Ayala redefines customer loyalty

One client wanted a party organized at TWG and requested that only white teacups be used. Another wanted help getting tickets for him and his son to watch a Wimbledon match. Yet another wanted access to a private golf course abroad.

These are just some of the unique experiences that Filipinos of a certain net worth are willing to pay for and gain access to, using the Ayala Rewards Circle card of the Ayala group, said to be the country’s first and only multi-industry appreciation program designed for the Ayala group’s most valued clients.

The membership-only loyalty program was conceived five years ago during a discussion that Ayala Corp. vice chair Fernando Zobel had with some key executives. He observed then that some of the companies within the Ayala group had separate lists of preferred clients as well as special perks under each company.

Globe Telecom had its platinum clients, Bank of the Philippine Islands had its preferred depositors, Ayala Land had its own circle of high net worth individuals, same with AC Automotive.

Zobel expressed then that these are all valued clients, so how will Ayala make them feel more special and enjoy a more seamless experience under the Ayala brand, such that say Globe Platinum clients can use the preferred lane at BPI and Ayala Land clients can access special promotions of Globe for its platinum clients, and that they can also all access the special customer lounges of Ayala Malls or have special perks with the Ayala Automotive group?

The response to these questions led to the conceptualization and eventual roll out of the ARC, a conglomerate-wide recognition program that aims to better serve the premium clients of the Ayala group.

Entitled to the ARC card are Honda, Isuzu or Volkswagen clients with at least P1.25 million worth of purchase or a cumulative purchase worth P2 million, bought in the last five years from an Ayala dealership; Ayala Land Premier, Alveo or Avida owners with a purchase worth at least P3 million bought in the last seven years, private or preferred BPI banking client and Globe platinum subscribers with a plan worth at least P3,500 a month.

Perks and privileges include access to 24/7 domestic and international concierge services, priority handling at BPI branches preferred lanes and select Globe stores, special deals and discounts from Ayala-owned Honda, Isuzu and Volkswagen dealerships, Ayala property promos and exclusive room rates at Ayala Hotels and Resorts. The chat app also provides help with hotel and dining reservations, private dining assistance and car and limousine rental.

ARC was also developed from the insight that it is more important to retain one’s best customers and make the relationship stronger rather than focus solely on winning new ones. The idea is to also go beyond generic perks, realizing that what these clients who can buy practically everything they need want are “delightful” experiences.

There are now 100,000 ARC cardholders and the plan is to bring it up to 200,000 in three years.

Based on the data of the current crop of members, the average age of the majority of the members is 47 years old, with two of five of them married. Most of them are entrepreneurs, members of top management and healthcare professionals. Close to three of five of them are from the National Capital Region.

Data also show that travel and dining are the top two interests of the current ARC members. They want to go out of the country and go on road trips locally. They want to try out new flavors and appreciate a hearty home-cooked spread as well as a quick and easy meal.

These insights led to ARC striking more partnership deals with agencies and establishments that are into travel and food, which are what interests its clients.

Membership is valid for five years and comes with 24/7 concierge service, discounts and freebies here and abroad, and preferential treatment. It is free and available to the top clients across the growing conglomerate.

“At Ayala, our customers are our lifeblood. And we want our most valued clients to enjoy amazing rewards not just with one business, but throughout the entire Ayala group,” says Maria Angelica B. Rapadas, President and General Manager of ARC, “We want our premier customers in particular to feel special and valued in every engagement they have with our companies.”

The challenge is to keep its members “first… always.” This is best manifested in ARC’s Concierge, which can be accessed from here or abroad through multiple channels. The concierge can arrange a member’s travel, hotel and dining reservations as well as bookings to iconic events such as the Singapore Grand Prix, London Fashion Week or the PGA Master’s Tournament.

Project Diamond that led to the ARC was approved in 2012 and the idea was piloted in 2013, wherein premium customers were asked to sample and see if what the card offered was what they wanted and intended to use.

ARC was approved for full implementation in 2014 and in 2015, Ayala Group Club Inc. was launched, including the launch of the mobile application and enhancement of the programs.

2016 marked the start of full-year operations and the beginning of ARC’s social media presence. In 2017, the website was enhanced with the chat facility and more robust offers such as access to special events and even more discounts and freebies.

“We always listen to what our customers want, and our chief concern is to offer them rewards that tie into the things that they truly enjoy and care about,” Rapadas says.

By doing so, what began with a single transaction is hoped to develop into a special as well as profitable relationship between top clients and the Ayala group.

A Sustainable Way of Life at Vermosa

A MUCH-TALKED-ABOUT concept nowadays is sustainability, the capacity to endure. In fact, it’s the endurance of systems and processes. Sustainability is also how biological systems remain diverse and productive indefinitely.

