Marriott Hotel Manila on MICE hunt with more facilities

MARRIOTT Hotel Manila is looking to boost its MICE business with the construction of a new wing with 228 guestrooms and a convention centre within the Resorts World Manila integrated resort (IR).

The new wing and convention centre will be connected to the existing Marriott Hotel Manila by a walkway. The convention centre will house a grand ballroom that can sit 2,500 pax; two ballrooms for up to 300 people; some 50 meeting rooms; two wedding chapels; and other MICE facilities.

When these facilities are operational by 1Q2015, the hotel will boast a total of 570 guestrooms and 6,900m2 of meeting space, making it the Philippines’ largest in terms of hotel facilities and services category.

The hotel sees exciting opportunities for MICE which currently contributes 13 per cent to its total room nights, according to Marriott Hotel Manila’s general manager Scott Sibley.

Sibley said the MICE segment would generate 56 per cent of the growth in total hotel revenue in the first year of operating the additional guestrooms and Marriott Convention Center.

The hotel’s increased focus on MICE comes at a time when Resorts World Manila, the country’s first IR, will be facing off with four larger competitors that will emerge in the Entertainment City in the Manila Bay area beginning this year till 2016.

In an earlier interview, Bill Barnett, managing director of asset management and hospitality consulting C9 Hotelworks, said the future augurs well for Marriott Hotel Manila, which has one of the largest occupancies in mega-Manila and 85 per cent corporate business.

Barnett said the property would not take business out of hotels in the Makati CBD, but would instead offer an edge in enhancing the MICE segment.

“(It is) a segment we haven’t seen in the Philippines,” he said.

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