Bai Hotel eyes Palawan next

CEBU, Philippines — Cebu-based hotel brand Bai Hotel is hunting for other places outside Cebu to make expansions, particularly Palawan and other areas in the Visayas.

This as its flagship hotel, the 668-room Bai Hotel Cebu, has registered high occupancy and overall business performance, a year after its soft opening.

Alfred Reyes, Bai Hotel Cebu vice president for operations and general manager, said that Palawan is the most likely destination to host the second Bai Hotel or resort in the next few years.

Meanwhile, the hotel’s developer Luckheart Development and Management Corporation, a consortium of Cebuano capitalists, is also looking at other tourist-dense areas in the Visayas as potential expansion sites.

Reyes, a veteran Cebuano hotelier, who managed several hotel and resort properties here and abroad, attributed the high prospects of tourism in the Philippines as the company’s main driver to put more money in hospitality developments.

According to Reyes, a year after Bai Cebu Hotel soft-opened, it already achieved its break-even point, registering an average occupancy rate of 79 percent.

The company is also bullish on the country’s rosy prospects in tourism, and that hospitality investments will soon be started in other islands.

Last week, the four-star Bai Hotel Cebu was formally launched.

The 23-story hotel offers 12 event venues for business conferences, gala, corporate events and other celebrations. The function and seminar rooms can accommodate up to 200 persons while the ballroom can cater up to 450 guests.

To date, it is so far the biggest city hotel in terms of accommodation in Cebu. — JMD