Overview

Seda is the Filipino word for silk, and its luster and strength are the two words that embody the
homegrown hotel brand’s emergence in the Philippines.

“Five years have gone fast and gone well, too. The group expanded quickly while delivering the brand
promises that we envisioned, from service excellence to our hotels’ central locations and value-for-
money proposition,” states Andrea Mastellone, Senior Group General Manager of Seda Hotels, owned
and operated by Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts.

Now on its fifth year, Seda Hotels will be expanding in the next two years to fifteen hotels around the
Philippines. “We opened our hotels in BGC, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao in quick succession, only within
three months of each other. This was followed by Nuvali the following year and Iloilo in 2016,” recalls
Mastellone. “Seda BGC was our first property. Our hotel format filled the opportunity gap between
luxury and budget hotels and offered a modern facility with swift and efficient service at competitive
rates,” he relates. The concept was a success and received enthusiastically by business travelers who
were excited at this smart new option that offered quality at a good price. Since then, there has been a
solid demand which has grown steadily up to the present.

Location is always an advantage of Seda. It is designed to be part of an Ayala Land mixed-use

In Seda’s 4th year, all its hotels had become the market leader in their respective destinations,
reinforcing the brand reputation and making Seda among the top choices when traveling around the
country. In addition, the efficient and linear operations style combined with re-engineered facilities,
gave it a competitive advantage, allowing the company to achieve a satisfactory bottom line. “It was a
challenge in some provinces where we were first to market because we confidently went in armed with
the latest technology, then discovered that the method of booking, distribution channels and most of
all, market segments and customer behavior were quite different from that of major international cities.
In some provinces, we learned that more than the technology, understanding the market gave you the
advantage. And so we did extensive research, analyzed their habits, patterns and preferences and made
the necessary adjustments until we nailed the appropriate strategies for each,” Mastellone states. “The
market has also evolved and it is heartwarming to see how our customers have embraced the modern
practices we introduced and are now enjoying the technology in our hotels.

Riding high on its consistent growth, Seda was ready to take on new challenges and started developing
plans for new formats – bigger hotels putting its radar at the MICE market (Seda’s previous average was
150 rooms), serviced apartments and resorts. It then opened Seda Vertis North, 438 rooms with a
ballroom fit for 700 persons in Quezon City in April this year, the first in a series of hotel launches in
various locations in the country in the next two years.

The target is to have 3,500 rooms by 2019. These include Seda Circuit (Makati), Seda Ayala North
Exchange (Makati), Seda Bay Area (Paranaque), Seda Arca South (Taguig) and Seda BGC Tower 2 — all
with at least 250 rooms. Two properties, including one in Cebu, will be serviced apartments, while Seda
Lio in the Lio Tourism Estate in El Nido, will be their first resort. It will also re-brand to Seda the Cebu
Marriott Hotel in 2018 to serve guests with the trademark Seda service combining Filipino hospitality
with service excellence and remarkable efficiency benchmaked with industry global quality standards.

Problem

The difficulties hotel owners faced on the first day of their desire to open one were widely known. Seda
hotels have the expertise necessary to be aware of any danger and difficulty that may arise in the future
and throughout their mobile operation. In the 4th year of Seda's existence, all of its hotels Rose to the
top of their respective markets, enhancing the prestige of the company and elevating SEDA to the top of
travelers list across the nation. Critical issue in risk management, they conceptualize risk as it is typically
defined as a potential hazard. They examine how organizations can protect themselves against various
risk by preparing for mitigating and responding to them. Sometimes, when a business grow too quickly,
The brand identity and values may become a little diluted when you employees join, each bringing with
their unique experiences, branding orientations, and cultural backgrounds. However, we were aware of
this danger from the start s and made an effort to develop specialized training programs to guarantee
that our basic value would be the first thing to be thought in our workforce. This guidelines builds on the
previous guidelines by focusing on the importance of risk and opportunity management and the value
creation opportunities often hidden in risk. It aims to help create a more rigorous understanding of the
risk that organization take and provide.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION
Before undertaking the risk and difficulties of developing their benchmark hotels around the Philippines,
Sada hotel considered a potential solution. In order to distinguish themselves as Seda hotels and
challenge the dominance of large booty national hotel chains on the market, they have modified and
defined their concepts and hotel models. The make sure that they're guiding principles would be the
first thing ingrained in employees, they develop specialist training programs. Since Seda hotels place a
priority on its staff, they continue with technical training to advance their abilities after becoming fully
immer sed in the company's fundamental principles. The tight rules of communicating with the visitors
have been loosened. Mastellone's position on this is a follows: "we prefer our personal to enjoy and
have fun while they work, but definitely within the scope of professional industry etiquette. We
deliberately choose employees who are upbeat, compassionate, understanding, and reliable. We make
an effort to make sure that everyone on our team is courteous, has a solid work ethic, and has a certain
set of emotional skill. Our success has been largely attributed to our investment in training and
development.

