BY EDISON JOSEPH GONZALES
Property developer Megaworld Corp. is expanding its hospitality business into Palawan and Ilocos Norte as it targets nearly 12,000 hotel rooms nationwide by 2032.
The new properties, planned within the next five to seven years, will include Megaworld’s homegrown hotel brands and internationally branded hotels. The expansion will accompany continued growth in major tourism and business hubs across the country.
Megaworld is also establishing Megaworld Global Hotels and Resorts to bring its growing hotel portfolio under two focused groups.
Megaworld Hotels and Resorts will manage the company’s hotel developments in Metro Manila, Boracay, Batangas and Cebu. Megaworld Global Hospitality will handle Mövenpick Manila Bay Westside, the company’s biggest hotel property, as well as new hotel properties in Palawan and three hotels in Iloilo: Courtyard by Marriott, Richmonde Hotel Iloilo and Belmont Hotel Iloilo.
“One of our biggest contributions to nation-building is to help make our tourism industry more vibrant and attractive, especially to foreign visitors. To support this goal of helping boost our country’s tourism, we are making this bold move of expanding our hospitality organization with established veterans and innovators in the global hotels and leisure industry,” Megaworld president and CEO Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso said.
The hospitality business was Megaworld’s fastest-growing recurring-income segment in the first half of 2026, with revenue rising 11 percent to P3.1 billion.
The growth was fueled by the opening of the 405-room Belmont Hotel Iloilo, the company’s third hotel within its 72-hectare Iloilo Business Park. Megaworld said the property is now the largest hotel in Iloilo City in terms of room inventory, bringing its total hotel portfolio in the city to nearly 1,000 rooms.
Kevin Tan, president and CEO of Alliance Global Group Inc., the parent company of Megaworld, said the expansion would support tourism and local communities.
“We see tourism as one of the most powerful engines of sustainable economic growth. Every hotel we build creates jobs, supports local businesses, brings visitors to new destinations, and opens more opportunities for communities to prosper. Through our expanding hospitality portfolio under Megaworld Global Hotels and Resorts (MGHR), we want to help continue unlocking the immense tourism potential of the Philippines and bring more of our country’s destinations, culture, and world-class Filipino hospitality to travelers from around the globe,” Tan said.
The two hospitality groups will be led by Socrates Alvaro, managing director of Megaworld Hotels and Resorts, and Anna Vergara, managing director of Megaworld Global Hospitality.
Alvaro brings nearly two decades of hotel operations and leadership experience, with senior leadership roles within Megaworld Hotels and Resorts and experience across the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the Maldives, Thailand and other key destinations across Asia.
Vergara brings more than 32 years of experience with Marriott International, with a background in hotel operations, leadership and the development of high-performing teams.
Megaworld said Alvaro and Vergara bring complementary strengths to the new organization, combining the company’s homegrown hospitality expertise with global hotel standards and international brand management.