Hotel of Asia sees 5,000-room hotel business by 2020

MANILA, Philippines - The hospitality firm led by Mang Inasal founder Edgar Sia II is now on full steam with the development of homegrown and foreign hotel brands in line with the target of becoming a major industry player.

Hotel of Asia Inc. is riding on the growth of Philippine tourism sector as it creates a portfolio of 5,000 rooms by 2020, its top official said.

In an interview, Hotel of Asia CEO Sia said the company plans to put up numerous hotels with a total of 5,000 rooms nationwide by 2020, with majority of which will be through flagship condotel brand Hotel 101.

“Hotel of Asia aims to achieve its target by securing prime sites for all its projects, because we always believe that in property sector, prime location is vital for long-term viability,” Sia said.

Hotel of Asia, the company behind Hotel 101 and Jinjiang Inn, is a joint venture between Injap Investments Inc., Oishi Liwayway Marketing Corp. & Steineil Development Corp.

“We are optimistic with the hospitality and tourism sector of the Philippines because we are aligned with the idea that our country can easily double its tourist arrivals in a few years’ time,” Sia said.

The Department of Tourism targets to attract 10 million foreign tourists by 2016. For this year, the government projects five million tourist arrivals, up from 4.7 million in 2013, 4.3 million in 2012 and 3.5 million in 2011.

“We are now going full blast constructing the first Hotel 101-Manila near the Mall of Asia Complex, because we believe that once the first one is operational, it will be more easier for more investors to appreciate the hybrid condotel concept that we have developed,” Sia said.

Turnover date is scheduled for December 2015 but the company plans to complete the Hotel 101 at an earlier date to take advantage of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in November next year, Sia said.

So far, the 522-room Hotel 101-Manila is more than 80 percent sold, with buyers coming from different areas nationwide.

On a monthly basis, Hotel 101 will distribute to all investor-owners the 30 percent of total gross sales, on top of the annual free hotel voucher equivalent to 30 days of overnight stay.

“In line with the successful outcome of the first project, Hotel of Asia will soon launch its second Hotel 101 project in Taguig near SM Aura,” Sia said.

The new hotel will have more than 500 rooms and is targeted to be formally launched in the first quarter next year.

The expansion program of Hotel 101 will be primarily supported by pre-sales while subsidiary Hotel 101 Management Corp. will take care of property operations and maintenance, Sia said.

For the JinJiang Inn, the company plans to subfranchise the brand to other local investors, Sia said.

Hotel of Asia earlier committed to build 15 Jinjiang Inn branches nationwide, starting with the one in Ortigas Center that will start operations late this year.

JinJiang is one of the largest hotel chains in China with over 600 hotel properties in more than 70 cities.

Sia said the Philippine operations will benefit from Jinjiang’s strong Chinese customer membership base and brand recall. It will be the first time Jinjiang is putting up a hotel outside the world’s second largest economy.

Hotel of Asia is a subsidiary of Injap Investments, which is also part-owner of listed residential, office and commercial space developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp.

“We envision DoubleDragon Properties to be synonymous to CityMall (community malls chain) and Hotel of Asia to Hotel 101,” Sia said.

“It’s our dream to make both CityMall and Hotel 101 brands a household brand name very soon,” Sia said.