April 21, 2012--A modern five-star hotel in Makati City will be developed by H2O Ventures and global hotel concept developer World Hotels, the first of a series of concept hotels to be established by the two firms in the next five years.

The P2-billion hotel will rise along Kalayaan Avenue in Makati City in the second half of 2014.

"The joint venture will be developing five concept hotels in the next decade and that they are already scouting for locations in Busuanga, Coron, Boracay and Cebu," said H2O Ventures President Lim Chee Yong.

H20 Ventures is the developer of the Ocean Park Manila and the marine-themed H2O Hotel within the park, while Germany-based World Hotels is the developer of 500 concept hotels in 265 destinations and 65 countries.

WorldHotel and Residences Makati will be a 40-story development with 401 rooms, and is a 30-minute drive from the Makati business district and the airport.

The hotel will also have an alfresco dining and ground floor cafe, a roof deck bar and function hall that can accommodate 400 guests.

The hotel is designed by Suying Design, a Singapore-based interior and architecture firm that has designed condominiums and commercial complexes in Hong Kong, India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore.

Besides the new hotel in Makati, another WorldHotel property will be developed in Metro Manila.

"The construction and management of the new Makati hotel will be borne by H2o venture while the branding side will be taken care of WorldHotels. The new hotel, like Hotel H2O, will employ around 500 staffers," Lim said.

"The partnership between Hotel H2O and World Hotels has proven to be a mutually beneficial collaboration. WorldHotels branded hotel solutions offers one of the most flexible hotel models in the world for upscale independent properties and hotel groups," he said.

"Adopting the WorldHotel brand enables quality independent hotel groups to position themselves internationally in the face of competition from global hospitality brands," Lim added.

WorldHotels Vice President for Asia-Pacific Roland Jegge said that with the government's commitment to increase public spending for infrastructure and develop the tourism sector, the hotel business has a great potential.

"Manila needs more hip hotels. The hotels that we have here were built a generation ago," he said.

WorldHotels also welcomes other property developers in the country who want to develop concept hotels that target the young market.

"We are fast to embrace other partners who want to develop their own hotels. We allow owners to develop their own concept. No cookie cutter hotels," Jegge said.

WorldHotels provides partnerships with airlines, credit card firms, car rentals and travel firms. It also provides marketing and branding services for its development projects.

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(c)2012 The Manila Times (Manila, Philippines)

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