Hotel101 Global pushes forward with aggressive expansion plans

MANILA, Philippines — Hotel101 Global Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of DoubleDragon Corp., is ready to push forward with its aggressive global expansion plans following its successful listing at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Hotel101 Global started trading in US Nasdaq Stock Exchange under stock ticker symbol “HBNB” on July 1 (New York time).

“We’re incredibly excited for trading to open on July 1 under our ticker HBNB. We are positioning ourselves as the uniform BNB (bed and breakfast). We’re an asset-light, prop-tech hospitality platform which we believe will really disrupt the hospitality industry globally with our one-room global hotel concept that promises consistency, comfort and irresistible value,” Hotel101 Global CEO Hannah Yulo-Luccini said in an interview on “Money Talks” with Cathy Yang on One News yesterday.

With an equity value of $2.3 billion, Hotel101 Global is the first Filipino-owned company to be listed and traded on the US Nasdaq.

Yulo-Luccini said the company did not think about postponing its Nasdaq listing despite the global trade policy uncertainties and escalating tensions in the Middle East.

“We believe the moment is now for Hotel101 because the fundamentals of our business are very strong. We have a bold vision to expand this to one million rooms across 100 countries because we believe we have something that is truly special and truly spectacular,” she said.

Hotel101’s hospitality platform business is designed for rapid global growth, with the first three locations of its overseas projects in Spain, Japan and the United States.

Hotel101 Global is set to complete its first ever Hotel101 project overseas in Madrid, Spain.

It is currently on the ramp up toward building more Hotel101 developments in line with its vision of one million rooms in 100 countries worldwide.

With its aggressive expansion plans, Hotel101 Global’s US listing opens new doors for the company to tap the deep and broad pool of capital in the US.

“The significance for us being listed on the Nasdaq will allow us access to capital market and a much deeper capital base of investors in the US,” Yulo-Luccini said.

Hotel101 is a subsidiary of DoubleDragon, a listed property developer chaired by Edgar “Injap” Sia II and Tony Tan Caktiong.

Yulo-Luccini said that Hotel101 is expected to unlock the value of DoubleDragon.

“We believe that Hotel101 Global will be 90 percent of DoubleDragon’s business in the future and a very large contributor of foreign-denominated revenues to the parent company,” she said.

For the Philippines, Yulo-Luccini said that Hotel101 would continue to grow organically.

“I think the last eight years we’ve been operating Hotel101 branded hotel in the Philippines, we have seen consistently better-than-average occupancy until today and that’s really what has cemented our  vision to take this forward as a global brand,” Yulo-Luccini said.

“We are very proud of what we accomplished in the Philippines and we will continue to expand our portfolio in the Philippines. But in the near term, we want to be in 25 countries in the next three years,” she said.

Hotel101 is expected to further elevate the globally renowned Filipino brand of hospitality to each of the country where it eventually operates.