World-class Filipino hotel brand

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A Philippines’ very own international brand of hotels joining the ranks of big names in the global hospitality industry?

DoubleDragon Corp., founded by Filipino entrepreneur Edgar “Injap” Sia II, who chairs the company together with Tony Tan Caktiong, is dead set on making this a reality.

Hotel101 Global Holdings Corp., the Nasdaq-listed hospitality arm of DoubleDragon, is opening this month its first Hotel101 outside the Philippines, a move observers say marks a pivotal shift for the developer as it transitions from a domestic player to a global “condotel” operator.

The project, a 680-room hotel within walking distance of the Real Madrid Sports Complex and a newly planned Formula 1 circuit, is poised to become one of the largest hotels not only in Madrid but in all of Spain by room count.

This is just the beginning for Hotel101 as DoubleDragon has recently finalized definitive binding agreements for a joint venture to develop a 429-room property in Milan, Italy.The Milan site is located near the Linate Airport and the Autostrada del Sole, Italy’s primary motorway link to Rome and Naples.

Then there’s the 482-room Hotel101-Niseko located in Hokkaido, Japan, slated to open at the end of this year. Upon completion, Hotel101-Niseko is projected to become one of the largest hotels in Niseko Hirafu area by room count.

During the recent grand alumni homecoming of the Arellano University School of Law, where DoubleDragon vice-chairman and Injap’s brother Ferdinand is an alumnus (batch 2006), Injap told the audience how Hotel101 Global Holdings made history last year as the first-ever Filipino-owned company to list on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

He said the company, with a market capitalization of about $2 billion, is expected to become one of the Philippines’ biggest generators of dollar inflows.

Hotel101 Philippines currently has two hotels in the country – a 518-room hotel located inside the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay and another one with 608 rooms in Bonifacio Global City. Plans are afoot to build hotels in Libis, Davao, Cebu, Bohol and Boracay.

But Injap, whose nickname is an amalgam of “Intsik,” which is colloquial Filipino for Chinese and Japanese, referring to his mixed heritage as his father is Filipino-Chinese and his mother Japanese-Filipina, has much bigger dreams.

“We wondered. Isn’t it that Filipinos are naturally world-class in the hospitality industry? Malaysia has produced Shangri-La hotels all over the world. Thailand has Dusit and Banyan Tree. The US has Marriott, Hilton and Holiday Inn, while France has Novotel. Hong Kong has Rosewood Hotels, Japan has Sakura, and Singapore has Ascott hotels, which are all over. The Philippines has produced none yet,” Injap said.

Hotel101-Madrid, he proudly announced, is set to open on March 10. This will be followed by the opening of Hotel101-Niseko in December. And soon, this will be followed by Hotel101-Los Angeles in the US, Cambodia and Saudi Arabia. Last January, Hotel101 Global signed agreements to develop a 766-room hotel in Melbourne, Australia. In Saudi Arabia, the plan is to develop up to 10,000 rooms initially in Medina, Riyadh, Jeddah, Abha and Alula.

Hotel101, he emphasized, will disrupt the three-star hotel market, as its guests will experience four-star amenities at two-star prices.

Injap stressed that Filipinos have what it takes to make it happen.

He then noted that to succeed in business, one needs a really good lawyer and a really good accountant. And by serendipity, his brother Ferdinand finished law while his younger sister is a certified public accountant, adding that he has a thrifty wife who keeps him grounded as well as supportive parents.

He said he expects Hotel101 to soon become a source of pride for Filipinos.

What is important, he pointed out, is that everyone contributes to putting this world in a far better state than when they found it.

Hotel101 Global aims to build a massive international portfolio of one million rooms across more than 100 countries by 2050 and to become one of the top five hotel companies in the world.

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