In 2018, Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. was undoubtedly hoping for a return to normalcy and big profits. It looks like they got just that, as the owner and operator of Resorts World Manila reported a profit of PHP1.4 Billion ($26.6 million), almost 400 percent better than 2017.
Of course, 2017 couldn’t have gone much more poorly. The June 1, 2017 lone gunman robbery and arson of Resorts World Manila shut down the casino for the month, causing the senseless death of 38 people, a loss of revenue, and huge renovation costs.
Because of that attack, Travellers had a PHP312 million ($6 million) loss for Q2 2017, and reduced profits for the year to PHP241 million ($4.61 million), which was a 92% drop from 2016.
These 2018 numbers haven’t caught up yet to those 2016 numbers, they’d need to more than double to do that, so the damage is still there, but at least there’s signs of growth.
The president and chief executive of Resorts World Manila, Kingson Sian, said in a March 29 press release, “The improved performance was helped by the opening of the ground floor gaming at the Grand Wing as well as the launch of Hilton Manila and the Sheraton Manila Hotel.”
Those two hotels added 747 rooms to the resort. They have a prime location as well, located a short walk from the city’s airport, they offer rooms not only to eager gamblers, but to weary travelers as well. Once the resort is fully constructed, Resorts World Manila will have the most hotel rooms for any single property in the Philippines.
Travellers didn’t make a recommendation regarding dividend payouts as a part of the announcement, but did indicate it would likely payout up to 20 percent of its net profit. That will make shareholders a bit happier than they were a year before, but they will likely be hoping to return to 2016 form sooner than later.
That could prove to be a difficult task. Not too far away, Okada Manila is also ramping up and adding hotel rooms of its own. Competition is likely to stay fierce in the Philippines capital, so Resorts World will need to speed up its path to redemption.
