Online Bookings, Renovations SPUR growth

Aggressive promotions especially through the Internet and renovations to improve  customer satisfaction helped Waterfront Philippines Inc. (WPI)  achieve  positive growth last year despite unforeseen global developments affecting the tourism industry.

Kenneth T. Gatchalian, WPI president, cited these factors during last Saturday’s WPI stockholders meeting at Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

The 2010 hostage taking at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila affected travel from the Greater China market while political and diplomatic tensions between the Philippines and China contributed to the decrease in the number of Chinese tourists.

“This has overall affected our performance last year especially that China, Hong Kong  and Taiwan are our major markets as they often come in groups,” said Gatchalian

Nevertheless,  gross operating profit (GOP)  reflected a 45.95 percent increase from P389.01 million in 2010 to P567.76 million in 2011, he said.

The group has performed steadily with hotel operations generating P2 billion, a big increase of 45.95 percent from 2010’s P1.93 billion,” he said.

“Rooms contributed 30 percent of P607.41 million, while F&B (food and beverage) put in a share of 29 percent or P584.01 million. Group average room rate was at P1,907.00 while average revenue per available room (revPAR) was at P1,183.11.”

He said they achieved growth by stimulating growth  through aggressive promotions in  non-tradional channels like the Internet as well as increasing customer satisfaction by improving their products.

“Our innovative efforts to counteract dwindling tourism figures and create interest in our markets, both existing and potential one, have allowed us to stay afloat. We continue to drive our marketing efforts along both offline and online channels. Offline, we continue to expand our distribution channels by forming significant partnerships with numerous travel agencies, and forging stronger relationships with our partners this year,” said Gatchalian.

They  also introduced the use of QR codes in  promotion collaterals enhancing the customer experience, making it more exciting through the use of this popular technology, creation of an official E-newsletter to provide timely news and information to their clients and promoting their hotels in a new way and getting real-time response to out promos as well as further enhancing their web services.

He said that online bookings contributed 22 percent of  total hotel revenue in 2011.

“Some properties outperformed others,with Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino leading the pack with P58.80 million of online sales, followed by Manila Pavilion Hotel (WPI) with P35.80 million,” he said.

Other properties also generated significant returns: Waterfront Airport Hotel and Casino with P18.03 million, G Hotel with P12.07 million and Waterfront Insular Hotel Davao with P10.69 million.

Overall, online sales represent one of their most promising areas of growth.

“It  is our goal to aggressively focus on this frontier area,” said Gatchalian.

The P300-million major renovation covering three phases of its flagship hotel Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino started in the first quarter of last year.

“This extensive redesign of the lobby will allow us to cement our position as the premiere dynamic, business-oriented, upscale hotel in Cebu, creating the opportunity to take advantage of important market segments and priming us for better days ahead,” said Gatchalian.

Renovations for the Waterfront Airport and Casino are expected to start next year.

“We don’t have a budget yet but it’s part of our group effort to upgrade our facilities and be more competitive especially now that we are already trying to promote our property outside of the region and looking at other markets outside of China,” said Gatchalian.

WPI chairman Renato Magadia  announced that they have bought a new property in Manila which is an old hotel with about 500 rooms.

They declined to give full details since  the acquisition process is still  ongoing.

With this new property, aggressive marketing and continuous upgrading of facilities, Gatchalian said he was confident that the group would remain competitive and continue to grow.