City hotel logs highest revenue in 2014

CEBU, Philippines - The year 2014 was a historical year for Cebu City Marriott as it registered the highest revenue in its 18 years of operation.

The hotel's general manager Patrick Carroll attributed the revenue jump to the fast growing MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conference, Exhibit), and the backlog travel plans during the calamity-stricken 2013.

The enormous growth of the outsourcing sector in Cebu also pushed the hotel business last year, as well as the upswing of tourist arrivals in Cebu.

Last year, the hotel registered seven percent growth, with 75 percent average occupancy rate.

The high revenue, according to Carroll, was mainly driven by rooms and banquet generation,

"There were a lot of medical missions last year, meetings and businesses mostly from the outsourcing companies with operations in Cebu Business Park and Cebu IT Park," he said.

Carroll said 2014 saw many meetings and group activities which he said could be the meetings and events that were cancelled due to the calamities in the last quarter of 2013.

To better serve its guests,  the hotel has laid out upgrading projects and programs that will fuel more growth for their business this year.

Among other improvements, Carroll said they are investing Php5 million for the upgrade of air-conditioning units in all the 299 guest rooms,

The hotel will be launching an app called "Red Coat Direct" where guests may send in their requests (room upgrade, extra breakfast) so they no longer need to go out of their rooms to look for assistance.

A mobile app for check-in and check-out will also be rolled out in all Marriott Hotels in the world including Cebu.

Recognizing the shift of guests' preference and psyche, Caroll said the hotel is doing a lot of projects that involve the use of technology as this is very relevant to the kind of customers they are now getting which are the Generation X, Y and the Millennial who are mostly tech-savvy.

For their Food and Beverage business, Carroll said they have identified certain organizations in Cebu that will be given special 20 percent discounts on specific months.

For this year, Carroll expects a livelier business, with bigger MICE events set to be held in Cebu like the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC) of which Marriott is blocking at least 50 rooms for the event.

The hotel's 4.5 percent growth target this year is easily achievable considering the encouraging momentum in the first two months, and the booked events for the year, Caroll said. (FREEMAN)