NUSTAR Resort and Casino, a P30-billion integrated resort project owned by Universal Hotels and Resorts Inc. (UHRI), a member of Gokongwei-led JG Summit Holdings Inc., is expected to reshape Cebu's tourism landscape upon its projected completion in 2027.
The 9-hectare integrated resort is being built as a "self-sustaining" tourism hub that would attract both local and international visitors for multiple-day stays, NUSTAR executives told reporters in a roundtable session last week.
"The intention is for people to come stay here for two, three days without even having to go out," said Roel Constantino, NUSTAR general manager for hotels, last Thursday.
Fili Hotel, one of the three brands integrated into the complex, opened in 2022 with 379 hotel rooms complemented by 5,000 square meters of convention space, three ballrooms, and a slew of meeting rooms in its NUSTAR convention center to cater to MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions).
Set to open soon is the 223-room NUSTAR Hotel, and Constantino said they were hoping for a soft opening by the end of the year to "start and build upon the holiday market and carry on from there."
He said the hotel's aesthetics "will be more global" compared with Fili Hotel's mainly Filipino-inspired design.
"We foresee the market to be more international. The rooms are larger. The rooms start at 52 square meters," Constantino said.
NUSTAR, he continued, will include butler service and club lounge privileges for guests, "very international in theme," and all-inclusive services to give their guests an ultra-luxury experience.
Another component of the resort is the Grand Summit hotel, currently under construction, which will feature a blend of culture and technology to cater to the needs of the modern traveler or the "buying behavior and travel patterns of the new market that is constantly changing."
The Grand Summit is designed to be responsive to the work-play blend of the modern traveler, Constantino explained.
Once the entire resort opens, the three hotels will have a total of 985 rooms and will comprise the biggest hotel complex in Cebu.
Constantino also said that construction had been completed for the first phase of the leisure park, which features two expansive pools on the fifth floor, offering views of the Cebu skyline.
The second phase will see the addition of a wave pool, a surf rider, and three food and beverage restaurants.
"We are [also] close to launching island-hopping [services] and are contracting with an operator to do that for us," he added.
The resort's mall retail space at The Mall was said to be almost fully booked, with the remaining stores anticipated to open by next year.
"By June [next year], we should be 100 percent," said Trevor Hammond, UHRI senior vice president for gaming and integrated resorts operations, referring to the near-completion of retail outlets such as Rolex and Cartier.
Asked about how the complex was getting on in terms of profit, Hammond said, "We're very happy with it, [considering] we're only two years old. And if I look at the comparison to the larger hotels, we're hot on their heels. What they did in 10 years, we've done in two years."
Shares of UHRI's parent firm JG Summit ended up 0.2 percent at P25.25 each last Friday.