21 inns transformed into isolation services

Elijah Felice Rosales (The Filipino Star) – April 20, 2021 – 12:00 p.m.

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 21 hotels in Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog have converted their operations to isolation and quarantine facilities in response to the recent surge in COVID-19 infections.

According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), these hotels have upgraded their facilities to offer 2,222 rooms to those found COVID-19 positive.

Two accommodations in Quezon City with a total of at least 184 rooms have also been put on standby so that Oplan Kalinga can use them again at any time.

Tourism Minister Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said yesterday that hotel operators had pledged to support efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19, adding that the public and private sectors should work together to minimize the impact of the pandemic.

Hotels in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal are not allowed to accept leisure stays, also known as staycations, until April 30th. As a result, they miss out on the usual bookings they get in the summer.

Only hotels designated as Isolation and Quarantine Facilities are allowed to operate in areas with Extended Community Quarantine (ECQ) and Modified ECQ.

With no bookings from tourists, Puyat said, hotels could serve as emergency shelters for health workers and outsourcing agents for business processes that need to live close to where they work.

They also host locals and foreigners who have been stranded in Metro Manila as government-enforced movement restrictions have ended their travel plans.

In addition, hundreds of hotels, mostly in the country’s capital, have been converted into quarantine facilities to house returning Filipino workers (OFWs) and foreign nationals who are permitted to enter. Their operators had to upgrade their units to keep business going without foreign tourists.

Based on DOT records, there are 131 hotels with a capacity of 29,153 rooms that host OFWs through the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration. Outside the coordination of OWWA, OFWs to be quarantined will be provided with a total of 7,687 rooms in 48 hotels in Metro Manila.

On the other hand, tourist rooms in Metro Manila are being converted into vaccination centers to speed up the immunization of Filipinos.

Last week, the Nayong Pilipino Foundation, an affiliate of the DOT, approved the proposal to convert the vacant property in Parañaque City into a vaccination site that can vaccinate 12,000 people a day.