Grand Cenia Residences: A rewarding experience in a condotel investment

MANILA, Philippines - For Alfredo Uy, a first time property investor, an investment in a condotel project has proven that his money can work for him instead of him working for the money.

He accomplished this by investing in Filinvest Land’s condotel project in Cebu—the Grand Cenia Residences—combined through an asset pool, and are used as rooms of affiliate Quest Hotel and Conference Center Cebu.

The hotel distributes rental income to each qualified condotel unit owner on a quarterly basis. The rental income share for the third quarter of 2014, which is released every quarter, is the seventh rental income distribution for the hotel since it started commercial operations in the last quarter of 2012 “I feel proud that I am part owner of the successful condotel of Filinvest here in Cebu. Every quarter I earn an additional income that can offset ownership expenses,” Uy said.

The Grand Cenia condotel owners had so far earned from an average 35 percent year-on-year rental income distributed by Filinvest since 2012. This is no less than P20,000 to P60,000 in solid additional income for
the condotel owners.

Uy, a restaurant business owner, notes that this is so much better than investing in just a residential unit because he gets professional help keeping the place clean and intact and avoiding the hassle of
maintaining it himself.

He is excited to make use of his free condotel use allocated on a yearly basis. “It is high time I reward myself.”

James Montenegro, area general manager for Quest Hotel and Crimson Mactan resorts, said the significant increase in the rental income share for each qualified condotel unit owner is due to the high average occupancy performance of the hotel for the quarter, which at 81 percent is the best so far since the hotel started operations.

“The hotel’s ability to attract more and more returning guests and longer-staying corporate clients during the period can be attributed to the increase in rental income share of qualified condotel owners,” said Montenegro. “We also have to credit our sales team for their tireless efforts to aggressively market the property both locally and abroad.”

Quest Hotel, a member of the international chain hotels by Aston International, forms part of the 25-story Grand Cenia along Archbishop Reyes Ave. across the Cebu Business Park. The 119 residential condominium units are in the 19th to 25th floors while 432 condotel
units are in the 8th to 18th floors.

Grand Cenia is part of the several developments of Filinvest in Cebu. Filinvest is constructing the 50.4-hectare seaside residential community Citta de Mare (City by the Sea), which is a waterfront lifestyle strip at South Road Properties. The Gotianun-owned real
estate firm also a has three-hectare One Oasis Cebu, which is an exclusive, resort-style, mid-rise condo community in Mabolo district, just five minutes away from the Cebu Business Park and Asiatown It Park. Filinvest is developing Aldea del Sol and Escala at Corono del Mar.