ALVAREZ
A total of P100 million has been earmarked for the upgrade of Montebello Villa Hotel within its three-year improvement plan, its top official said in an interview.
Luis Martin Alvarez, president of Alvarez Borromeo Development Corp. which owns the hotel, said they started renovations in 2014 and will continue with the renovations until 2017.
Alvarez said the hotel’s last major construction was in 1979 when the main lobby was built. Montebello Villa Hotel was built in 1972.
“In improving the whole property, we looked at renovating our rooms, upgrading our function facilities, and enhancing our gardens and decors to live up to our promise of being Cebu’s only garden hotel,” said Alvarez, who also serves as the hotel’s general manager.
Forty-five premium rooms of the 150-room hotel were renovated in 2014.
Their function rooms, which include the ballroom, can accommodate 700 people. This year, renovations will be done on the Luis y Merceditas Ballroom. In the pipeline is opening an in-house wellness spa in 2017.
Resilience
The 44-year-old hotel was launched in 1972 with its concept a brainchild of his parents, Luis and Merceditas, who wanted to build a country club within the 3.5-hectare property.
The pool was built in 1971 before the country club was officially launched.
The management added three rooms to accommodate requests from members and then later two more rooms when demand went up.
The owners, Alvarez and Borromeo families of Cebu, then decided it was a logical business move to run a hotel.
Asked why the hotel survived several economic crises and stiff market competition, Alvarez said it is the “family’s resilience and commitment to serve the hospitality industry that kept Montebello Villa Hotel alive.”
“It was never our intention to build high-rise structures within the property. It’s not in the picture of the business because we want to retain the charm of the hotel. If we improve and upgrade, we look at building sidewards to extend the capacity,” said Alvarez.
Occupancy
He said they saw an increase in occupancy rates as the hotel upgrade progressed.
In the first half of this year, average occupancy rate was at 65 percent. Then, in July, it went up to 75 percent.
While the hotel evolved into a destination for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) events, Alvarez said, more than half of the hotel business is still credited to leisure guests.
Leisure guests take up 55 percent of their guests, 25 percent from corporate accounts and 20 percent from government agencies.
Americans, Japanese and Koreans are their top three foreign guests.
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