Developer in talks with int’l hotel operators for expansion

Ryan Go, Grand Land president, (left) discusses the firm’s thrust in the coming years in Cebu during an interview with CDN reporter Victor Silva.
(CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

THE strong demand for quality accommodations of foreign and local tourists in Cebu has prompted Grand Land Inc., a Cebu-based developer to venture into a new category of hotels, which they plan to establish next year.

Ryan Go, Grand Land president, said they are still looking for a good international brand to help them expand their hotel portfolio.

“We’ve been talking to six hotel operators so far, some of whom we’ve only received proposals from only recently,” he told Cebu Daily News in a recent interview, although he declined to divulge which operators these were.
Aside from being a “very good” brand, Go said they are also looking for something that will fit the local market.

Grand Land, the property arm of the Gaisano Grand Group, entered into a partnership with Thai hospitality Dusit International in 2015 to bring the four-star Dusit Princess Hotel to Cebu.

The Dusit Hotel will be part of the local firm’s 30-storey Grand Tower project across SM City Cebu’s North Wing at the North Reclamation Area.

The 295-room hotel’s commercial operations is expected to begin in 2019 and is seen to generate 300 jobs by then.

“The group really wants to go into the hotel business because of the demand,” said Go, adding that tourism is among the fastest growing sectors in Cebu and the world today.

In earlier reports, Go said the Dusit hospitality is similar to the Cebuano hospitality – very warm and welcoming.

Go admitted that Dusit was the fifth hotel operator they approached then, and decided to go with the international company because they saw that “it fit.”
However, this was not the company’s first hotel development venture as it also owns hotels in Bacolod and Davao under the Grand Regal Hotel brand.

Grand Land also announced a second partnership with Dusit last year, although for a residential project.

In four years, the homegrown developer already launched five projects including its flagship Grand Residences in Banilad in Cebu City, Amani Grand Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City, City Homes in Mactan, Mandaue, and Minglanilla, and City Homes Premier in Mandaue.

All these projects equal billions of pesos in investments within Metro Cebu and will contribute around 4,300 housing and condominium units once completed.
Go said they have been busy with the turnover of around 700 units in three of their projects this year.

He said they have fully turned over 247 units of Tower 1 of Grand Residences and more than 50 percent of the 247-unit Tower 2.

The other 200 units are in City Homes Mactan and Mandaue. Go said 25 percent of the units in Mandaue have been turned over, while they will begin turning over units in Mactan by the first week of December.