(Eagle News) – After almost 30 years of operation, Makati Shangri-La Hotel will be temporarily closing operations starting February 1 as the hotel chain is hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to the Philippine Hotel Owners Association, Vice-President for Operations (Philippines) of the Shangri-La Group John Rice said that throughout the “unprecedented pandemic” in the last 10 months, their priority has been to “preserve as many jobs as possible for our teams.”
They have even provided assistance to their rank and file to “help them through these challenging times.”
But Rice said that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global economies, particularly on the travel and hospitality sectors, has been so severe that they had to “make decisions previously not contemplated.”
“Despite our best efforts, the prolonged recovery timeline has resulted in increasing financial pressure on the company here in the Philippines,” he said.
The five-star luxury hotel located in Makati has 696 rooms and suites. It opened in April 1993 and is one of the three hotels managed by Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts in Metro Manila.
Rice said that due to the “continued low business levels” and “after having considered all viable options over weeks of consideration and deliberation”, they now have to make the “extremely difficult decision to reorganize” the workforce and operations in the Philippines as the hotel chain navigates “uncertain business environment.”
“As part of the reorganization exercise, we will sadly be parting ways with a number of colleagues and we will be temporarily closing Makati Shangri-La, Manila from 1 February 2021 onwards,” he said in his letter.
He said that they would still look forward to reopening the hotel at a later late “when business conditions have improved.”
They will closely monitor global developments, he said.
‘We are proud to have been a pioneer and leading member of the community here in Manila and have consistently supported the growing hospitality industry and the community,” the hotel official said.
Rice also thanked all those who trusted and supported the Shangri-La Group over the years.
(Eagle News Service)
