Cebu hotels rate hike bid gets OWWA nod

CEBU, Philippines —  The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) has approved the request made Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) to increase room rates to accommodate the returning Overseas Filipinos (ROFs).

In a virtual press conference yesterday morning, HRRAC president Alfred Reyes expressed relief of OWWA’s immediate action for the appeal with the help of multi-sectoral agencies that also supported Cebu’s plea for higher room rates.

Following this good news for the accommodation sector in Cebu, Reyes urged hotel operators to justify to OWWA on why the increase of rates should be given to them.

Each quarantine hotel, including those that are already approved as multiple-use hotels/resorts by DOT should justify their application for room rate increase to OWWA.

OWWA approved HRRAC’s proposal for four and five star hotels to charge P2,400 and P2,000 for three-star hotels and below.

These rates, Reyes said are already inclusive of packed breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Aside from usual operational expenses, hotels and resorts accepting ROFs are required to set up a 24-hour clinic facility with nurses on duty round-the-clock. He emphasized that nurses in these hotels are not “on-call” but they are actually required to report for the entire 8-hour work duration. This, for one, is already an added cost for hotels, on top of other health and safety protocols that also need investments.

At present, there are 3,600 rooms duly registered as quarantine rooms. Reyes said this should hit 5,000 rooms in the coming days as there are applications from other hotel properties to offer some rooms for quarantine pending for approval from Department of Tourism and Department of Health.

Reyes expects more ROFs arrivals after June 12, 2021 when the diversion of international flights going to Cebu to Manila is scheduled to be lifted.

This development Reyes said is a big lift for the accommodation sector in Cebu, which has been suffering since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak last year.

Reyes also recognized the support of Cebu Province Governor Gwen Garcia in pushing the request as well as multiple endorsements by OWWA-7 office, DOT-7 regional director Shalimar Tamano, the Philippines Hotel Owners Association, Hotels, and Resorts and Restaurant Association of the Philippines.

Prior to the HRRAC’s request, quarantine hotels in Cebu only charged P1,400 per night.

Reyes also called DOT and DOH to strictly police hotel properties to make sure they are implementing the health and safety protocol such as maintaining a clinic with nurses on duty.