Red Planet Hotel plans aggressive expansion in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines - Hotel operator Red Planet Hotels Ltd. will continue expanding aggressively in the Philippines even after parting ways with conglomerate Tune Group of Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes.

Red Planet senior vice president for sales and marketing Mark Armsden in an email told The STAR the company intends to make significant investments in the Philippines on the back of its “strong belief in the future of the country’s travel and tourism industry.”

Armsden said the company would particularly want to scale up its presence in the greater Manila area where it plans to expand its recently-launched “Red Planet” hotel brand.

“We are in the fortunate position to not put a ceiling on the number of hotels we can have in the Philippines, especially in the greater Manila area. We already have a very strong geographic presence in the Philippines and are always looking for sites countrywide. Having said that, we would definitely like to increase our presence in greater Manila,” he said.

Red Planet Hotels recently ended its global franchise partnership with Tune Hotels, the value hotel chain of the Tune Group.

Existing 24 hotels carrying the Tune Hotel brand in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines have now been rebranded Red Planet.

In the Philippines, Armsden said all 10 hotels are operating under the Red Planet brand since July 10.

These hotels are located in Pampanga, Manila, Makati, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Ortigas and Quezon City.

“Both companies had an amicable departure to concentrate on their geographical regions,” he said.

Red Planet Hotels was incorporated in 2010 and is a privately-owned regional hotel company focused on Asia’s expanding value hotel sector.

The company said it has welcomed nearly four million guests in Asia since opening its first hotel in 2011.

With several rounds of capital raising from private investors already made in the past, Red Planet said it anticipates a future public listing in the region as well.

When asked if the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is on its list for a future public listing, Armsden declined to comment, saying the company’s listing strategy is still in development at present.

The company said a main component of the new Red Planet brand is a highly functional mobile application which feeds information about relevant local events and points of interest directly to guests’ hand-held devices.

It also facilitates room-to-room and front desk calling, as well as a chat line, along with many other innovative features.

“We conducted extensive surveys with many thousands of our guests across the region and, among other things, we established that our new brand is all about giving our customers more of what they want, and less of what they don’t. Almost all of our guests are between 20 to 30 years old, and this online generation is changing the dynamics of the hotel industry,” Red Planet chief executive officer Tim Hansing said.