Like other estates of real estate giant Ayala Land Inc., Vermosa provides its residents with a sustainable way of life. It is a 700-hectare integrated, mixed-use development in Metro South, offering a healthy and active lifestyle.

Environmental Sustainability

Vermosa’s 165 hectares or 24 percent of the total development is allotted to generous open spaces. There will be interconnected parks and gardens. Green spaces promote physical activity, psychological well-being and general health of resident,“ said Anna Maria M. Gonzales, sustainability manager, urban/regional planning, Ayala Land.

She said people are encouraged to explore the neighborhood by walking, running and biking. That’s why the 17-kilometer-long, 2.5-meter wide pedestrian lane and the 17-km-long, 1.5-m-wide biking lane are intended for these activities. There is also a greenway measuring 14 km long and 10 m wide and a landscaped promenade stretching north to south.

According to her, the masterplan ensures that the neighborhood retail centers are accessible within a 10-minute walk or bike ride from any residential development within the project. This reduces the reliance on private vehicles to move around.

Ayala Land’s highly accessible future city will have diverse living options provided by its top three brands—Ayala Land Premier, Alveo and Avida.

Gonzales said: “Ayala Land’s first masterplanned estate in Cavite has two main natural lakes that serve as water detention areas. The water can be used for landscaping, irrigation and recycling. It also has little depressions that hold rainwater during the rainy season and serves as parks during the dry months. Ayala Land allows the natural contour of the land in the communities it develops.”

She cited permeable walkways as another environmental sustainability feature. These walkways allow rainwater to soak into the ground, contributing to aquifers and replenishing the water table.

According to Gonzales, Ayala Property Management Corp. will prove its expertise not only in waste management system from waste segregation at source to disposal but also in other areas of estate management.

Energy-efficient lighting fixtures, appliances and equipment will be used in Vermosa structures, she added.

Economic Sustainability

Gonzales said Vermosa has a balanced mix of mixed-use components ranging from residential and retail options, offices and institutional developments to entertainment centers. Of the 124-hectare central business district, 46 hectares (under phase one) will have four- to eight-story buildings while 11 hectares will be for open spaces. For phase two, 19- to 15-story buildings will rise on 42 hectares of land while there will 25 hectares of open spaces.

Vermosa, she stressed, offers the opportunity to enjoy high-value appreciation. Land values in Ayala Land estates appreciated from their launch price to their current price. For instance Ayala Hillside, launched in 2002 and priced at P8,000 per sqm, now costs P140,000 while Sonera, which 2005 launch price was P11,000, currently costs P45,000. Like these Ayala Land estates, Vermosa’s land value is expected to increase in the near future.

Open to the public and professionally managed, the complex has an Olympic-size pool, a bike skills trail, a 400-m track and field, and a motocross track. It boasts of a sports science laboratory, the first of its kind in the country, catering to triathlon athletes. Triathlon is a multiple-stage race combining swimming, cycling and running in immediate succession over various distances.

There will also be a gas station, sports shops, community retail, drive-through restaurants and healthy dining options.

Like other ALI estates, Vermosa bears the mark of a truly sustainable community. It further expands the real estate giant’s footprint across the country and brings the benefits of the company’s sustainable estates to more Filipinos.

NUVALI : By the numbers

Did you know that at 2,290 hectares, NUVALI is not only Ayala Land’s largest development to date, it’s also twice the size of Makati City? It is, in fact, well on its way to establishing itself as the “regional growth center of CALABARZON.”

NUVALI, a mixed-use development and a fast-thriving eco-city which is built upon economic, environmental and social sustainability, is promising in a lot of ways. Just how much has it grown in the past seven years? Let’s count the ways!

3 is the spot of NUVALI as the best realty taxpayer in Sta. Rosa, Laguna as it currently provides 4,000 jobs and is set to provide about 2,500 more jobs both with their recently launched and upcoming projects.

4 is the total number of residential brands present in NUVALI. They are Ayala Land Premier, Alveo, Avida and Amaia, which offer a wide range of residential options with products ranging from P1.8 million to P20 million.

7 years have gone by, and the residential and commercial lots in NUVALI have doubled their values–from P9,400 per square meter to P18,000 per square meter for residential and from P20,000 per square meter to P40,000 per square meter for commercial lots.

14 percent is the compounded annual growth rate of NUVALI during the first six years from its launch, giving NUVALI the highest rate in land value appreciation from the time of launch among the major central business districts in the Philippines.

15 percent of Ayala Land, Inc.’s revenues for the past five years (2009-2014) is accounted to NUVALI.

78 percent of NUVALI’s land area has been developed.

