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The Eastern Visayas Region, particularly the regional center of Tacloban City, is looking forward to hosting more large scale conventions and conferences with the recent grand launch of Summit Hotel Tacloban.
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Summit Hotel Tacloban is conveniently located across Robinson’s Place Tacloban, a mere 12 minutes drive from Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport.
Summit Hotel Tacloban is the fifth property of Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) under the Summit brand in the last nine years. The 138-room hotel is now the largest in the city, just across Robinsons Place Tacloban in the RLC complex in Marasbaras district.
“We are positioning Tacloban and Ormoc as MICE destinations. With more flights and boutique hotels being constructed after Yolanda. So there was a vacuum for bigger accommodations and function halls. Every time we bid, that’s our drawback, we didn’t have a venue like this,” said Maria Trinidad C. Dacuycuy, officer-in-charge of the Department of Tourism-Eastern Visayas (DOT-VIII) during a press conference following the June 21 grand launch.
Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) is composed of six provinces: Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar (Western Samar) and Southern Leyte. The regional center is Tacloban City, one of two cities of Leyte, the other being Ormoc. Calbayog City is the lone city in Samar, and one of the oldest in the country.
Latest available figures from DOT-VIII show over a million tourists visited the region in 2015 -last year with available data, and added some P9 billion (or US$182 million) to the Eastern Visayas economy. It was the highest tourism influx to the region to that date, compared to only 731,000 visitors and revenues of P3-billion in 2013 and 964,000 visitors and P7-billion revenues in 2014.
“Eastern Visayas is our major investment in Summit Hotels,” said Elizabeth C. Gregorio, general manager of Summit Hotels and Resorts. “It is now 80-85% complete, and has been in construction for the last two years. We expect it to be fully operational within the next two months including the opening of the restaurant.”
Summit Hotel Tacloban is the second RLC hotel to be opened in the city after Go Hotels, which opened in April 2012. Both are located within the same five hectare RLC complex which is dominated by Robinsons Place Tacloban, its first mall in Eastern Visayas which opened in 2009.
Before the opening of the Summit Hotel, the city had 80 hotels and lodging houses with 1,859 rooms.
Gregorio said RLC seeks to serve booming regional center with its malls and hotels.
“Summit Hotel will be a MICE facility,” she noted. “This is the first in Eastern Visayas and the first time that we have both a Summit and a Go Hotel in the same city.”
However, she stressed the group’s Summit and Go Hotels have not been competing, but very much complementing.
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Summit Hotel Tacloban’s Raintree Ballroom is the largest in Eastern Visayas ang can accommodate up to 600 persons.
“Our Go Hotel is essential service, budget, the price point is also very affordable. Our Summit Hotel is still affordable but full service. Summit Hotel has a ballroom for 600-650 persons, so if you have a huge function, we’ve been able to attract more guests for the Go Hotel because of this. And they complement each other because we have them at different price points. Given the right opportunity, we would also like to use this model elsewhere.”
Mark Eugene Agullo, Summit Hotel Tacloban head of sales, said Summit Hotel Tacloban offers an inviting, inspiring and intimate venue for meetings, socials and other MICE events.
“We have meeting spaces that are ideal for groups of 30 to as many as 600 persons, for intimate meetings to big company gatherings. Exceptional personalized service with great attention to details, that makes event planning easy,” he said.
“We have the nicest and the biggest ballroom in the city which can be divided into three function rooms, named after the three major islands of Eastern Visayas: Samar, Leyte and Biliran. We also have 3 breakup rooms named after the capital city and municipalities of the islands: Tacloban, Catbalogan, and Naval. ”
Monica Casperino, Summit Hotels Director for Sales, said the group’s goal is to make it simple and easy when one comes to do business here.
“We want it to be a place where business doesn’t have to be a lot of work, where you’re actually able to create memories while you’re here, and to really take something back with you,” Casperino said during the hotel launch. “We are in the business of creating exceptional service and lasting memories.”
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MacArthur Leyte Landing Memorial National Park at Palo, Leyte
Lisette Arena, Summit Hotels Marketing Director, said shopping is easy due to its proximity to Robinson’s mall.
“Summit Hotel Tacloban first shopping hotel concept in Eastern Visayas,” Arena noted. “It’s family-friendly with kid-friendly menus, and kids eat and stay for free if they stay with their families.”
She said other amenities sure to be appreciated by both business and leisure travelers are the hotel-wide free WiFi with dedicated router in each room for better WiFi experience, free access to the gym and swimming pool, 24/7 security with CCTV, and smart features and solutions for guests with special needs.
Since its soft opening last April, Cindy Gidal, Summit Hotel Tacloban Hotel Manager, said the facility has had a very warm welcome from the public and guests, and they already had a lot of inquiries for our ballrooms for events, and special occasions, with occupancy rates averaging 45-50% since opening.
Drixel Ortega, Operations Manager, Summit Hotels & Resorts, said this is another indication that in the hospitality industry, indeed, customer service is everything.
“In Summit Hotels and Resorts, we describe our set of customer service values as Personable Service. Giving particular focus to all or one of these particular service values everyday inspires us to go beyond your expectations. These are our service values: Care, Kindness, Cheerfulness, Honesty, Efficiency and Teamwork.
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The MV Eva Jocelyn shipwreck memorial at Bgy Anibong, Tacloban City
Located at the center of Tacloban City’s uptown area with average travel times of 12 minutes and 22 minutes from air and seaports, respectively, there’s always something to see and do when staying at Summit Hotel Tacloban.
For booking and reservations, visit www.summithotels.ph. For more information and exciting news about the Summit Hotels and Resorts properties, follow Summit Hotel and Resorts’ Facebook and Instagram accounts (www.facebook.com/SummitHotelsAndResortsPH, www.instagram.com/summit_hotels).
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