BUSINESSES in the Philippines are glad to be sort of back to normal, but for Peggy Angeles, executive vice president of SM Hotels and Conventions Corp. (SMHCC), the question of the next normal is quite important.
To just say that life returns to normalcy, “we’re not really back to normal,” she stated.
Maybe in terms of revenge travel, the demand is there, which is quite exciting as people really want to just either travel or eat.
“But the reality is, the demand is there because of this ‘revenge’ thing, but the sad part is the manpower. Labor has become very challenging as other economies are also opening,” Angeles said, adding there is an exodus of people from the Philippines.
While it’s good news that the unemployment rate has reduced to four percent, “we can’t find people,” she also said. What SMHCC tried to do or prepare for this is to focus on beating manpower through retraining to keep its staff engaged.
“The pandemic brought about some mental issues for everyone one way or another, so it’s important that we provide this and it’s not the norm. We have a lot of staff engagement that needs to be focused on,” she added.
From a service or customer perspective, SMHCC reinstated its services, Angeles said. The creative juices of the team members are flowing to be able to come up with new offerings, new excitement. “They come back to the hotel and do staycation and meetings, but we want to make it interesting for them,” she noted.
In its property in Pico, for instance, everything is there like the sea, sun, and sand, “but what else can these guests do apart from enjoying the beach and all the facilities?” she said, so a restaurant and new facilities will be opened — something that would add an excitement to the visit sans disregarding the health and safety protocols.
Practicing these measures is one of the things that SMHCC learned from the ongoing crisis, and there are things it just continues to do — and there’s no harm.
Angeles mentioned that SM has always been known for its department store, and then evolved into SMDC and all the malls and everything else. The hotel portion is part of what is called an investment.
There was no formal structured company that would manage Taal Vista Hotel, for instance.
Hence, the birth of SMHCC which then was mandated to manage its accommodation establishments in the beginning.
Before Angeles even came onboard, she got a call from Elizabeth Sy, who is the president and is really the power and the person behind SMHCC, to entrust everything to her like the convention center and Park Inn hotels, among others.
“Since I joined in 2014, I think we’ve opened at least one property per year whether it’s a convention center or a hotel,” she shared. Sy advised to open some more, “so that’s where we are.”
Angeles said Sy’s support to the whole group is just very encouraging to move forward.
Had it not been for this turbulent time, SMHCC would probably have more properties now than it has.
Even during the pandemic, it did not stop them as they just prioritized. SMHCC opened the all-new South Wing of Park Inn by Radisson Clark in June 2021; opened Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod in July 2021 as the first international hotel brand in Bacolod City; and officially opened SMX Convention Center Clark, dubbed as the second stand-alone convention center after SMX Manila, in May 2022.
“That tells you that the company does not really stop. Where there is an opportunity, we move forward,” Angeles underscored. Besides SMHCC’s Elizabeth Sy, SM Prime’s Hans Sy is always there for the company in terms of the construction.
To be an industry leader has its advantages “because you have the ability to influence government mandates that are pertaining to the industry,” she explained. Another thing is the access to information “because when you have it, you can develop together with the directions of the Department of Tourism.”
Relevancy is the most important thing to be successful, Angeles stressed. “Because if you just stayed on to what was, then you’re dead.” What SMHCC has done during the last couple of years is really to itself such as doing something to ensure employees stay for their livelihood.
“There was no tourism during the height of the pandemic and the only thing you could have to sustain your cash flow is to be flexible,” she said, so SMHCC catered to overseas Filipino workers who had to be repatriated and needed to be quarantined.
Also, some spaces have been reconfigured to make them long-term accommodation as there were people who looked for those. SMX was a white elephant as there were no events, so some spaces were converted to be spots for commercial shooting, filming, etc.
Because of the advent of food delivery, some food businesses did not have big kitchens but were getting orders, so SMHCC had a ghost kitchen. Logistics was very big at that time as well, and there were also orders coming from some SM affiliates, so the company’s spaces in Mall of Asia became the warehouses for logistics for easier shipping.
The biggest thing for SMHCC is that it was able to continue with its development amidst the global public health crisis; it still generated some awards like the best convention facility, best spa, and best hotel, Angeles said.
SMHCC also had the opportunity to be more green in terms of sustainability “because you had time to sit down, move toward, and think what can we do to be more sustainable,” she added. The company became technologically empowered, too.
As SM Malls continues its expansion, it is an opportunity for SMHCC as the branch may need a hotel or a convention center — that’s where the company comes. “With those opportunities, I have to say, in the next five years, will allow us to increase our portfolio to maybe up to 80 percent of where we are today,” she said.
SMHCC’s encouraging growth has propelled the company’s goal to double its portfolio throughout the country within the next five years.
Not only SMHCC here in the country is constructing as everybody is also constructing and the development is everywhere. For Angeles, this means there is a shortage of labor in the construction industry and prices are going up; as the other economies also open, the laborers go overseas.
“The way to deal with that is to just use or leverage the size and strength of SM,” she said, adding that this is how it can overcome the challenge.
Currently, the SMHCC portfolio comprises nine hotel properties with a combined inventory of 2,212 rooms.
The list of hotels under SMHCC include Taal Vista Hotel, Pico Sands Hotel, Conrad Manila, Radisson Blu Cebu, Park Inn by Radisson Bacolod, Park Inn by Radisson Clark, Park Inn by Radisson Davao, Park Inn by Radisson Iloilo, and Park Inn by Radisson North EDSA.
Alongside SMHCC’s hotel properties are its convention centers. The SMX Convention Centers (SMXCC) and trade halls boast close to 38,000 square meters of total leasable space with its eight exhibition and convention venues in key cities across the country.
SMHCC is geared toward becoming a brand powerhouse that ultimately seeks to create an indelible mark in the country’s tourism industry.