150 hotel rooms are made available to visitors via Seda, the no. 1 hotel in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

200 stores, ranging from local and global fashion finds to cafes and restaurants are featured in the third and newest wing of Solenad.

990 is the current student population at NUVALI, coming from reputable schools Xavier School and Miriam College. The student population is expected to double every year even so with Everest Academy, the first international catholic school that’s set to open in the coming years.

2,500 is the current number of business process outsourcing employees at NUVALI, with the presence of Convergys and IBM.

4,000 residents have moved in and now call NUVALI home.

12,000 residential units have been sold.

55,000 is the average number of transients at NUVALI every weekend.

60,000 sqm will be the size of office spaces in NUVALI in five years, doubling from the initial 31,000 sqm they offered.

Ayala Land bullish, to spend Php 90B in 2016

Ayala Land Inc., the second-biggest property developer, said it plans to spend between P85 billion and P90 billion next year, heavily investing across all business lines.

Ayala Land chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the company’s spending plan would be consistent with its positive outlook on the domestic retail market.

Ayala Land invested P60 billion in capital expenditures in the first nine months of the year, but said full-year capital spending would likely be below the original target of P100 billion.

Ayala Land president and chief executive Bernard Vincent Dy also expects the domestic real estate market to remain robust based on current economic indicators.

“If you look at various indicators it reman supportive of our various business lines,” Dy said.

“The GDP [gross domestic product] continuous to be quite healthy and [migrant workers’] remittances, although there has been a slow down, continue to grow. Business process outsourcing is still growing, tourism continues to be strong interest rates remain at historic lows. Overall, those indicators bode well for our different business lines,” he added.

Ayala Land’s net income in the first nine months of the year increased 19 percent to P12.8 billion from P10.79 billion year-on-year, as the company accelerated growth through acquisitions and new project launches.

Consolidated revenues in the nine-month period reached P75.1 billion, up 10 percent from P68.3 billion posted in the same period a year ago.

Ayala Land in the first the first three quarters of the year launched three estates, namely Cloverleaf in Quezon City, Capitol Central in Bacolod City, and the 700-hectare Vermosa in Cavite province.

Property developer Ayala Land Inc. said Wednesday it will invest P70 billion to develop Vermosa, a 700-hectare master planned integrated community in the cities of Imus and Dasmariñas in Cavite province.

The huge Cavite property, which the company acquired from an unlisted property firm three years ago, would be its fourth biggest estate development after Nuvali in Alabang, Alviera in Pampanga and Makati central business district.

Vermosa is a mixed-use project that will be developed over the next 12 to 15 years that will include a 124-hectare central business district housing various office and commercial developments, hotels and entertainment complex.

It will also offer institutional developments, such as schools and residential projects to be built by Ayala’s three residential units including Avida, Alveo and Ayala Land Premier.

Ayala Land in August won the government’s contract to build and operate the Integrated Transport System South Terminal project adjacent to its fast-rising residential and business district, Arca South.

The 35-year concession agreement for the infrastructure project includes the operation of commercial leasing facilities within the 5.57-hectare property.

It recently agreed to subscribe to 2.5 million common shares, equivalent to a 51.6-percent interest, in Prime Orion Philippines Inc., upon completing due diligence. POPI operates the highly commercial Tutuban complex in Manila.

Ayala Land named Builder of the Year

Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI), the real estate arm of the Ayala Group, was recently named Builder of the Year by Frost & Sullivan at its annual Philippines Excellence Awards which recognize companies demonstrating best practices across various industries in the country.

ALI was presented the award for its highly diversified portfolio, coupled with full vertical integration in the development of its projects. This has allowed the group to greatly increase its flexibility and to cater to a wider market, while reducing dependencies on external sources.

Already exhibiting a consistently high growth rate and rapid expansion even overseas, the company was also cited for its strategic land acquisitions that have ensured a steady pipeline for future projects.

“We are honored to receive this recognition for our efforts in property development,” said ALI president and CEO Bobby Dy. “Our business is anchored on sustainable growth and we always set our sights beyond the present, consciously preparing for the long term, to ensure that we are able to provide quality developments to future generations.”

Frost & Sullivan further commended ALI for the overall excellence and high quality of its products and services, while maintaining a positive social and economic impact on local and national communities. ALI was also successful in incorporating “green technology” and features in all its projects.

“Sustainability is an integral part of our philosophy and we strive to build communities that utilize environmentally sensitive products and designs,” he added.

The 2014 Philippines Excellence Awards recipients were identified based on in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research conducted by Frost & Sullivan’s analysts. Companies are typically studied on their revenue growth, market share in a specific category and growth in market share, leadership in new product introduction and innovation, breadth of products and solutions, major customer acquisitions, as well as business and market strategy in order to identify best practices.

