From the ash fall of Pinatubo

White Rock Resort Inc. remains a favorite case study among bank loan officers.

It began shortly after the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo when a branch manager visited the resort hotel fronting Subic Bay. The banker expected to commiserate with owners, George and Veronica Lorenzana, who were barely breaking even when two feet of ash fall brought down the roof of their one-storey business. Instead, he met a couple who shrugged off the caved in roof and excitedly talked about how lahar expanded their beach front property from 1.9 hectares to 5.6 hectares.

"We didn’t give up. We worked with what we had and we turned a disadvantage into an advantage," said Lorenzana, who shares the same can-do stance of his brother-in-law, Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon. For example, Lorenzana went around and asked his neighbors for their unwanted ashes, which he finely crushed into sand-like particles to further plump up his part of the beach.

Improvements

Today, White Rock is a two-storey fully air-conditioned triple A boutique hotel of 116 rooms. The beach has been upgraded with more showers and baths, hammocks underneath coconut trees, a children’s playground, recreational games and aquatic sports.

"Improvement is a continuous undertaking," said Lorenzana, who intends to add more greenery, a grove of 18 duplex-cottages, a bowling alley, and a wellness center patterned after Club Med. "These first-class facilities are what the class A market look for here and abroad."

The bulk of White Rock’s clients are, however, the upper and medium B markets, who are attracted to the resort’s value for money offerings. For example, beach users or excursionists pay an entrance fee of P250 per person per day. The package covers not only the use of the beach and the showers and baths (along with a complementary pack of soap, shampoo and towelette) but also the use of a stainless steel grill and the charcoal needed for a barbecue. A life saver is also thrown in.

The resort hotel is fully booked during the weekends of summer and the Christmas season. The Metro Manila market, both families and companies sponsoring an outing or seminar for employees, account for the bulk of its clients. Foreign tour groups have also slowly returned. "Many of our customers have heard about us from their family and friends. Many are repeat customers," said Lorenzana.

Adversity

Business was not as brisk in the early years.

The Lorenzana couple bought White Rock on the cheap in 1982. It was a foreclosed property that the bank wanted to quickly get rid of. Under new management, White Rock’s first client was Goldilocks Bakeshop, which sponsored a day-long beach outing for its employees.

Although it accepted customers, mostly American sailors from the nearby military base, the resort functioned more as a family vacation house than a business. There was very little marketing effort to bring in more clients as the Lorenzana couple concentrated on managing the businesses of their parents and siblings.

The 1990s further reduced that customer base. Aside from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, there was the withdrawal of the American military from Subic in 1993; government’s promotion of the Subic Bay Economic Zone as a duty-free haven in 1995, which drew away business from those located outside the economic zone; and the Asian financial crisis in 1997 which dried up the foreign tourist market.

"To compete, we aggressively marketed our selling point – world-class amenities and services at affordable prices. We appealed to the middle-class market, who aspire for the things that the wealthy take for granted," said Lorenzana.

Close watch

For the last five years, the money used to pay for improvements has come from the sale of the Lorenzana home in Metro Manila. "We pay in cash, which gives us a major negotiating point in bringing down the prices for goods and services. We pass on whatever savings to our guests," said Lorenzana.

As much to provide employment as to keep its costs down, local talents and resources are used in White Rock. For example, all the waiters are residents of Olongapo, an advantage when they are asked to do overtime work during the busy weekends of summer. When not busy with dining hours, they help out in other resort work.

"Everybody’s happy with the set-up. I have trained waiters who are happy earning extra money. I have guests who are happy with the attentive service that they get. And I get to keep my costs down without sacrificing the service quality."

Buffet is served only when there are enough guests to justify the cost of bulk cooking. The buffet offers enough variety, without the wastage associated with too many dishes.

All the food listed in the menu has been tested by Lorenzana’s family and friends. Slow-moving food items are stricken out and replaced with new ones.

Over the last four years, White Rock’s average annual occupancy has gone up from 14% to 22%, a comfortable level with a positive bottom line for a resort located outside DoT’s priority areas. Occupancy is expected to improve with the completion next year of the Subic-Clark tollway, which will reduce travel time by half. "If government promotes Subic as a tourist destination, business will no longer be seasonal," Lorenzana said.

With or without government support, however, White Rock has done well enough on its own.