Hotel Sogo has come a long way with the opening of three more branches this year. This brings the hotel’s entire network to 45 branches and more in the pipeline. The hotel continues to live by its mission, since its first branch in 1993, of providing accessible and affordable accommodation of excellent standards.
“Despite the recent challenging years, Hotel Sogo opened new branches namely, Timog 2, Fairview, and EDSA-Taft, all within 2021,” shared marketing manager Sue Geminiano. “Our better and bigger newly constructed Hotel Sogo Malate has reopened as well, which is just one of the many exciting developments happenings here at Hotel Sogo.”
MILESTONES DURING THE PANDEMIC
The hotel has proven its dedication to service and cleanliness throughout the years. At the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, its own Research & Development (R&D) team acted quickly and developed ways to keep the hotel safer for its guests through its own 11 So Safe Innovations.
These innovations introduced by Hotel Sogo, alongside the minimum health standards mandated by the government, raised the hotel industry’s standard of cleanliness and sanitation.
Among the well-known safety innovations set by Hotel Sogo include the use of UVC LED lights for disinfection of rooms, bathroom fixtures, utensils, room keycards, and cash. Air ventilation has also been doubled in hotel lobbies and hallways for filtered and sanitized air. Anti-microbial coatings are also applied in common touchpoints, furniture, and hotel fixtures. Regular tests on high touchpoint surfaces are also done to secure the efficacy of each safety innovation.
Aside from putting the safety and cleanliness of the hotel as top priority, Hotel Sogo became the refuge of frontliners during the 2020 lockdown. Hotel Sogo provided over P80 million worth of free accommodations to frontline medical workers of 11 hospitals from various key cities in the country in collaborative efforts with the local government offices and hospitals.
As part of its response program through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)Sogo Cares, Hotel Sogo donated thousands of linens, towels, and sacks of rice, canned goods, bottled water, noodles, coffee, and other necessities to the affected areas of the recent Typhoon “Odette.” In a showcase of genuine “Bayanihan,” these items were immediately distributed to Cebu, Southern Leyte, Bohol, Surigao, Siargao Island, Limasawa Island, and Palawan with the cooperation of DSWD, Philippine Air Force and other local government units.
Sogo Cares has been helping the community since 2016. Initially, it started in 1998 as a group of concerned individuals sought help from Hotel Sogo to donate linens, pillowcases, and bath towels to the indigent-affected individuals after a strong tropical depression hit the country.
Since then, Hotel Sogo’s CSR program has continuously extended its humanitarian services to the community – aptly named “Sogo Cares” with the slogan “We Bridge Gaps to Build Better Communities.”
ON TO THE FUTURE
Hotel Sogo has achieved yet another milestone growth with this recent expansion in the metro. As the largest hotel chain in the Philippines, Hotel Sogo is making its presence felt in more areas to address the lodging needs of guests on safety and price.
Hotel Sogo is now moving its expansion direction towards South Luzon where tourism development is on a roll. The hotel’s aggressive growth also translates to more employment opportunities for Filipinos. As Ms. Geminiano proudly added, “We are excited to see more of our branches in areas outside Metro Manila. Expansion efforts have been beefed up for all our plans to materialize as scheduled this 2022 and the years ahead. Meanwhile, our patrons and guests will be happier with our three new branches which offer new modern room designs, a wider menu of dishes and the usual Hotel Sogo high standard of cleanliness and services that we all love.” (PR)