Best Western to operate 5-star hotel at FGC

MANILA, Philippines - The prestigious global hotel operator, Best Western International, will operate and manage the first 5-star hotel to open at the emerging Global City of Fort Bonifacio, the F1 City Center Hotel, in the first quarter of 2011.

Vince Abad Santos, president of the Unibuilt Real Estate Corporation that owns the F1 City Center project, said that with Best Western International (BWI) managing the hotel, they were assured of a highly professional management of the F1 City Center Hotel that can offer the premium level of comfort and luxury to their guests when it open its doors to the Philippines and the world early next year.

“We are proud and honored that Best Western International has come in as our partner to operate the F1 City Center Hotel, making it their first and flagship hotel under their luxury Best Western Premiere brand here in the country,” Abad Santos said.

BWI, “The World’s Largest Hotel Chain”, boasts of 4,000 independently owned and operated member hotels in 80 countries and territories worldwide. An industry pioneer since 1946, Best Western has grown into an iconic brand that hosts 400,000 guests worldwide each night.

In 2003, BWI launched their Best Western Premier Hotels brand. Providing international travelers with a higher level of service and amenities, Best Western Premier properties must offer additional services and amenities above and beyond Best Western worldwide minimum standards.

Properties that can be accepted into the Best Western Premier Hotels chain are also subjected to unique design requirements and a special quality review. Some 80 Best Western Premier hotels are currently located throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

The Best Western Premier F1 City Center Hotel, due to open in January 2011, enjoys a prime location within the Fort Bonifacio Global City that is fast emerging as the country’s premier business district posing a challenge to the Ayala business district in Makati City. 

Swiss-born Bruno Simeoni, who will be the general manager of the Best Western Premier F1 City Center Hotel, said that they were excited over the upcoming opening of the hotel and their partnership with the Unibuilt Real Estate Corporation.

“We are complementing them, and they are complementing us,” Simeoni said. “It’s gonna be a pretty exciting project.”

Simeoni said that Best Western Premier will ensure that the hotel will be up to international  five-star “premier” standards when Best Western Premier F1 opens.

“We will provide whatever is expected of an international five-star hotel,” Simeoni, who is a returning expatriate to Manila, having been involved in the opening of the Mandarin Oriental in 1976, said. 

“I’m glad to be here,” Simeoni said, noting that the Philippines has grown tremendously through the decades, and he was particularly impressed with the development of the Fort Bonifacio Global City.

The tremendous growth prospects of the area has led to top Philippine corporations and multinational corporations relocating their regional or national headquarters to the Fort Bonifacio Global City such as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Fujitsu, and Ericsson. The Philippine Stock Exchange is also due to relocate to the area, while the world-class St. Luke’s Medical Center-The Fort has already opened late last year.

The hotel’s location is just a stone’s throw away from the Serendra and Boni High Street retail precints, and the Fort Strip restaurant and bar cluster, and a few minutes walk to the Market! Market! shopping complex.

Designed to offer an open, spacious and modern lifestyle concept, the F1 City Center Hotel will feature fully equipped and elegantly decorated rooms, along with a range of facilities including food and beverage outlets, a tropical lagoon swimming pool, infinity lap pool, fully equipped gym, spa and sauna, outdoor entertainment area, jogging trail and meditation garden.

The agreement for the Best Western Premier and F1 City Center Hotel partnership was made official last March in signing ceremonies between Abad Santos and Mr. Glenn de Souza, BWI’s vice president of International Operations-Asia and Middle East.

“Best Western International is delighted to be adding this valuable new addition to our existing properties in Philippines. Even more so, it is the first and flagship hotel of our luxury Best Western Premier brand here in Fort Bonifacio Global City. This, and our tie-in with Unibuilt Real Estate Corporation, will significantly boost Best Western’s profile in the Philippines, a destination we view as holding great tourism potential,” said Mr. De Souza.