Hotel Development Expands Throughout Manila

<I>Manila</I> - The Philippine capital has seen a host of new hotels arise over the past decade, especially in the Makati area, where many companies have their offices. Now the emphasis is on developing and expanding into other areas of the city, such as Mandaluyong in eastern metro Manila, where the need for hotel rooms hasn't kept up with demand.

For example, Shangri-La's Edsa Plaza, which opened in 1992 as the first and only deluxe hotel in that part of the city, is in the midst of a $25 million construction project that will add a new 14-story wing with 218 rooms and suites, bringing the hotel's total room count to 658.

When the expansion is completed by by year-end, the hotel, which now serves business travelers in eastern Manila, is determined to be a premier meetings and convention site. The project will add 2,000 square meters of meeting space, including a junior ballroom, accommodating 400 people, and six small function rooms accommodating up to 60 people each. The new wing also will include four Horizon Club floors, with a total of 64 rooms.

Meanwhile, Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts is building a hotel geared for business travelers in the downtown Manila Bay area. All 238 rooms of the hotel will have butler service, and a lounge will take up the entire top floor, serving complimentary breakfast and providing afternoon cocktails. Each room will be equipped with fax and computer hookups; four meeting rooms will accommodate up to 300 people.

Adding more rooms in Makati, Hong Kong-based Century International Hotels will open its fourth Manila condominium hotel property, the 212-room Delta Sunrise Hotel, this summer. The Delta Sunrise is aimed at mid-market business travelers, for which Century hotel officials say there is a need, citing the success of their other Makati property, the Century City Inn, which registered an average occupancy of 90 percent in 1996.

Also in Makati, Thailand's Dusit Thani Public Co. took over management of the 22-year-old Hotel Nikko Manila Garden last year, after a six-month renovation. The hotel is the first property in the Philippines for the group, which intends to expand further in Southeast Asia and worldwide, as evidenced by its acquisition of Kempinski Hotels last year.

The Traders Hotel Manila, a Shangri-La property on Roxas Blvd. in central Manila, added four new office suites last year for business travelers and long-stay guests. The one-bedroom apartment suites include a room furnished as an office, as well as a refrigerator and microwave oven for entertaining. The hotel also added four meeting rooms.

The Shangri-La Manila, the Hong Kong-based chain's third property in the in the capital, has created a suite package geared towards business travelers. Until Aug. 31, one night in a deluxe suite with breakfast at Cheval Blanc, the hotel's top restaurant, is $275, plus a10 percent value added tax, 10 percent service charge and 5 percent local government tax.