Ayala Land is the leading full line property developer in the Philippines operating prime residential, commercial and leisure spaces throughout the country.

The company had announced plans to launch 78 new projects in 2014 with an estimated value of P142 billion.  ALI is setting aside P70 billion for capital expenditures this year, mainly for the completion of ongoing projects and for new launches.

A City in Sync: Ayala Land’s Arca South promises to be a portal to urban connectivity

Living in Metro Manila is a constant challenge for many people. Urban hassles of traffic, blight, un-integrated development, and lack of green space create a disjointed experience and a lifestyle that makes it difficult to keep up with the rest of the modern world.

A new master-planned development by Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) in the metropolis’ south is seeking to create a gateway, an urban enclave that allows residential and lifestyle, as well as a business and commercial environment, that are more in sync with the rest of the metropolis, as well as the rest of the world.

Arca South is being shaped into a 74-hectare central business district (CBD) and mixed-use development. The expansive former FTI complex is being transformed into a wholly-integrated enclave made up of residential communities, retail and office workspaces, a hotel and a hospital in its initial phase. All these will be connected with an efficient transport system and wide open and green spaces.

I had a chat recently with Joel Luna, ALI Vice President and Chief Architect, along with Stephen Comia, ALI Project Development Manager of Arca South to discuss their company’s newest and to me, it’s most exciting new urban enclave development.

The measures, explained the two executives, which ensure Arca South’s success starts with access, its context and connections to its surroundings. Ayala Land is coordinating its newest development with the City of Taguig’s programs for urban improvement. It is also synchronizing with national government’s infrastructure programs for the area, which include plans for a transport terminal and a C5 to C6 connection.

According to Luna, the intent of the government is, in fact, to create what is called an “intermodal transport hub.” This hub will consolidate several modes of transport — vehicular, bus, rail — onto a terminal and mixed-use complex that is interfaced seamlessly with Arca South. Entering from C5, Skyway or SLEX will take traffic to the development’s main boulevard. This will distribute commuters and visitors equally to all corners of Arca South, as well as connect Arca South to the rest of the metropolis.

Comia adds that this balanced flow is matched by the even distribution between residential and commercial zones. He explained that the residential components will be a mix of Ayala’s Premier, Alveo and Avida developments. A retail and lifestyle center, akin to Greenbelt, and BPO offices, will complement the first projects that are due for completion in the first phase of Arca South that will take five years.

Circulation in Arca South is also balanced; in the sense of extensive accessibility by pedestrians. The main spine is actually a linear greenway that traverses Arca South from one end to another, much like High Street in BGC but more free form in shape, with sections as wide as 60 meters. This tree-filled greenway allows pedestrian traffic to both ends of the development. Luna added that the building edges of all clusters and buildings are arcaded and lined with shops and restaurants. Parking for the development is via a huge integrated basement facility. You can park anywhere underground and come up to the park or through the commercial buildings to the arcades.

An internal bus transit system, like the one operating in Bonifacio Global City nearby, will have bus stops every 400 meters. This system will be scheduled and provide quick access to the development from the intermodal terminal complex.

By all these, Arca South will really be a pedestrian paradise, but the people-friendliness of Arca South is also seen in the buildings themselves. Most will be of moderate height to modulate densities for both aesthetics and function.

Ayala Land has also made it a point to enhance streetscapes and open spaces (40 percent of the entire site) with verdant landscaping that include shade trees, green buffers, lawn areas and playgrounds for active recreation. This “green-ness” extends to the whole development through sustainable building practices, rain-water harvesting, building orientation and other measures that have become standard with Ayala Land’s projects.

The development will also continue the high standards of maintenance, security and infrastructure functionality that is the hallmark of ALI’s projects. There will be a 24/7 operations center, CCTV coverage, synchronized traffic lights, drainage and solid waste management, as well as all the necessary support for a fully functioning modern city.

The first phase of Arca South that will take five years is well under way. Included in this are a range of retail including a transit-oriented mall like Market! Market!, a lifestyle mall for the residential enclave, and a regional mall. The first office buildings will be completed by 2017 with seven or so more in the pipeline. There will also be a 250-bed Quartenary Hospital and a 200-room Seda Hotel in this initial phase of development.

Arca South will fill out in a well-controlled manner. To date 19 commercial lots along the main boulevard have been sold and buildings will rise to trace a skyline like the original Makati CBD. This attractiveness indicates that Arca South is blessed not only with great access, compelling scale and design, but also ultimately with a prime location vis-à-vis Metropolitan Manila.

Location, scale and access define Arca South as a gateway to the metropolis, a portal to business opportunities, lifestyle options and a great place to live. This, Arca South promises you, to sync the lives and activities of all those who live in, work out of, or visit with the rest of the world.