Jan. 12–PROPERTY giant Megaworld Corporation is set to open four new hotels this year in anticipation of strong growth in the tourism sector.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Megaworld said the four new hotels will add a total of 1,662 new rooms to its hotel portfolio.

Two hotels will be opened in the first half of the year, namely the Marriott Courtyard Hotel in Iloilo City and the Savoy Hotel Boracay. The other two — Savoy Newport Hotel in Pasay City and Hotel Lucky Chinatown in Binondo, Manila — will open in the second half of the year.

The Marriott Courtyard Hotel is a 15-storey development with 326 rooms in the 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park township in Mandurriao, Iloilo City and is strategically located beside the iconic Iloilo Convention Center.

The Savoy Hotel Boracay is a 559-room six-storey resort hotel in the 150-hectare Boracay Newcoast development. It will feature the country's first concert pool arena, which will be capable of hosting events in a pool setting.

Last year, Megaworld said it was spending P5 billion to build three Savoy-branded hotels in Boracay, Cebu and Manila.

The 11-storey Savoy Newport Hotel, located in Megaworld's Newport City township in Pasay City, will offer 684 rooms.

Meanwhile, the six-storey Hotel Lucky Chinatown in Binondo, Manila will offer 93 guestrooms and will mainly target Chinese tourists and businessmen.

"We see tourism as a potential driver of growth for Megaworld as we draw more people to our developments," Megaworld senior vice president Kevin Tan said.

"Within the next three to five years, we hope to see a bigger slice of hotel earnings in our revenue pie as we open our new hotels," Tan added.

Megaworld currently owns three homegrown hotel brands — Richmonde Hotel, Belmont Hotel and Savoy Hotel. It operates three Richmonde Hotels in Eastwood City, Ortigas and Iloilo Business Park; and one Belmont Hotel in Newport City.

Three more hotels under its portfolio are scheduled for completion within the next five years in various townships.

The company earlier said it will add two more hotels under the Belmont brand — a 407-room hotel in Boracay Newcoast to be opened in 2018 and a 550-room hotel in The Mactan Newtown to be opened in 2019.

Megaworld projects its three local hotel brands will have a portfolio of around 3,800 hotel rooms by 2020.