Megaworld Hotels and Resorts (MHR) will be welcoming two new managing directors to further drive the company’s growth strategy.
Industry sources told the BusinessMirror that the two managing directors are seasoned hotelier Socrates ‘Sonny’ S. Alvaro, who starts in September, and 31-year-old Marriott International veteran Anna Liza Vergara, who begins her stint in October.
The appointments were announced in a town hall meeting on August 13 and were confirmed by Alvaro and Vergara in separate messages to the BusinessMirror.
Asked if there could be any confusion on her co-management position with Alvaro, Vergara said: ‘No naman. We’ll have our own areas,’ without elaborating.
The two leaders have been brought in from within the Megaworld Corp./Travellers International group – both owned by the Andrew L. Tan-led Alliance Global Group Inc. – in place of Cleofe C. Albiso, who leaves her post at the end of August. She has been MD since September 2022.
Alvaro is currently the general manager of Belmont Hotel Manila, while Vergara is the GM of Sheraton Manila at the Newport City.
Also leaving at month’s end is Arturo P. Boncato Jr., MHR Group General Manager since April 2024. Aside from his stints in the private sector, Boncato is well-known for his posts in government, the last being Tourism Undersecretary from 2018 to 2020.
Announced as well, sources added, was the change in the name of MHR to Megaworld Global Hotels and Resorts.
The name change, scheduled for October, reflects the hospitality firm’s continued growth and expansion, as well as assertive moves in franchising global hotel brands, the sources added. The company currently has franchise agreements with the Accor Group and Marriott.
MHR recently opened Belmont Hotel Iloilo (405 keys) and Chancellor Hotel Boracay (554 keys), raising the number of its total rooms to some 8,700. It has seven brands across 15 properties in the National Capital Region, Batangas, Mactan in Cebu, Iloilo, and Boracay in Aklan.
Its homegrown brands also include Richmonde Hotel, Savoy, Kingsford, Hotel Lucky Chinatown, and Twin Lakes in Tagaytay, along with franchised brands Movenpick Mactan, Movenpick Westside (currently Grand Westside Manila Bay), and Courtyard by Marriott Iloilo.
In its recent investors briefing, Megaworld Corp. disclosed an 11 percent increase in MHR revenues to P3.1 billion, making the unit the fastest-growing recurring income segment for the parent firm in the first half of the year. These revenues helped lift Megaworld’s net income by 5 percent to P12.7 billion.