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

Case studies can provide this depth. They focus on a particular person patient, village, group within a
community or other subset of a wider group. With the aid of technology and greater resources for
innovation, training and assessing people today allows them to build and succeed. In order to achieve
their aim of instilling their staff with the company's fundamentals values and meeting consumer wants,
they need to apply an increasing amount of proper business etiquette. Consumers enjoy themselves just
as much as staff do. Developing a sense of belonging (culture) and value for the team members will
make them attach to their jobs, instill a sense of responsibility in their minds, and ensure that they are
reliable, empathic, caring, and process a positive attitude.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Our hotel format filled the opportunity gap between luxury and budget hotels and offered a modern
facility with swift and efficient service at competitive rates,” he relates. The concept was a success and
received enthusiastically by business travelers who were excited at this smart new option that offered
quality at a good price. Since then, there has been a solid demand which has grown steadily up to the
present.

Location is always an advantage of Seda. It is designed to be part of an Ayala Land mixed-use

Seda among the top choices when traveling around the country. In addition, the efficient and linear
operations style combined with re-engineered facilities, gave it a competitive advantage, allowing the
company to achieve a satisfactory bottom line.

POSSIBLE RESULT AND OBSTACLES TO IMPLEMENTATION.

Training with filipino values, a winning combination

The benchmark borne of Filipino values and the service culture of taking care of people’s needs,
together with Seda Hotels’ corporate training proves to be the cutting edge.

Mastellone explains, “Sometimes when a brand expands too fast, the brand identity and the values may
get a bit diluted because of the new people coming in — each with different experiences, branding
orientations, and culture. But we had foreseen this risk from the beginning and endeavored to create
specific training courses to ensure our core values would be the first thing to be instilled in our people.
Once a new employee is fully immersed in our culture and ready to embrace it, we proceed with the
technical training to improve their skills. Seda Hotels is a company where employees come first. We
have reduced the barriers of hierarchy, empowering our staff to make decisions at the customer contact
points. We want our associates to interact with guests in a natural manner without having to follow
strict protocols. We like our staff to enjoy and have fun while they work, but obviously within the
framework of professional industry etiquette. We carefully select associates who possess a positive
attitude, are caring, empathetic and trustworthy. We try to ensure that our staff have a specific
emotional skill set, a strong work ethic, are respectful and pay close attention to details. Training and
development has been key to our success and we will continue to invest resources to ensure our staff
can continuously provide support to create memorable experiences for guests. Today’s customers are
looking for something more, they are looking for enriching experiences. Offering a good product or a
useful service is no longer enough, and meeting a customer’s expectation is not sufficient. In today’s
market, to drive loyalty and repeat business is fundamental and keeping this in mind, we strive to
understand the needs of the customer and make them happy. In the end, it’s the customer experience
that matter.”

SUMMARY OF REFERENCES APA STYLE, 7th EDITION

The Seda Hotels executive team. (From left) RON MANALANG, Executive Assistant Manager-Rooms;
MELISSA CARLOS, Group Director, Sales & Marketing; JEFFREY ENRIQUEZ, General Manager, Seda
Nuvali; ANDREA MASTELLONE, Senior Group General Manager; ELAINE ALZONA, Chief Finance Officer,
Ayala Land Hotels and Resorts Corporation (AHRC); CHRISTIAN CANDA, Group Revenue and E-Commerce
Manager; WILMA ESTAURA, Group Director of Human Resources (AHRC); ROMUALDO CASTILLO,
Corporate Executive Chef; JULIUS BUEN, Group Information Technology Manager; and GENNY PUNO,
Communications Manager