Wyndham Group to open hotel in QC

By Rizal Raoul Reyes – May 15, 2019

https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/05/15/wyndham-group-to-open-hotel-in-qc/

 

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, the Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey-based global hotel chain, will build its first hotel in the Philippines.

Harley Geraldine Pow, managing director of Wellworth Properties, told reporters during the recent groundbreaking ceremony that they had partnered with the global hotel brand to build the P1-billion project in Quezon City.

“Wyndham Garden is a three-to four-star hotel upper midscale brand targeting business and leisure travelers. This is only franchised for this development project in Quezon City,” said Pow during the groundbreaking event attended by officials of Wellworth and the Wyndham group.

Wyndham Hotels granted the franchise to Wellworth Properties and Development Corp. to build the first hotel in the country. “We are open to another Wyndham Garden in Cebu,” she added.

Pow said they decided to build a condotel because the return on investment in operating a pure hotel is going to be long term. “If you are realistic about it, a hotel will require a longer time to recoup your investment,” she said.

She said building a condotel is a basic way to recover investment faster for Wellworth.

She said Wellworth is bullish on the Wyndham project as very big potential market such as the major broadcast networks in Quezon City. It will be the first foreign brand hotel situated at the heart of Quezon City. It is going to be along Eugenio Lopez Drive near the ABS-CBN complex.

To be built on a 2,000-square meter lot, Wyndham Garden Hotel will be a 25-story high structure with a total of 235 rooms and 168 parking slots. Preselling will start at the fourth quarter of this year.

Pow said Wellworth initially planned to build a condominium but decided to go into the hotel industry because a lot of the developers such Ayala Land Inc. and SMDC are present already in the area. “We were not keen on hotels because it’s operational and we’re not hoteliers,” she said.

She said Wellworth decided to offer condotel units for investment purposes. Citing consumer interest for branded condotel as a form of investment, Pow added the company would be selling 40 percent or about 95 units of the Wyndham Garden Hotel under a sale and lease back agreement.

The size of the units will be 30  sq m to 35 sq m, and priced about P5 million to P6 million per unit.

Pow said buyers would be required to sign management contract allowing Wellworth to rent out the room and manage its day-to-day operations.

She said investors would be given  a condominium certificate title, get a share of the rental income every quarter and be able to use the unit for free for around 10 to 15 nights per year. “We’ll start preselling units in the fourth quarter of this year, when there are three or four stories,” she said.

Wellworth Properties and Development Corp. is the owner and developer of Wyndham Garden Hotel while H.S. Pow Construction and Development Corp. is the general contractor.

Architects led by its principal architect Philip Recio will be the principal architect, and Architect Paulo Alcazaren of PGAA will handle the landscape design.

Pow said they are planning to open the hotel by the fourth quarter of 2021.