Gotianun scion finds North Star in Hospitality

MANILA, Philippines — Some people need a lot of soul-searching to find their true north—but not third-generation business scion Francis Gotianun. He has long chosen his mission in life: to excel in hospitality.

"I love this idea that you're able to build something physical and share it with people. There's nothing like getting people into a space that you've built and seeing the joy that they have as they experience it," the 41-year-old tells Sunday Biz.

When he joined Filinvest 15 years ago, the group was just a hospitality newbie. The first hotel, Crimson Resort & Spa Mactan, just opened in Cebu, the province where his grandparents, the late Filinvest group founders Andrew and Mercedes Gotianun, had hailed from.

But he didn't join the family business right away. After finishing his commerce degree at the University of Virginia in 2005, he worked for a satellite TV firm, then for a business process outsourcing company. Then he flew to Barcelona to pursue his MBA at IESE Business School.

By 2010, he was ready to join the clan and knew exactly where to drop anchor. He knew that tourism was going to be exciting across the archipelago.

"I always viewed it as an underutilized asset here in the Philippines," he says.

Filinvest Hospitality Group, where Gotianun now serves as first senior vice president, has since then grown to be a multi-brand business with 1,751 guest rooms across seven properties.

The flagship brand Crimson opened another property in Alabang in 2013 and another beachfront resort on Boracay Island in 2018. The fourth is now being built in Clark. They launched another brand called Quest in 2012, targeting the "premium budget" market, first in Cebu, followed by Clark (2016) and Tagaytay (2019). In 2021 came Timberland mountain-resort in Rizal.

Opening this year is their eighth property, the 256-room "lifestyle experiential hotel" Grafik Pine House Baguio. In the next five years, Gotianun aims to add at least 2,000 new rooms across new locations.

Filinvest's brands are all homegrown, mostly targeting the mass affluent market, and there's no plan to bring foreign names into the mix.

"I think we compete very fiercely with the international brands," Gotianun says. "Technology has been a great equalizer in being able to distribute at scale and efficiently, just like the big brands."

Source: business.inquirer.net/520738/gotianun-scion-finds-north-star-in-hospitality