Business hotel allots P30M for renovations

CEBU, Philippines - Quest Hotel & Conference Center-Cebu announced its P30 million room refurbishing program, in its effort to meet the modern demands of the growing market.

This is the first major renovation move of Quest Hotel since it opened five years ago, said hotel's general manager Mia Singson-Leon in an interview yesterday.

Known for its edge in Meetings, Incentive, Conferences and Exhibition (MICE) market, the 427-room business hotel, targets to finish the refurbishing program of all its rooms before the end of this year.

Running at an average occupancy rate of 85 percent year-to-date, Leon said the hotel has already started renovating the first 80 rooms since March this year.

Aside from the consistent MICE market, the hotel which is located in the central business district of Cebu (adjacent to Cebu Business Park), also attracts considerable number of Free Independent Tourists (FITs), such as Chinese, Taiwanese, Americans and Russians, as well as local leisure travelers.

According to Leon, there is a need for the hotel to be sensitive of the guests' comfort, and providing new and refurbished room facilities including linens, among others are one of the basic requirements.

Leon, who held executive positions in the hospitality industry for years, including an assignment of a luxury boutique resort in Phuket, Thailand, said that Cebu's booming tourism business should also be complemented with high quality and world-class services, regardless of  hotel ratings, room prices, and positioning.

Unlike in the past that the hospitality sector is used to the seasonal cycles, today, the flow of bookings is consistent all-year-round.

In the next few months, Quest Hotel will also introduce its sophisticated digital service. Details of the new system will be announced soon, she said.

In 2014, Quest Hotel pioneered the introduction of themed packages meetings, and conference.

The hotel’s decision to re-invent or re-define the MICE package reinforced Cebu's attraction as preferred MICE destination for both local and international market.

Its themed packages for MICE features three themes for meetings namely, Zen, Zest and Zugbu.

The Zen package highlights a wholesome and healthy themed meeting, while Zest is an energy-packed themed break. Zugbu, on the other hand, highlights Cebuano comfort food.

Developed by the Filinvest Group, Quest Hotel has 11 function rooms that accommodates a little over 300 people at the same time.

Next year, the hotel will embark on expanding its function room facilities to sustain its lead in the MICE business segment. (FREEMAN)