Megaworld Hotels & Resorts, a unit of township developer Megaworld Corp. and the country’s largest hotel developer, is opening seven new hotels to grow its nationwide portfolio by 50 percent to 9,000 hotel room keys by 2030.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Megaworld said these include the 554-room Chancellor Hotel in Boracay Newcoast; the 404-room Belmont Hotel Iloilo in Iloilo Business Park; and the 300-room The Kingsford in The Upper East Bacolod.

Also in the pipeline are the 304-room Savoy Hotel Palawan and the 313-room Paragua Sands in Paragua Coastown, San Vicente, Palawan; the 373-room Savoy Capital Town in Capital Town, San Fernando, Pampanga; and the 339-room ArcoVia Hotel in ArcoVia City, Pasig City.

“It is Alliance Global Group’s thrust to strengthen and streamline our hospitality portfolio as we look to attract and welcome more tourists, more conventions, and more events in our hotel developments,” said Kevin L. Tan, president and CEO of AGI, the parent company of Megaworld.

“The inclusion of international hotels in our portfolio will further cement our position as the largest hotel operator in the country for both local and international hotels.

“Through this expansion program, we aim to continue to further grow and strengthen our contribution to the Philippine tourism industry,” said Megaworld President and CEO Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso.

Currently, Megaworld Hotels & Resorts has 13 operational hotel properties with around 6,000 hotel rooms in some of the country’s key tourism destinations in Metro Manila, Tagaytay, Cebu, and Boracay.

These include properties under the Richmond Hotel brand (Richmonde Hotel Ortigas, Eastwood Richmonde Hotel and Richmonde Hotel Iloilo), Belmont Hotel brand (Belmont Manila, Belmont Boracay, Belmont Mactan), Savoy Hotel brand (Savoy Manila, Savoy Mactan, Savoy Boracay), Hotel Lucky Chinatown, Twin Lakes Hotel, Kingsford Hotel Manila, and Grand Westside Hotel.

This year, the company is also consolidating the 15-storey Courtyard by Marriott in Iloilo Business Park, an international hotel brand, under its hotel portfolio, increasing the current room keys by 326.

Within the year, Belmont Hotel Mactan inside the 30-hectare The Mactan Newtown in Cebu will also transition into an Accor-branded international hotel, the Mercure Mactan Cebu.

In the next five years, at least five more existing homegrown properties of Megaworld Hotels & Resorts will transition into Accor-branded hotels. This move will allow Megaworld Hotels & Resorts to operate not just homegrown hotel brands but also many international hotel brands.

Earlier this year, Megaworld Hotels & Resorts announced that it has tapped Accor, one of the largest hotel chains in the world, to be its partner in expanding and elevating its homegrown hotel portfolio.