Romantic, sophisticated and rich with history—this is how most people would describe Europe, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It is this affinity to the continent and its diverse cultures that inspired the Abantos, the family behind the Abanto Group of Companies, to build OYO 171 Amore Hotel Manila. They wanted to bring exquisite European-style interiors and hospitality to the Philippines and let more Filipinos experience Europe-style hotel experience.

Located at the heart of the Alabang Business District, OYO 171 Amore Hotel Manila offers high-quality service without hurting the pocket. Named after the Italian word for love, Amore Hotel Manila’s Executive President and Managing Director Donna Abanto shares that the property aims to impart the feeling of love, passion and dedication through the services they offer. It sounded easy at first, but actualizing that goal was a huge challenge that Abanto had to conquer – until they partnered with OYO.

The 3-star boutique hotel, which used to be a department store ran by the corporation, is the family’s first diversified business in line with their expansion from retail to the hotel industry. Abanto admits facing challenges in manpower, marketing and bookings in the first few months of operations.

“Our location has always had a good amount of foot traffic but we were not able to maximize that opportunity since we lacked the appropriate marketing tools. We also experienced difficulty in identifying the right people for certain positions. We ended up constantly hiring new ones,” she adds.

Abanto has been hands-on in managing Amore Hotel Manila since it opened in October 2018, including supervising housekeeping, kitchen and in-house restaurant. The hotel used to adopt a Property Management System (PMS) to streamline the booking process, but they could not maximize it due to the lack of proficient personnel to handle regular system updates.

“Running the hotel required a lot of my personal time. Managing Amore Hotel Manila became my daily routine, and this made me eager to look for a partner that would support our team. Other companies reached out to us but OYO had the ‘most ideal’ offer,” Abanto shares.

As the managing director of OYO 171 Amore Hotel Manila, Abanto appreciates that OYO is able to provide operations management services and consultations on how to improve the hotel. OYO’s pool of professionals and experts in the field of hospitality worked closely with Abanto and other hotel key executives to improve all aspects of hotel operations from marketing, booking, pricing patterns to revenue management. This allows Abanto more time to attend to other aspects of hotel management that need improvement.

In addition to putting in place modern technology such as an RFID door lock system, OYO’s world-class technology enabled Amore Hotel Manila to easily manage its back-end operations through a worry-free booking process. With the OYO Operating Manager’s App, Abanto is able to monitor daily activities remotely.

“Before OYO, we would reach only 50 to 70 percent occupancy, and that was during the weekends. Now, we are able to hit 80 to 90 percent occupancy on a daily basis,” Abanto proudly shares.

OYO assigned Amore Hotel Manila its own OYO Captain. The OYO Captain assists Abanto in giving regular staff training, including guest management and property supervision, to maintain OYO’s global standard of service. The captain also supervises the cleanliness and orderliness of the hotel and gives consultations on the proper management of each hotel department.

Partnering with OYO has helped Amore Hotel Manila establish its online presence on multiple platforms such as the OYO website, OTA partners and OYO app. “A huge number of our clients expressed excitement upon learning about OYO promos for Amore Hotel Manila. We are also able to record multiple bookings of foreign clients, proving that OYO’s network is wide enough to reach an audience we were not able to tap before,” Abanto shared.

Abanto noted how finding the right partner is essential in growing and sustaining a business. “I am really impressed with the capabilities of OYO. Their expertise helped us understand the industry better. We are looking forward to more accomplishments with them,” Abanto said.

The European-inspired hotel is just one of OYO’s numerous partners in the Philippines. OYO is present in key cities in Metro Manila, Cebu, Baguio, Pampanga, Boracay, Batangas, Iloilo, Bataan, Tagaytay and Davao. With more than 260 hotels and 4,300 rooms, OYO is committed to upgrading the tourism and hospitality industries in the country with technology-driven asset transformations.

OYO has revolutionized the fragmented and legacy-driven budget hospitality space by empowering small and independent asset owners with the operational capabilities and technology that enable them to compete with big hotel chains and achieve high occupancies and, therefore, yields.

Globally, OYO is present in 800+ cities across 80 countries. OYO is the no. 1 hotel chain in Southeast Asia with over 2,500+ hotels and 75,000+ exclusive rooms under management in Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.