Legend Hotels pushes expansion

Despite the general downturn in the hotel industry last year, at least one local hotel chain operator, the Legend Hotels International Corp., is going ahead with its expansion program.

The Legend Group, which operates the Legend Hotel in Mandaluyong and the Legend Hotel in Palawan, is opening its third three-star accredited hotel along EDSA.

Called the Kabayan Hotel, the new service establishment is specifically eyeing the relatively untapped provincial and overseas Filipino workers (OFW) market segment.

Legend Hotel president Nelson Napud disclosed that the Legend Group invested P150 million to acquire and renovate the Kabayan Hotel located along EDSA and Zamora St. in Pasay City.

The six-story hotel offers 75 hotel rooms, 38 dormitory rooms for a total of 228 beds.

"While Kabayan is accredited as a three-star hotel, its prices is in the economy/budget category," Napud said.

For instance, a regular hotel room would cost P899 while a dormitory bed is offered at an affordable P199 per day, exclusive of breakfast.

The hotel actually had a soft opening last month but would be formally inaugurated on Jan. 18.

Napud said that Kabayan Hotel is "the first of its kind in the country."

"The hospitality business is in its lowest point in years," Napud said.

The Legend Group, Napud admitted, had planned to expand much earlier but deferred its plans following the spate of kidnapping and resort attacks.

"However, the group realized that it can cash in on returning OFWs which are estimated to number around 10 million of which eight million are officially registered and about two million are unregistered, " Napud said.

The Kabayan Hotel is ideally located because it is accessible by bus along EDSA, jeepney along Taft Avenue, and is adjacent to the LRT and MRT Taft stations.

Kabayan Hotel is owned by the holding form, Armadillo Holdings Inc. which is also involved in socialized housing projects in Bacolod, Cavite, Trece Martires, Baliwag and San Miguel, Bulacan.