P100-M lobby face-lift done by December

IN line with the  thrust to develop  a “grander” hotel, an executive of the Waterfront Philippines Inc. (WPI) announced the near completion of the first of three phases of the lobby renovation of the hotel’s Cebu City property.

Work on Phase 1 is going ahead of schedule  and will finish by December.

“I am proud to announce that 50 percent of the first phase has now been completed.  The project is progressing as planned,even better than we imagined, as we are even ahead of schedule,”  said WPI assistant to the president Weslie Gatchalian.

Each phase would cost about P100 million.

Gatchalian said  the renovation project  aimed to enhance the property and service offerings, which would eventually yield better guest experiences and revenues.

The renovation will extend to the  grand and lower lobbies, function rooms and the last phase is the convention facilities.

Two out of four phases of the lobby renovation project are completed.

Phase A  covered part of the lobby’s right wing, closer to the casino and the hotel’s anchor restaurant, UNO, where new marble flooring was installed, and a new canopy was built as the casino entrance, he said.

“It has always been the aim of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel to be the premier integrated entertainment complex of the Visayas-Mindanao region,” said Gatchalian.

Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino hosts the largest Pagcor-operated casino in Visayas-Mindanao.

The casino will be expanded to add  2,305 square meters of gaming area.

Other phases of renovation will be implemented in the first quarter of 2012.

Waterfront Philippines, Inc.  is  the largest Filipino-owned hotel chain in the country and operates five first-class hotel-casino properties  in  Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao with a total of about 1,600 guest rooms and 1,670 employees.

In Cebu, it has two hotels in Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City. /Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap