ILOILO City – The recent three-day unscheduled power interruptions may have made hotels and other accommodation facilities fully booked but this also increased their operating expenses and worse, destroyed some of their equipment.
Mary Ann Darroca-Matiling, president of the Iloilo Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants Association (IHRRA), said sales increased by around 30 percent. However, operational cost also increased by 30 percent, especially those that used diesel for power generator sets.
Also, Darroca-Matiling lamented the blackouts’ adverse impact on the hotels’ equipment like freezers, chillers and other machines.
“Ang advantage (fully booked) is not enough sa huol in the long term,” she said.
Most of those who stayed in hotels during the blackouts were those with medical condition such as hypertension.
Forty-nine-year-old Eireen Alcampado of the City Proper district shared her blackout experience.
“I have mild claustrophobia. When it is too dark sometimes I could not breathe, or I have a hard time breathing, and during the blackout it was made worse by the heat. So aside from my fear of being alone inside an unfamiliar room since my family wasn’t with me, I suffered the inconvenience of lugging my things,” she said.
On the other hand, the manufacturing industry under the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) also noted an increase in their operational cost by 30 percent during the series of brownouts.
Darroca-Matiling said some businesses, especially those that did not have power generator sets,temporarily closed yet they have to pay their personnel; others continued operating but they rarely had customers because people preferred going to big malls.
“Iban ang pag-asa nila tani online deliveries. Indi man sila magpa-deliver, they were not at home kay wala kuryente. Online orders were down, walk-in sales were down, so basically pierdi gid,” said Darroca-Matiling.
IHRRA has 65 members but most of these are restaurants. Most of the hotels in Iloilo are members of Iloilo MICE Alliance./PN
