SM boosts events hall portfolio

MANILA, Philippines - SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. (SMHCC), a unit of tycoon Henry Sy’s mall and banking conglomerate, is more than doubling its hotel and exhibit hall portfolio in the medium term.

New convention centers will rise in Cebu and Pampanga while affordable hospitality chain Park Inn will add five more hotels, executives said.

Specifically, SMHCC aims to reach a gross floor area of 50,000 square meters (sqm.) from the current 34,728 sqm. in three years.

“We are the newest core business (of the SM Group). We are also in expansion mode,” said SMX Convention Specialist Corp. general manager Dexter Deyto.

“We try to locate in key cities. We are looking at North Luzon and we are looking at the Visayas,” Deyto said.

Deyto said a convention center in Cebu is in the offing as part of the South Road Properties project, a 300-hectare property that was reclaimed by the Cebu city government, while another SMX Convention Center will be put up in Clark, Pampanga.

To date, SMHCC subsidiary SMX Convention Specialist owns and operates SMX Convention Center Manila that was opened in 2007, SMX Convention Center Davao, the Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall and the Cebu Trade Hall, making it the largest convention center space provider in the Philippines.

“The bulk of our market is still domestic. But we are already seeing some positive signs that there are international groups coming in,” Deyto said.

SMX Convention Center is also a beneficiary to the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibits) campaign of the Department of Tourism that targets to bring more multinational firms’ events to the Philippines, Deyto said.

For instance, the company is looking to take part in the side events of the 23rd Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit that will be hosted by the Philippines in 2015.

Late last week, SMHCC opened the SMC Convention Center at SM Aura Premier in Taguig. It has three function rooms that can seat 250 to 2,250 people, as well as meeting rooms that can accommodate 36 to 255 persons.

 â€œBy putting up SMX Taguig, we will be addressing the venue requirements in the eastern part of Manila particularly for venues catering to corporate meetings and association chapter and regional conferences,” Deyto said.

Deyto said SMX Convention Centers in Manila enjoy a repeat rate  of 75-70 percent of events held annually.

SM Aura, a civic center with a lifestyle mall and office space, is the first foray of the SM conglomerate in the sprawling Bonifacio Global City.

For its part, SMHCC’s Park Inn brand will reach six hotels in the next five years.