Still the Vibrant Escape of Choice in the Queen City

written by: JIMBO GULLE

Cebu’s newest vibrant escape. That’s what the owner of 88th Avenue Cebu had in mind when she first bought the land in 2010 that would house the serviced apartment hotel and commercial complex on Gov. M. Cuenco Ave. in the Queen City of the South.

Fast forward to 2023 and 88th Avenue still sets itself apart as Cebu’s first true luxury lifestyle district, in the heart of the city to boot. It still stands out from the other developments with its unique concept of elevated upscale living.

Combining both residential and commercial space with generous al fresco areas, 88th Avenue offers “just the right mix of everything,” as it declares on its website, which offers a peek into how it encapsulates the good life in Cebu.

But no thanks to COVID-19, that experience was in doubt for two long years. Ms Riza Hu, the Hong Kong based owner of 88th Avenue, told

PRJ Tourism in an exclusive interview that like all businesses across the world, the future was quite murky, as the pandemic crippled the tourism, travel, and hospitality industries.

“Prior to COVID, everything was on track. We knew what the market was, who our competition was, what our roots would be like. We knew once we opened, filling our apartments and commercial space should be fairly comfortable,” Ms Hu said.

And “comfortable” is what 88th Avenue is all about -- a home away from home for travelers who can stay for as long as they like or need, as they take in the second-most developed city in the Philippines after Manila that offers just the right mix of everything.

From world-class diving spots just minutes away from an international airport to resort-like residences right in the middle of the business district, Cebu has transformed itself into a lifestyle hub that could rival major cities in Asia and around the world.

01. The smallest of 88th Avenue’s Penthouse Suites has one single bedroom plus two large double-bedrooms, each with ensuite toilets and super-king-size beds with memory foam mattresses. The rooms are suffused with natural light in a modern contemporary design setting. The master bedroom also has sunken lounge area with a white leather sofa and a 50”smart flat-screen TV, all within a floor-to-ceiling glass panoramic setting overlooking Cebu Business Park and Ayala. The spacious open living/dining area has a dining table for eight, a 65” smart flat-screen TV in the living room, and fully equipped kitchenette.

02. The 88th Avenue Standard Studio Suite is spacious, bright with a balcony and great views of Cebu and Mactan Island. Perfect for 1 or 2 guests looking to stay for leisure or work, it is modern and contemporary in design, fully furnished with a super king-size bed with memory foam mattress, 50”smart flat-screen TV, kitchenette, and sofa.

To do that, however, a tourist or long-stay professional needs the perfect base of operations -and that’s the affordable luxury 88th Avenue provides with its fully furnished suites and an excellent mix of commercial tenants, together providing a high level of “lifestyle living” for every visitor to Cebu City.

The development pulls clients in with the comfort of its well-appointed studios, one and two-bedroom suites, and luxurious penthouses. The accommodations at 88th Avenue truly offer stylish contemporary living, with working spaces and the ease of hotel services, including 24-hour reception, a fully-equipped gym, housekeeping, and more amenities.

Its standard studio suites, for example, are spacious (at 29 square meters) and bright, with a balcony and great views of Cebu and the island of Mactan -- perfect for one or two guests looking to stay for leisure or work.

Modern and contemporary in design, all rooms at 88th Avenue are fully furnished with a super king-size bed with memory foam mattress, 50-inch smart flatscreen TV, kitchenette, and sofa -- essentials for anyone craving a staycation.

For the more adventurous guest, 88th Avenue offers housekeeping and 24-hour security for their rooms, and when they step out, they have easy access to an array of local restaurants, cafés and bars, coffee and milk tea shops, hair salons and beauty houses in the commercial area below.

Moreover, every hotel guest over the age of 16 has free usage of the guests-and-members-only 88th Fitness facility, plus the male and female saunas and rooftop jacuzzis, for the duration of their stay.

Located on the second floor of the residential area, 88th Fitness has one of the best hotel gyms in Cebu, fully equipped with free-standing weight machines, a full rack of dumbbells, two elliptical machines and three treadmills, with showers and a sauna in each male and female changing room.

Meanwhile, 88th Avenue’s unique pedestrian-only commercial escape, offers local and international restaurants, bars, shops, and entertainment venues, all located in a garden oasis. With basement parking for over 200 cars, this vibrant area is truly unique to the City of Cebu. It is very family-orientated, and completely safe for children to run around and enjoy such features as its swing chairs and bean bags. Parents can relax while dining, knowing their children are safe, with no cars around, which is standard throughout most developments in Cebu. It also now provides live acoustic music, from local bands playing every Thursday to Sunday nights, which visitors to 88th can enjoy between

7 to 10pm.

All these amenities have allowed 88th Avenue to remain the preferred destination of its guests even with the growing trend of serviced apartments not just in Cebu, but throughout the world, says Ms Hu.

