Westside City, covering 31 hectares in Paranaque, is also home to the long-delayed US$1 billion casino hotel developed by LET Group subsidiary Suntrust Resort Holdings. The hotel from Megaworld will feature a two-level retail and commercial space covering 1,995 square meters of floor area. In contrast, the fifth floor will incorporate generous amounts of open space, including an expansive pool area with views of Manila Bay, a children’s pool, a gazebo, a Zen Garden, and an outdoor seating area. Inside there will be four function rooms, a fitness gym, and massage rooms, plus four dining outlets and an Executive Lounge exclusive to VIP guests.

Philippines hotel and resort operator Discovery World Corp has opened a five-star resort hotel Discovery Samal in Limao. The six-hectare Discovery Samal features 128 hotel suites, 15 executive suites, and the Grand Signature Suite. There are four dining and beverage options and the Samal Escape Spa. Discovery Samal also has facilities making it an ideal venue for business and gatherings for corporate events, conferences, and celebrations. Discovery Samal is the first and only Discovery Resort brand in Mindanao and has Davao’s biggest resort convention facilities. The Island Garden City of Samalexpects this to boost visitation, predicting the opening will have them beating their goal of 800,000 tourist arrivals. 2022 had 750,000 arrivals, well below the 1.9 million in 2019.

MGM Resorts International said they expect to begin constructing the integrated casino resort they will develop in Osaka, Japan, with Orix by mid to late next year. This casino resort has been delayed many years, so we wouldn’t say that is a hard date for construction to commence. MGM expects to sign the implementation agreement in the fall and start development by mid to late 2024.

The Lone Pine, Penang, situated on the sandy shores of Malaysia, reopened on July 1st, according to Business Today. This followed an extensive renovation to unveil the transformation to be part of Marriott Bonvoy’s Tribute Portfolio. Lone Pine opened in 1948 as the first hotel in Batu Ferringhi with just 10 rooms, owned by Dr. Albert Stanley Mckern. The hotel has been fully reimagined, with the resort paying homage to a mid-century residence embracing the elements of the Malayan mansion. The current Lone Pine, Penang, features 90 spacious rooms, with 16 offering a combination of courtyard and garden views and 74 with private balconies. The resort also features an outdoor and a children’s pool, with sun loungers and pool umbrellas. For Marriott Bonvoy, this is their 41st property in Malaysia and the second Tribute Portfolio property following the opening of Palm Garden Hotel, Putrajaya, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel in 2021. Guests will have a new and enhanced array of F&B offerings, three event rooms totaling 341 square meters of event space, and more.

OYO plans to add 100 premium category hotels to support the DE Rantau program in Malaysia. OYO plans to strengthen its premium hotel footprint across Malaysia as part of this initiative. OYO’s premium hotel brands include Townhouse Oak, Collection O, and Capital O. They will focus on key regions such as Langkawi, Penang, Klang Valley, Ipoh, and Melaka for onboarding hotels under this program. OYO currently has more than 700 hotels across 50 cities in Malaysia.

OYO also said they plan to add 2,000 apartments in Abu Dhabi to cater to the growing demand for accommodations in the Emirate. The fully furnished apartments by OYO Life will be in areas such as Khalifa City, Al Zeina, Al Raha, Al Reem Island, Al Reef, and Al Mushrif. Some apartments will be situated in popular tourist destination areas, including Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Emirates Palace, Etihad Towers, Louvre, Ferrari World, Warner Bros World, Yas Waterworld, and Sea World. The ready-to-move-in accommodations provide fully managed long-term housing rental spaces for professionals. OYO said the new apartments would be in addition to the 750 apartments it currently offers in Khalifa City, Al Zeina, and Al Raha.

Dusit Thani Himalayan Resort held its soft opening launch at its Dhulikhel premises yesterday in Nepal. The newly constructed resort is spread across a total area of 7.92 acres, nestled amidst the lush green landscape of Dhulikhel. The resort currently has 28 rooms and 18 villas. There will be 26 more rooms added by 2024. The resort also features a variety of amenities, including an all-day dining restaurant, bar and lobby lounge, meeting facilities, and a swimming pool. Monty More is a co-owner of the hotel, which began development in 2017.

Personnel Moves

ITC Hotel Group’s Fortune Park Hotels unit announced the appointment of Sidharth Shah as the company’s new head of finance. He previously was with ITC Infotech India Limited and, before joining Fortune, was head of finance for ITC’s flagship hotel, ITC Maurya.

Absolute Hotel Services announced that Chakrit Saengkong had been promoted to VP-technical services. Sakorn Sonchai had also been promoted to assistant director – technical services. AHS also said Suphaporn Tripitakhad been appointed deputy vice president of technical services. With an extensive background in interior design, Tripitak has worked on notable projects with Kristina Zanic Consultants and SPG Invest.

Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited has appointed Jianfeng Wu as co-CFO. Wu has previous experience with CMB International Capital Limited and UBS Securities Co. Limited. Atour is a hospitality and lifestyle company in China with a portfolio of lifestyle hotel brands.