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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Filipino resort brand eyes world-class status

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A family of sugar barons, running a century-old sugar company, is now betting on the real estate business with an ambition to be known as the operator of the first internationally recognized Filipino hotel and resort brand.

“We want to make Anya something that the Philippines in general can be proud of,” says Santiago Roxas Elizalde, president and chief executive of Roxaco Land Corp., the property development unit of Roxas & Company Inc. which will mark its 100th anniversary in 2018.

Elizalde is referring to Anya Hospitality Corp., the newly formed company behind Anya Resorts and Residences in Tagaytay City and the one managing Fuego Hotels & Properties in Nasugbu, Batangas.

Soon, Anya will start the development of what will be the most luxurious and largest island resort in Palawan at a cost of P14 billion.

“That is the type of property that Anya is looking to move into in the future.  It is what we can do in the country initially, and maybe in three to five years, we are looking at possibly exporting the brand, if we are successful here. It is something we all can be proud of—the Anya brand,” says Elizalde.

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Andrew Sparrow, a British national who serves as the development director of Anya Hospitality Corp., says unfortunately, not a single Filipino hotel or resort brand has entered the world stage yet. Hong Kong is known for Shangri La Hotels and Resorts and Mandarin Oriental while Singapore has Aman Resorts and Banyan Tree.  Thailand has Dusit Thani, while India has Oberoi Hotels and Resorts.

WORLD CLASS. Anya Hospitality Corp. project director Andrew Sparrow, Roxaco Land Corp. president and chief executive  Santiago Roxas Elizalde and Anya Hospitality Corp. general manager Peter D’ Souza

Sparrow says the Anya brand was conceptualized in 2012 during the initial development of a 7.2-hectare project in Tagaytay City.   “Phase one of Tagaytay project involves development of lots, phase 2 is the resort and phase 3 is the full-service condominium residences.  Total cost is P1.65 billion,” says Sparrow.

The whole project was eventually called Anya Resorts & Residences—a high-end resort and residential development which features an investment product called guaranteed rental return.  It is included in the prestigious Small Luxury Hotels of the World or SLH group.

The resort, which will open in April, features three heated pools, three restaurants, fireplaces and a library.  Meanwhile, the residences under phase 3 will be sold to investors for P9 million to P19 million each, but Anya introduced a guaranteed rental return program where it will manage the units on behalf of investors and lease them out in exchange for a guaranteed share (45 percent) in revenues generated from the entire resort.  Guests can stay at the units for P6,000 to P15,000 a night. 

Sparrow says the company is looking at other sites for future Anya Resorts such as Cebu, Palawan and Bohol.  “The plan is to anchor the brand here, and then take it out overseas over the long term,” he says in an interview at Abuela’s Restaurant in Makati City.  “The world deserves a Filipino brand, not just Filipino workers.”

Sparrow says Anya Resorts will develop more five-star resorts in the Philippines to take advantage of the thriving economy and expanding tourism sector.  “If you go to Japan, they have hundreds of international-quality resorts.  If you go to Kazakhstan, they have 35 plus and if you go to Thailand, they have hundreds.  If you go to Greece, they also have hundreds.  Guess how many we’ve got in the Philippines.  Seven in the entire country and that’s it,” he says.

“My mother went here two years ago.  We did not run out of beautiful places to visit.  We ran out of hotels.  It is kinda sad.  What a beautiful country with great people with happy smile and great service, but we don’t have enough hotels,” says Sparrow.

Sparrow says Anya aims to fill the gap in the five-star resort segment.  He says despite its world-class aspirations, Anya will embrace Philippine designs that are suitable to the local climate.

Meanwhile, Elizalde says Anya will build on the track record of Roxaco Land in the property development sector.  “We have the track record. We have the credibility.  We have the staying power to be able to do a good job.  This has been a part of the story [of Roxas & Company] when we are talking to prospective buyers and partners,” he says.

“We make sure that when we say we are going deliver a project of certain quality, then we get it done. Case in point is the Punta Fuego project in Nasugbu, Batangas.  Together with Landco Pacific Corp., we went in and developed a 100-hectare property at that time. Even during the crisis years between 1994 and 1998, we sold out 650 open lots within a span of 24 months. That in itself was an accomplishment and speaks about who we are and what we are able to deliver,” Elizalde says.

Elizalde says being an active traveler, he wants Anya to deliver world-class services such as those offered by the likes of India’s Oberoi Hotels and Resorts or Singapore’s Aman Resorts.  

“It is all about the destination, the experience, the food and the quality of service,” he says,

Elizalde says they decided to come up with a Filipino resort brand because of the lack of five-star resorts in the country.  “We started to throw ideas, after having identified from a corporate perspective that hotels and resorts, in general, are good businesses.  The tourism industry, as it stands today in the Philippines, presents many opportunities,” he says.

He says being in the real estate business that built residential projects and managed the membership clubs of smaller resorts, Roxaco Land decided to come up with its own tourism package and promote its own brand.  “The Philippines has nothing to speak of, when we talk about four or five-star resort brands.  Everybody talks about Filipino hospitality and Filipino smile and everything we have to offer, but it is sort of scattered.  We felt it is time to package it in a way that will be attractive to Filipinos first,” he says.

“We put together a plan, we went out and identified a property in Tagaytay, which is owned by a lady landowner. We started to sell open lots at P6,000 per square meter three years ago.  Now, secondary sales are at P20,000.  Within three years, that appreciated 300 percent,” he says.

Anya is a sanskrit word which means no boundaries, he says.  “That’s the concept that we want to grab a hold of and apply it to whatever we do within the resort, which is really no boundaries in terms of level of service, no boundaries in terms of being able to satisfy our guests and no boundaries in terms of being able to deliver food choices  in the restaurants.”

Elizalde says Anya Resorts is going to be the closest SLH property to Metro Manila.  “There are two other SLH properties in the country—Eskaya Resort in Bohol and Pangulasian  Resort [in Palawan]. But Anya is one of a kind and is the closest to Metro Manila,” says Elizalde.

In the pipeline is a 200-hectare fully integrated resort in San Vicente, Palawan.  “It has a 1.5-kilometer beachfront,” says Elizalde. 

For the meantime, Elizalde is excited about the opening of Anya Resort in Tagaytay in April this year. The third phase involves the development of nine-low-rise condominiums (four to five-story buildings) with 134 branded residences, from one- to three- bedrooms, with floor areas ranging from 52 to 105 square meters.  

“We are not Ayala Land or Robinsons Land. Obviously, we are not Megaworld, but it is who we are.  Moving forward, we want to be around for another 100 years,” says Elizalde, who is a member of the Roxas clan. 

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