“Particularly in Cebu, a lot of people traveling to Cebu are either travelers or businessmen, and the point of having a serviced apartment hotel is just giving you a bit more feeling of home away from home – a bit more space with a kitchenette and a sofa to sit on,” she tells PRJ Tourism.

“Sometimes hotel rooms can be quite a lonely place with just a bed and toilet. We wanted to create somewhere you could stay for one, three, or five nights --- or choose to stay three to six months or a year. That’s when we decided to turn (88th) into a serviced apartment hotel. I don’t think there were actually many here in Cebu, but now in the last few years more have appeared,” Ms Hu adds.

Another outstanding factor that led the owner to develop 88th Avenue into its own pocket world of luxurious comfort is Cebu’s growing – if not monstrous – traffic problem, Ms Hu says. Apart from its own amenities, the development is just across Cebu’s bustling IT Park, with the verdant Ayala Center Cebu just up the road on M. Cuenco and Cebu Country Club behind it – provided one is a golfer or has friends that can give them entry to it.

03. CookPub in 88th Avenue’s commercial area is a modern Korean bistro and a family restaurant, complemented with its signature 5-star service, friendly staff, and cozy atmosphere. It offers an extensive menu of authentic Korean dishes with touches of East-meets-West cuisine and local Filipino fare.

04. Located on the second floor of 88th Avenue’s residential area, 88th Fitness has one of the best hotel gyms in Cebu, fully equipped with free-standing weight machines, a full rack of dumbbells, two elliptical machines and three treadmills, with showers and a sauna in each male and female changing room.

The central location of 88th Avenue, Ms Hu stresses, keeps its guests from sitting for an hour in taxis winding through Cebu’s clogged streets trying to find the right place to eat, drink, or just relax.

“We saw that apart from Ayala, SM, or the big shopping malls, most developments (in Cebu) had one or two nice businesses. What we wanted to try and do was create an area with as many as four or five (businesses), so that if groups of people were undecided, they had a better option: ‘Okay, let’s go to 88th.’ So, we have some bars, a late-night club, four to five different types of restaurants, coffee shops, a place to get your hair done with beauticians, we try to get that mix, that’s what we wanted,” she says.

Indeed, apart from the pandemic, which 88th Avenue has weathered quite well, its biggest challenge presently is finding that right mix of tenants to fill its last few open commercial areas – and there is no shortage of suitors for that, Ms Hu says.

“From a business point of view, the company is in a very healthy position. The challenge is in waiting for the confidence in the market to increase, but from the commercial side, business has definitely picked up. We have some available (tenant) space purely of our own making; we’ve turned down many companies that contacted us simply because they’re not the right mix, or we already have that type of business,” she adds.

Meanwhile, 88th Avenue is set up for the long haul, as the world emerges from the shadow of the pandemic and expatriates and Filipinos alike once again flock to Cebu for business, pleasure, or both. The city in the heart of the Philippines “is changing so quickly,” Ms Hu notes, that the area where their development is standing barely resembles the one she first stood on 13 years ago.

“Cebu in the last 20 to 30 years has seen nothing but growth. Obviously with COVID coming along, there was a stop to that, but it was the same for everybody,” she says.

“The problem for Cebu is traffic, it’s a big worry for everybody, so that has a lot to do with the design of 88th Avenue. What we tried to make it was a one-stop place, an urban retreat where you don’t have to move, don’t need a car with the IT Park just across from us with lots of offices and buildings,” Ms Hu says.

“The type of person we were looking for (as customers) preCOVID, and even now and in the future, is the executive, the worker, the businessperson. Lots of these businesses (in Cebu) are place to stay -- and if they can stay somewhere they don’t have to get into a taxi, not sit in traffic, with a nice room, nice restaurants and places to drink, while just walking to the office, that’s where 88th comes in.”

In Ms Hu’s own words, 88th Avenue is that unique development that, even five to 10 years down the road, has “so many boxes that we tick. We’re the sum of all our parts, a combination of everything. We’re part of the enjoyment (of the city), and one of best places in Cebu, definitely a landmark.” In short, it’s a standout development in a great location.

Liloan town in Cebu province has a lot going for it these days. The first-class municipality is bouncing back strong from the COVID-19 pandemic and is on the verge of becoming a city itself -- like its western neighbor, Cebu City -- once a bill to that effect pending in Congress is signed into law.

Christina Garcia-Frasco, the town’s former mayor, also helped vault Liloan into the national spotlight once she became the campaign spokesperson of eventual Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio. A few months later, the daughter of Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia did one better, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed her as Tourism Secretary.

Thanks to the homegrown Duros Group of Companies, Liloan has one more reason to be proud of – One Tectona Hotel, the tallest structure in town that is billed as the first premium golf destination hotel in Northern Metro Cebu that aims to deliver five-star service.

Tectona philippinensis is the scientific name of the Philippine teak tree that abounds in Liloan, particularly in Barangay Yati (the Visayan name for the hardwood plant) where One Tectona Hotel is nestled, in the middle