Two high-end hotel brands in one residential building

In opening a sales gallery early November at the third level of posh Greenbelt 3, Raffles Residences gave visitors a foretaste of the luxurious life that awaits them when they buy units in a 30-story building that houses two global premier hotel brands and residential condominiums at the upper floors of the Raffles Residences that would soon rise on Arnaiz Street in Makati.

But instead of the usual model units where customers could walk in for a feel of the property they are buying, the gallery contains artist renditions in photos and scale model of the building, once completed by late 2010 or early 2011, said Brent Lamb, sales manager of Raffles Residences Makati.

Raffles Residences is the newest addition to the brands of Dubai-based Kingdom Hotels Investments (KHI), a publicly listed hospitality real estate investment company focused on high growth emerging markets like Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe. KHI owns interests in 29 properties in 20 countries including 22 operating hotels and resorts and seven new hotels and resorts being built or in the drawing board.

Worldwide, Raffles Hotels & Resorts is known for luxurious and elegant resorts and hotels that are included in the Conde Nast list of world’s best places to stay and travel. Its flagship Raffles Hotel in Singapore was rated best hotel in Asia, where Queen Elizabeth once stayed, Lamb said.

As planned, the first eight stories would be the Fairmont Hotel; the 9th and 10th floors are the Raffles Hotel and the 11 to 30th floors are the Raffles Residences, Lamb said.

Lamb said buyers of the Residences will enjoy the privilege of using the facilities at the lower hotel floors, including the swimming pool and spa but the guests at the hotels will not enjoy the privilege of using the separate pool of the Residences at the upper floors.

The building will also have separate elevators for the use of hotel guests and Residences owners.

Even if the price per square meter of the Residences is as stiff as P30,000 the initial exclusive buyers’ night organized in July for the first phase of Raffles Residences Makati generated sales of $45 million, a record high for one-day real estate sales in the Philippines, Lamb said.

For the second phase, Raffles Residences Makati is offering 26 units of 2 bedrooms (at 124 to 164 square meters); 17 of three bedrooms (209 to 251 sq.m.) and four of 4-bedroom (383 to 402 sq.m.) at the penthouse. The amenities at the second phase includes Willow stream spa (a standard in Raffles Hotels worldwide); swimming pool; fitness center; business center; two restaurants (Japanese and Mediterranean), the Long Bar and private owners’ lounge with concierge service.

The architectural design was done by Arquitectonica (developer of major museums and institutions in the world) with 11 international regional offices and the interiors are done by Bent Severin International, which designed the interiors of over 350 hotels with 150,000 rooms; 1,000 restaurants, a thousand ballrooms and meeting rooms.

Lamb said despite the global financial crisis in the US, Europe and parts of Asia, the KHI is pursuing its investments in the Philippines because it firmly believes in the strong growth potential of the Philippine market. Besides, KHI, being based in the Middle East, is not affected at all by the global crisis, he added.