MANILA Marriott Hotel’s CRU Steakhouse — MARRIOTT.COM
By Justine Irish D. Tabile
RESTAURANTS at the Manila Marriott Hotel are now performing better than pre-pandemic levels, as more Filipinos dine out amid looser restrictions.
“Our food and beverages sales, our restaurants, bars and lounges have been doing exceptionally well. Obviously, that’s driven by the local market,” Manila Marriott General Manager Bruce Alexander Winton said in an interview with BusinessWorld.
“We’re running about 120% of our 2019 levels in the restaurants which is very encouraging,” he added.
Located in Newport World Resorts, Manila Marriott is home to several restaurants such as CRU Steakhouse, Marriott Café, Man Ho and Mian.
However, Mr. Winton said bookings for meetings and events through October are still not back to normal as some continue to have concerns over the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“The one that is a little bit slower to come together or to come back was the meetings, events, business gatherings, obviously [because these] are mass gatherings,” Mr. Winton said.
Nonetheless, Mr. Winton is expecting more bookings ahead of the holiday season.
“Certainly, in the second half of the year we are seeing significant momentum. And actually, with the bookings for the holidays, for Christmas and everything else, we are expecting a 95% recovery in December,” he said.
Corporate or business-related travel has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Mr. Winton said they are now seeing 60% to 70% recovery in the corporate travel market.
“Let’s just say that 2022 turned out to be much better than we expected. We’ve exceeded our occupancy levels and our average room rate levels,” Mr. Winton said.
Manila Marriott Hotel is hoping to host more corporate and social events in 2023.
“Moving into next year, there’s a lot of corporate, conferences, meetings and events and then on the social side of events the events are getting larger again,” Mr. Winton said.
Manila Marriott Hotel has 44 event rooms which is equivalent to 12,110 square meters of total event space and 43 breakout rooms suited for smaller groups. Its largest event room, the MGBx Convention Hall, can accommodate 4,700 guests in a reception setup.
Manila Marriott Hotel is a brand under a long-term management agreement between Travellers International Hotel Group, Inc. and US-based Marriott International, Inc. which has a portfolio of more than 8,100 properties across 139 countries.
