Cebu gov’t, chamber leaders appeal for restraint in APEC season
Cebu city and province top officials yesterday added their voices to an appeal for hotels to “temper” a rate increase for accommodations timed for APEC meetings in August to October.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he wanted to meet today with members of the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) to discuss their rates, which a senior official of the Department of Foreign Affairs warned last Friday would “destroy the reputation of Cebu” if nothing is done about increases as high as 120 percent of published rates.
“It’s not just an appeal. I will talk to them,” said Mayor Rama.
“When I organize the Sinulog (in January) I always plead to them – don’t make the increase too much.”
READ: APEC delegtates complain over Cebu’s high hotel rates | ‘APEC committee, hotels need to work out rates’
Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, meanwhile, assured that the Capitol was doing all it can to help lower the cost of hotel accommodations in Cebu in time for the arrival of some 3,000 delegates for a series of meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) two weeks from now.
“We already met with the managers. We will go up to their principals,” she said, but declined to give details.
A closed-door emergency meeting was held Friday evening with the local APEC committee, several hotel general managers and Department of Tourism (DOT) Regional Director Rowena Montecillo. Hoteliers said it was an “industry practice” to raise rates when demand is high, but denied that their rate increase was as steep as 120 percent.
Backchannel efforts are ongoing to influence at least three accredited hotels in Cebu City where APEC meetings will be held – Radisson Blu, where most of the estimated 90 meetings will be held, the Marco Polo Plaza and Marriott Cebu.
In contrast, hotels in Lapu-Lapu city did not raise rates for the APEC period and instead gave discounts, according to Lapu-Lapu Tourism Commisioner Hembler Mendoza, who was asked about Mactan rates.
Lapu-Lapu is promoting itself as a heritage resort city.
Ma. Teresa Chan, president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) said the business chamber is framing its own appeal even as it recognized that abroad, hotel rates go up or down based on demand and peak seasons.
“We are sure our hotels have done their research before determining the rates and maybe even spent on improvements or enhancements for APEC delegates.”
“However, the chamber is preparing an appeal to our hotels to consider lowering the increase precisely because APEC is being held here upon our invitation,” she said.
Holding APEC in the Philippines partly aims to promote tourism, she said, and the “cost of accommodations was part of that consideration” to hold the summit here.
“This will be another fervent appeal from colleagues in business to ensure the huge amount of goodwill to be generated for them (delegates) to keep coming back, for foreign visitors to keep coming back, and for promotion by word of mouth,” said Chan.
Hotel managers have kept silent since Friday’s meeting, saying they have explained their side to the APEC national organizing committee (NOC).
Ambassador Marciano Paynor Jr., APEC 2015 director general, flew to Cebu on Friday for a diplomatic attempt to resolve the issue.
Earlier on Friday morning, DFA Assistant Secretary Laura del Rosario gave an “APEC 101” briefing for government information officers at the Capitol, where she lamented towards the end of her lecture that APEC delegates were complaining to her office that some Cebu hotels have raised their room rates by as much as 120 percent.
“Why is Cebu doing this?” she asked, and appealed to the DOT to ask hotels to “temper” the rate increases and “be reasonable”.
“Don’t treat us like tourists. We are bringing the peak season to Cebu,” she said. At one point, del Rosario, who is chairperson of the APEC’s Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) 3 in Cebu, warned that the expensive hotel rates “will destroy the reputation of Cebu”. She said there were no complaints about hotels in previous APEC 2015 venues in Boracay and Iloilo.
DOT Regional Director Montecillo, however, said DOT does not regulate hotel rates. DOT’s function is limited to the accreditation and classification of accommodation establishments based on their facilities.
Asked if she received any order from Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. to ask hotel operators to give discounts for APEC delegates, Montecillo replied, “I have never heard (that) from the Secretary.”
She said the DOT is not tasked to take care of accommodations for APEC delegates.
Lito Maderazo, APEC Cebu organizing committee coordinator, who attended Friday’s emergency meeting, said hotel executives explained why their rates went up.
“We were informed that they are almost fully booked. These international chains have their own pricing mechanism which is based on the law of supply and demand,” he said.
Vice Governor Magpale wasn’t present but based on feedback from her representative Grace Paulino in the meeting, the hotels denied that they hiked their room rates up to 120 percent.
“They (hotel managers) denied that. It’s not true that they raised it that much, according to them,” Magpale, co-chairperson of the Provincial Tourism Commission, told reporters.
For now, Magpale said the provincial government and the COC will wait for the official statement of the NOC.
“We are bound by protocol because there is an organizing council. Everything is centralized,” she explained.
“All of us are doing everything we can to protect Cebu’s reputation because this issue may bring great damage to the province,” said Magpale.