Angie King Says Goodbye to Victoria Court, Launches Hotel Ava

Angelina King has said goodbye to Victoria Court and is rebranding her branches of the familiar motel chain to Hotel Ava. 

In a post on Instagram and Twitter, the 42-year-old businesswoman, who operates three branches of the family-owned Victoria Court chain of motels, said she decided to rebrand the properties to “move with the flow” and “adapt to the times.” King also timed the announcement to coincide with the celebration of Pride Month.

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A post shared by Angie Mead King (@angiemeadking)>p

>p“The pandemic made me rethink how I operate my business, treat my employees, and what impact I have to the community,” she said. “I didn’t want to just go back to business as usual.”>pALSO READ>pSome Branches of Victoria Court Are Closing Down Indefinitely>pVictoria Court Now Delivers Its Award-Winning Food>pThe three branches of Victoria Court (Pasay, Buendia, Malate), which King was forced to close down in June 2020 at the height of the pandemic, shall now be called Hotel Ava.>p“The departure from our former iconic brand is a truly difficult task but I am confident with our direction we’re going to be able to make a difference,” she said.>pAlong with the rebranding, King also announced a slew of operational changes within her company. These include divulging the basic salary for her employees (P16,808 plus P700 rice allowance), benefits including paid maternity and paternity leave, reduced work days to just four days for back office and five days for operations, and free meals and coffee for all employees, and healthcare for all employees.  >pKing is also pushing sustainability efforts for her business, which includes minimizing the use of single-use plastics and encouraging the company’s suppliers to do the same, investing in solar panels to generate green energy for the business, and several other earth-friendly measures to lessen the company’s impact on the environment. >pKing announced the closure of her branches of Victoria Court two years ago because of the effects of the pandemic and asked her employees to look for other jobs. Angie King shares ownership and management duties of the Victoria Court chain with her brother Atticus King, with Angie running the southern locations in Metro Manila along with boutique motel Sohotel, and Atticus managing the northern locations along with his own branch, Hotel Paradis. >p>p>p>pFounded in 1970 by their grandfather Angelo King, Victoria Court began with one branch called Anito Lodge. It had 10 branches as of 2020. >pIn her Instagram post, Angie King said she came out as a trans woman to her wife Joey Mead King in 2013 while she took care of her father who had fallen severely ill in Germany. She said she had to dare herself to be different to become who she is. >p“Today I dare myself to take on a new challenge with my Hotel,” she said. “Not only are we changing brand, we are evolving a lot of the things of the business that I’m excited to share in the coming days.">p