Oakwood eyes Cebu market
Official says firm ‘aggressively expanding and Visayas is one of key locations they are looking into’
MANILA-BASED high-end serviced apartment facility Oakwood Premier Joy Nostalg Center Manila is tapping the Cebu market for its weekend business.
In an interview yesterday, Oakwood Premier director of sales and marketing Anna Fernandez said they hope to get a good chunk of Cebuano guests to increase their leisure traffic.
“Although we are positioned as a corporate hotel, a bigger portion or 65 percent of our clients are considered short-staying guests who stay three to four nights. They boost the hotel’s leisure traffic,” Fernandez said during the company’s media briefing held in Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu.
She said the company also eyes the expat market and key executives of BPO companies.
“Some of our corporate clients in Manila are from the BPO industry and we observed that these companies also have sites here, so we are also hoping to get a chunk of this market when they come and visit Manila,” Fernandez said.
Oakwood Premier’s top clients are corporate executives from the United States, Australia and Singapore.
Luxury, style
Oakwood Premier is the high-end product category offered by Oakwood Asia Pacific, a division of Us-based Oakwood Worldwide.
Oakwood Premier is designed for international travelers “who demand luxury and style.” According to the company, the facility combines “impressive apartments with amenities and services of luxury hotels.”
Its premier facilities are located in Bangkok, Beijing, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Manila, Mumbia, Pune, Seoul and Tokyo.
The Oakwood Premier Joy Nostalg Center Manila, which opened in Sep- tember 2009, has 223 rooms of studios and suites. It has 56 studios (41 square meters); 143 deluxe one-bedroom suites (85-94 sqm); 24 two-bedroom suites (130 sqm); nine three-bedroom suites (182 sqm) and one presidential suite (282 sqm).
Among its amenities are a 25-meter lap pool, business center, two function rooms that can accommodate up to 150 people; three meeting rooms; recreation and fitness facility. Each room is also equipped with a kitchen and modern entertainment showcase. To attract more guests, Oakwood Premier Manila gen- eral manager Rick Erdos said they will be maximizing the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to further strengthen the company’s presence in the country.
“We are driving on a new direction to compete head-on with our competitors. The hotel will be introducing new ideas and concept in all of our amenities particularly in the food and beverage,” Erdos said.
According to Fernandez social media works best in supporting the promotional activities for the hotel’s food and beverage but the hotel still banks on traditional media like print and radio for marketing and promotions of their rooms.
Fernandez said Oakwood Asia Pacific is also eyeing some locations for possible expansion in the Philippines. “Oakwood Asia Pacific is aggressively expanding and Visayas is one of the key locations they are looking into,” she said.
Occupancy
Oakwood Premier has an average of 85 percent occupancy in the first quarter of this year. Fernandez said that is already a good indicator of the hotel’s performance for the entire year.
“The market demand in the hospitality industry is increasing, especially in Metro Manila,” she said.
Other products of Oakwood Asia Pacific are Oakwood Residences and Oakwood Apartments. Other products in the pipeline are Oakwood Premier Resorts and Oakwood Resorts brands.
According to the company, the Oakwood brand has grown to be the largest service apartment operator in the world with close to 25,000 apartments throughout North America, Asia and Europe, and a multinational client base that includes 80 percent of the world’s largest companies.