There will be no buffets at Filinvest’s new hotel brand

CHROMA HOSPITALITY, Inc., the hospitality managing arm of Filinvest Development Corp., is opening a new brand of hotels to add to its family: the Grafik Hotel Collection, with the Grafik brand’s first property to be located within the Camp John Hay complex in Baguio. A second is being planned in Moalboal.

The hotel, named Grafik Pine House, is set to open in either the last quarter of this year or in the first quarter of the next, according to James Montenegro, country manager of Chroma Hospitality, Inc., who spoke with BusinessWorld at his office in Filinvest City on May 6, ahead of the hotel brand’s launch on May 20.

Grafik Pine House will have 256 rooms spread out over six floors in the split-level development, sitting on 5,700 square meters. The hotel will have a spa and four dining outlets: Sierra Bistro All-day Dining, Saleng Signature Restaurant, the Saddle Room (sort of a speakeasy), and the Mountain Club, a bar.

“We’re trying to do way with buffets because it’s socially not correct anymore. At the same time, it’s also not sustainable,” said Mr. Montenegro.

He takes particular pride in Saleng, named after a firestarter in Kalinga culture, which will feature modernized takes on Kalinga cuisine. The restaurants in the hotel will be largely stocked with locally sourced products from Baguio and the surrounding highlands.

“It will be a brand that is focused on collaboration, cultural integration, and harnessing both the art side of culture, plus the food side of culture,” he said. “It will incorporate a lot of local art in it. We’re working on collaborations with different artisans as well for different items,” he said, adding that they’re working with the community to develop crafts that will be used in the hotel.

Mr. Montenegro also made clear that the new property is not part of the CJH Development Corp. dispute, which involves hundreds of condominium owners at the Manor and Forest Lodge — their venture is a deal with John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC). “This property has always been owned by the Philippine government,” he said. “We’ve leased the land from BCDA (Bases Conversion and Development Authority.” JHMC is a subsidiary of the BCDA.

“Our focus now is really to go into the resorts,” he said, citing more expensive land in the Metro Manila’s business districts. Currently, Chroma is behind Crimson Hotels, Quest Hotels, and Timberland Hotels & Resorts. These are spread out in locations in Alabang, Mactan, Boracay, Tagaytay, Clark, Cebu, and Rizal.

“The people who use our city hotels, they eventually use our resort hotels. They see that they had a good experience in the city, and when they want to go on holiday, they take on one of our resorts,” he said. The reverse works the same way, with their holiday-goers spending time in their city locations. “They really feed off each other. Twenty to thirty percent of our business is just that.”

“This is our last frontier for manufacturing: tourism. We’re not producing physical products. We’re producing a lot of memories.” — Joseph L. Garcia