By Monsi A. Serrano
Two years ago, it was like a strike of lightning that hit the country’s hospitality industry and the year 2020 was just starting. The once robust and bustling tourism plans and activities for the whole year were forced to take the sideline. What made it more unbearable and disheartening before for those who were employed by the industry is the fact that it gave them uncertainty at the least, while others received heartbreaking news as their companies were forced to shut down permanently.
The continued efforts to promote local tourism surely paved the way for an imminent rebound of Philippines’ domestic tourism. Yes, there may have been some jobs lost in the industry due to the pandemic. But this was just a temporary situation and Filipinos’ resiliency and character surfaced.
It is interesting to note that the diplomatic community has been doing their share in promoting the country by visiting our beautiful places and sharing it in their respective social media accounts which was a big boost in promoting the Philippines’ beautiful destinations.
For Hotel 101 Group, they are happy and grateful that their Corporate and MICE Associations clients are back again with them as soon as the government allowed the hotels to accept bookings.
Speaking during the Hotel 101 Group’s Thanksgiving Night last December 13, Ms. Gel Gomez, General Manager of Hotel 101 Group said, “Our travel agency associations, Pacific Asia Travel Association, Philippine Travel Agencies Association, Philippine Tour Operators Association are bouncing back, together with the rest of the industry.”
She thanked Hotel101 Group media friends and partners for continually supporting their initiatives.
As the government eased up travel restrictions and allowed gatherings that follow stringent health protocols, Hotel101 continuously housed frontliners from the Philippine National Red Cross, Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Quarantine, MMDA, and Oplan Kalinga, and also the Overseas Filipino Workers.
Brandishing its stellar performance of achieving 91.56% occupancy for Hotel 101 – Manila and 95.45% for Jinjiang Inn – Ortigas, in the first two months of 2022 gave them confidence about the imminent recovery of the hospitality industry in the country. Apart from that, hotel revenues grew significantly and derived from MICE businesses, Liga ng mga Barangay and other government associations, several conventions from organizations, among others.
“We are fortunate to be the preferred hotel of the gaming industry and E-Sports – with our friends from Gariath and AcadArena making us the official hotel partner of the biggest E-sports conventions such as ESGS, Pinoy Gaming Festival, Rev Major,” Gomez added.
The General Manager of Hotel 101 Group revealed she and her team managed to grow the revenue in the midst of challenging times and reinforcing brand awareness by reintroducing staycations through partnerships with Ms. Earth Philippines, Miss International Queen Philippines, And 4th time with Mr. & Ms. Chinatown PH.
“The supporters of these pageants and the queens gave us over the top engagements on our social media accounts. And just this morning, we ranked TOP 1 Hotel in whole of Pasay City, and TOP 6 in LUZON, among all hotels, on TripAdvisor,” she added.
Apart from the strategic partnership she has forged with others, Gomez also noted some of the major projects they initiated in Hotel101 Group such as the launch of 101 STAY GREEN.
The 101 STAY GREEN is Hotel 101 Group’s sustainability initiative which according to Gomez a part of their way of starting or restarting right.
“We started measuring our water and energy consumption and waste, from all our hotels. And with the help of the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI) we are now guided in creating our targets,” she explained.
Together with the Department of Tourism NCR and Cycling Influencers, Hotel101 also launched our Bike Happy Route to promote biking as sustainable means of transportation. And to complement the program, Horizon Café, the restaurant of Hotel101 and Jinjiang Inn supported this initiative by giving free brewed coffee to bikers during weekends from 6am to 12noon for the whole year of 2022.
They also partnered with DeWaste Solutions in the recycling of plastic waste across our hotels and to date, they have collected over 544 large sacks of PET bottles for them to upcycle. While the formidable partnership with the Philippine Coast Guard, MEPCOM and CGAF with Memorandum of Agreements, for sustainability efforts continues.
While both Pasay City Government and Iloilo City LGU, joined in mounting a series of information education campaigns on waste management and segregation for all the 201 barangays of Pasay City and 180 barangays of Iloilo, with PCG and DENR.
“We are also happy to disclose that Booking.com and Expedia, two of the largest online travel platforms in the world, recognized our hotels for our sustainability practices, with the Travel Sustainability Badge and the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge, as we commit to concrete, transparent and achievable actions towards sustainable tourism and travel,” said Gomez.
Expansion program here and abroad
While two years may be challenging for the entire hotel industry, Gomez nonetheless thanked everyone for supporting the Hotel101 Group properties such as Hotel 101–Manila, Injap Tower Hotel Iloilo, Jinjiang Inn – Ortigas and Makati, and Boracay Station 1.
She also revealed the ongoing projects of Hotel 101 such as the ones in Jinjiang Inn–Boracay New Coast, Hotel 101 Cebu Mactan Airport, Ascott DD Meridian Park, a 5-star luxury serviced apartment with more than 300 units, Hotel 101-Fort, and Hotel 101–Davao, which is touted as the biggest hotel in Mindanao to date when it opens.
Apart from this, Gomez revealed that Hotel 101 will be the first Filipino international hotel brand, with our Hotel 101–Niseko, located in Kuchan, Niseko in Sapporo, Japan and has 518 rooms is set to open in 2025.
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The General Manager of Hotel101-Group expressed utmost gratitude to her hardworking and formidable team, who made all these little successes possible.