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EVEN as
corporate lodging has remained a fad and a stopgap
measure that local real estate companies use to
compensate for excessive vacancies in residential
properties, it has actually become a staple for the
hospitality industry.
Business-class accommodation facilities, like Astoria
Plaza, continue to mark all-time high occupancy rates,
an executive of the Ortigas, Pasig City-based first
class residential cum hotel told BusinessMirror.
 “Astoria
Plaza’s business is really doing well, as shown by its
consistent high occupancy rate at 87 percent as of
end-December 2006,” said Ping Regalado,
Astoria Plaza’s hotel manager.
“We owe
this to our corporate guests and, of course, to our
clients from the family and ‘balikbayan’ markets who
continue to come and stay with us.”
Of the
recorded overall occupancy rate, 70 percent is due to
business and corporate executives staying in the hotel,
while the remaining 30 percent is divided between the
family and returning Filipino segments.
On the
average, corporate clients stay at Astoria Plaza at
least three nights; families, two nights; and
balikbayans, five nights.
Regalado
attributed the hotel’s strong patronage by upwardly
mobile business executives to its commodious rooms that
provide the latter with “the liberty to enjoy ample
workplace separate from other areas typical to a home
setting.”
While
business hotels generally post a dismal occupancy rate
during weekends, Astoria Plaza is usually jampacked with
guests at almost 90 percent, particularly on Fridays and
Saturdays.
“This is
because of the continued influx of families who prefer
to spend their weekends here instead of going out of
town for leisure and fun,” Regalado stressed.
With its
world-class facilities and amenities, Astoria Plaza has
also established its own niche among overseas-based
Filipino markets, which opt to stay at the Hotel as
their interim accommodation even at a short-lived
furlough.
Unique
selling proposition
ACCORDING to Regalado, the vacationing locals together
with foreign tourists opt to billet in the high-end
full-serviced residential suites not only for leisure
purposes, but also for a unique package offered to
guests—Astoria has partnered with a clinic in order to
offer guests a so-called cosmetic surgery package.
In the
last two years,
Astoria Plaza
has tied up with US firm McGill Cosmetic Surgery
Clinic—a specialty clinic that has clinics at the ground
floor of the hotel—that offers enhancement aesthetic
procedures in line with the Philippine government’s goal
to promote medical tourism in the country.
“Our
in-house specialty clinic, as far as I know, is the
first for a residential cum hotel facility in the
country,” boasted Regalado.
“Its
location within the premises of Astoria Plaza is very
convenient for aesthetic patient-guests to enjoy the
hotel-like environment of our facility that is conducive
for their immediate recuperation.”
Guests
from beyond metro
 GIVEN
the hotel’s strategic location at the heart of the
commercial business district of Ortigas, 60 percent of
its corporate clients are executives from neighboring
top corporations and business establishments within the
area while the rest hail from
Manila, Makati
and other nearby key cities.
Meanwhile, the hotel’s family guests not only come from
areas within Metro Manila, but even as far as
Baguio
and other adjacent provinces in Luzon.
With
Astoria Plaza’s repeated uptrend on its tenancy rate,
Regalado sees a continued influx of the guests coming in
throughout the year.
“The
hotel’s brisk business gives us the confidence to hit
our targeted 90 percent occupancy rate at the end of
2007,” he said.
“We just
have to improve more of our facilities and amenities,
especially in pursuing the planned renovation of some of
the hotel’s function rooms, lobby and guest rooms as
scheduled.”
Full-serviced residential suites
 ASTORIA Plaza
prides itself as the new standard in urban living with
all the space and comfort of a home married to the
convenience of a hotel.
With
sizes ranging from 60 to 130-square meters, the hotel’s
commodious rooms are considered to be the biggest among
the hotel-like residential suites in the area that
provide guests with the freedom to move around the
living and work spaces that are separated from one
another.
Both one
and two-bedroom suites boast of German technology
electronic door lock system, audio-video entry phone,
cable television and electronic safe.
An ideal
hub for busy corporate guests, conducting business
within Astoria’s spacious rooms and suites is made easy
with IDD/NDD facilities, data port and Internet access.
For
social and business functions that require ample space
area, the hotel’s business center (with two boardrooms
and two work stations) and 11 functions are operational
with audio-visual equipment. The biggest can accommodate
250 persons.
As
value-added features, Astoria Plaza has modern amenities
such as gym, a lap pool, video entry phone (in all
suites), concierge and currency exchange, transportation
or shuttle service, six levels of basement parking (with
valet service) and CCTV security camera.
In-house
specialty shops include Café Astoria, Stresscape (a
massage and spa center), Salon de Astoria, Santis
Delicatessen, McGill Cosmetic Surgery Clinic, Travelnet,
Genesis Valet Shop Laundry Service, ISHQ and TONIC
trendy clothing shops.
“All our
amenities and facilities are readily made available for
our guests to enjoy the full service of a five-star
hotel at a very competitive rate,” Regalado said. |
