Colliers International Group Inc., one of the top global real estate services and investment management companies, urged property developers to create more local hotels and other brands near airports to keep pace with the increasing demand for rooms and space.
The company monitored the opening of about 1,000 new hotel rooms in the second half of 2018, including the 357-room Hilton Manila and the 390-room Sheraton Manila in the Newport Area and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc.’s 130-room Mella Hotel in Las Piñas.
Colliers sees an aggressive completion of local hotel brands by well-established property companies like Ayala Land Inc., Filinvest Land Inc., Rockwell Land Corp., 8990 Holdings Inc., Eton Properties Philippines Inc. and Vista Land from 2019 to 2021.
All other developments are expected to be spread among integrated townships across Metro Manila. Foreign brand owners, meanwhile, expect to wrap up new projects in one to two years. They include Okura, Mövenpick, Mandarin Oriental and additional rooms in Okada Manila.
About 40 percent of the 5,500 new hotel rooms due to be completed from 2019 to 2021 are classified as three-star. Colliers estimated the annual completion of about 1,800 new units each year from 2019 to 2021.
Despite the growing numbers of international visitors, most of foreign branded hotels in Manila still lag behind their Asian counterparts because of the relatively lower number of tourist arrivals in the country compared with other Asian destinations.
The Philippines, thus, receives one of the lowest amount of tourism receipts in Asia.
Colliers said developers should consider the environs of major business hubs as possible locations for budget hotel—the fringes of Makati, Ortigas as well as northern Quezon City.
It noted that the Makati fringe area had also become a viable location for hostels such as Lub D, which mainly caters to millennial travelers and ‘staycationers.’