More transit-oriented, historical hotels urged

MANILA, Philippines — Transit oriented accommodations and projects with historical value are some of the opportunities hotel developers should focus on, a property services firm said.

“Developers should build more hotels within transit-oriented developments to capture a larger share of the commuting public,” Colliers International Philippines research manager Joey Bondoc said in a report.

Bondoc added that developers should capitalize on the key rail and subway projects targeted to be implemented over the next four years.

“We encourage developers with significant landbank to develop two and three star hotels near the stations of Metro Rail Transit (MRT)-7 and the proposed Manila subway and Northern and Southern Luzon passenger rail projects,” Bondoc said.

Several developers have already taken notice of opportunities brought by the expected improvement in the country’s transport sector such as the Ayala Group with its 265-room Seda hotel within its Arca South estate, the former site of government-owned Food Terminal Inc.

The integrated community is right beside the Taguig Integrated Terminal Exchange, which is projected to capture about 4,000 buses and 160,000 passengers daily. This excludes the number of employees and residents in the estate’s office and residential buildings. 

In addition, Eton Properties will develop a 200-room three-star hotel within its township in Quezon City, which targets commuters from the Metro Rail Transit’s Quezon Avenue station, employees and commuters within the Eton City township and from other parts of Northern Quezon City and Bulacan.

 Also, Filinvest Land is building a 228-hotel room within its Activa development in Cubao, Quezon City, which is near the MRT and light rail transit’s (LRT) Araneta-Cubao stations and bus stations going North and South of Luzon.

“The hotel’s viability should be boosted by Filinvest’s unsolicited proposal to build a P450-million passenger walkway to and from the LRT and MRT stations,” Colliers said.

Apart from transit-oriented hotels, Bondoc also emphasized the opportunities in building hotels with historical values.