BORACAY ISLAND, Philippines—Why build a hotel with a 1,200-square-meter pool when one of the world’s best beaches is just a few steps away?
For Chinese-Filipino businessman Henry Chusuey, it’s just a matter of knowing and catering to a diversified market especially on the world-famous Boracay Island.
“The hotel business is really just common sense. You provide what you, as a customer, would want and expect,” says Chusuey.
This he has done well since 1998 when he ventured into the hotel business in the country’s prime tourist destination.
The Iloilo-based Chusuey, chairman and president of the Boracay Regency group, has built one of the biggest chains of hotels and resorts on Boracay and is expanding to other island destinations.
But Chusuey, 55, admits that while his family operated various businesses, he did not foresee being involved in the hotel industry, especially in Boracay.
Chusuey’s grandparents owned a grocery store in Iloilo City but this was burned down sometime in 1969. His parents also owned several movie theaters and at one time operated all the cinemas in downtown Iloilo City, which he later took over.
A business degree graduate from the University of San Agustin in Iloilo City, Chusuey founded the Golden Finance Corp. in 1982, a lending business which he successfully steered to become one of the biggest business firms in Western Visayas.
Chusuey later engaged in real estate, putting up three corporations—Henber Realty Development Corp., Henann Land Development Corp. and the HCBC Land Corp. These corporations built four subdivisions in Iloilo City and in Oton town in Iloilo, the latest of which is the 30-hectare Prime Estate in La Paz District at the heart of Iloilo City.
With his success in his lending and real-estate businesses, Chusuey says he has no plans of investing in Boracay.
But he decided to test the waters in 1998 with a P60-million investment in the Boracay Regency Beach Resort.
The investment, which started with 43 rooms, was both for business as well as a place where Chusuey and his family could stay whenever they were on the island.
“I always went to Boracay to spend vacation in the 1980s to the 1990s and I felt that the island needed a better hotel with world-class accommodation,” he says.
It was a risky move back then, just coming shortly after a coliform-contamination scare temporarily drove tourists away from the island.
But Boracay Regency’s original 4,000-sqm property was situated at one of the best locations on the island, right at the middle of the long White Beach.
Starting from scratch and with no experience in the hotel and resort business, Boracay Regency soon made its presence felt among hotels and regular visitors on the island. The hotel helped raise accommodation standards as other resorts also struggled to catch up.
In 2001, Chusuey decided to open a second hotel wing by adding 42 rooms.
“No doubt, it was already a serious investment because we already gained a reputation as one of, if not the top hotel on the island,” he says.
Three years later, Boracay Regency expanded to its third wing with an additional 110 rooms. In 2006, the fourth wing was opened with 90 rooms.
Today, Boracay Regency has 285 rooms, a 600-seater convention center and a spacious 125-meter beach front.
Aside from expansion of the Boracay Regency, Chusuey also acquired in December 2009 an adjacent Korean-owned hotel with 201 rooms, which was renamed as the Boracay Garden Resort.
Last year, Chusuey opened the 120-room Regency Lagoon Resort with a 1,200-sqm swimming pool situated along the island’s main road.
“There’s a market for those who want a hotel with a big but private pool,” he says when asked if the Regency Lagoon also had the same number of guests as the Boracay Regency, which is located at the beachfront.
Thirteen years after investing on Boracay, Chusuey has expanded his property from the original 4,000-sqm lot and a 43-room hotel to a combined property reaching nearly five hectares, with three hotels totaling 600 rooms. From the 50 staff members in 1998, he now employs around a thousand workers.
“We did it right, we have a good location and we make sure that there’s always value for money for our guests,” he says.
He says that constant improvement and innovation are essential to keep the competition at bay.
Chusuey is optimistic of the country’s tourism industry and has embarked on major projects outside of Boracay.
He has acquired two prime properties on Panglao Island in Bohol, including the 6.5-hectare Alona Palm Beach Resort and another seven-hectare beach property.
The Alona Palm Beach Resort, which will be renamed as Henann Resort, is set to open in March this year. From the resort’s existing 12 luxury villas, Chusuey plans to put up a 360-room hotel and two more swimming pools.
Chusuey has also acquired the 18-hectare Malcapuya Island in Coron, Palawan, considered among the best beach sites in the area, where he plans to put up 60 to 70 high-end vacation villas.
Managing and monitoring these projects and businesses require full attention and Chusuey admits that the only time he can rest is when he is on vacation abroad.
“I’m constantly on the phone talking to my staff, always checking on our operations and thinking of how to improve things,” he says.
After building one of the biggest hotel chains on Boracay and investing in Bohol and Palawan, Chusuey says he still has more projects that he wants to go into.
“I do not see myself retiring in the near future,” he says.
For details on RA 9646 or RESA Law, please visit www.ra9646.com. RA9646.com is the central depository of all updates on the new law for the practice of real estate service in the Philippines. The Law has been passed and signed last June 29, 2009. Its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) has been published in July 2010 making the law fully operational as of August 08 2010.
source: Inquirer, Jan 24 2011
