Carlson group to open new Davao hotel

CARLSON Rezidor Hotel Group, which operates the Radisson Blu hotels, will open another hotel in Davao by February next year.

The midscale brand hotel called Park Inn by Radisson Davao will be open in time for the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions) Convention in March next year, said Ann Olalo, Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu director of sales and marketing recently.

SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. would still be a partner for the Park Inn project, which is Carlson group’s second hotel in the country.

Construction work is ongoing within SMX Davao.

Radisson Blu is one of the six hotel brands under the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. The group’s hotel brands are Radisson, Park Plaza, Park Inn, Country Inns and Suites and Hotel Missoni.

Olalo said the hotel group set up Park Inn in Davao because Davao is a hub especially among government agencies which need facilities for small meetings and mid-size conferences.

The hotel is the first under the brand that opened outside of Europe. It will have 204 rooms and small meeting rooms that will complement the bigger convention halls in SMX Convention Center.

“The property is also within the vicinity of the Francisco Bangoy International Airport and Davao City Center which makes it an ideal location for business and leisure travelers and even for transit passengers,” said Olalo.

The new Park Inn would complement the group’s thrust to grow its leisure market aside from their usual business traveler guests, said Olalo.

For Cebu hotel, Olalo said their biggest market remains domestic business travelers followed by Korean and Japanese tourists, which are feeder markets.

“We usually capture the corporate market and the growing MICE market segment in our present property. About 55 percent is from the domestic market,” said Olalo.

An uptrend was noticed in the leisure segment from Korean and other foreign individual travelers which include Australians and Canadian tourists.

“This is a segment that we’d like to grow. With our second hotel, we are looking at offering packages for the leisure market,” said Olalo.

The start of direct charter flights from Darwin, Australia in December presents opportunities.

“The Australian market is also very attractive. Most Australian guests that we have usually stay longer from three to five days.”

“Our Korean guests usually stay for two to three days and then proceed to other destinations like Bohol. Perhaps we can offer them a package from our new property as well,” she said.

Next year, the hotel will cater to Japanese group tours which feature Cebu’s culture and leisure./Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap