Injap Sia to disrupt hotel business, globally

The unrivalled king of Philippine chicken barbecue, Edgar “Injap”Sia II of Mang Inasal fame, has a vision. His Hotel101 Global will build one million rooms, in over 100 countries, starting with 25 countries in the next three years.

The first 25 countries, outside of Philippine locations, include: Spain, Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, UAE, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, Germany, France, China and of course, Singapore, where the company is based.

Injap will disrupt the hospitality industry by offering identical, standardized hotel rooms around the world, creating what it believes to be unbeatable efficiency, simplicity and value.

To do that, Injap is raising money – abroad. On June 27, 2025, his Hotel101 Global becomes the first Philippine company to be listed on the NASDAQ.

The listing enables Hotel101 Global to raise almost free capital to finance its global expansion. Its business combination on April 8, 2024, with JVSPAC, an acquisition company, valued Hotel101 at $2.3 billion. The combined company, called Hotel101 Global Holdings Corp., will be listed and trade under the ticker symbol “HBNB.”

Hotel101 is a subsidiary of Philippine-listed DoubleDragon Corp., Injap’s joint venture property company with Jollibee’s owners who bought Sia’s Mang Inasal grilled chicken chain in 2016 for P5 billion.

“With DoubleDragon’s deep experience in real estate and high-growth businesses, we are fully committed to supporting Hotel101 as it makes its mark on the global stage,” said Injap, founder of DoubleDragon.

Hotel101 Global CEO Hannah Yulo-Luccini said that the listing brings the hotel chain closer to its goal of becoming the world’s truly global one-room hotel chain.

“Our asset-light, prop-tech hospitality platform is built for efficiency and scalability, offering a globally standardized ‘condotel’ model that empowers individual real estate unit ownership in the hospitality sector while enhancing the guest experience. This innovative approach creates a dual revenue stream – first, through the pre-sale of hotel units to individual unit owners, and then through long-term management and operations contracts,” she said.

Hotel101 management believes its platform is unlike anything in any part of the world today.

While it is similar to other short-term rental platforms because its inventory is generally owned by third-party individual condominium unit owners who can opt to list their unit on the Hotel101 platform, Hotel101 claims to deliver consistency, security and predictability for its guests, as well as arguably higher acceptance in the communities where it operates. All Hotel101 properties are purposely built as hospitality assets.

Hotel101 says standardization brings efficiency, especially for the value segment. In addition, Hotel101’s proprietary app (which recently hit a milestone of one million registered users) adopts dynamic pricing for its room rates (meaning the rates change depending on demand) and plans to offer self-check in, simplified by the availability of just one type of room.

By building properties at scale – what Hotel101 management believes to be roughly five times the size of other branded three-star hotel chains – Hotel101 management believes that it can offer its guests amenities that go well beyond what it believes to be the typical offering in the value segment.

These amenities usually include in-room kitchenettes, pools, gyms, business centers, all-day dining, function rooms, 24/7 front desks and children’s playgrounds – features that other mid-tier players do not typically provide.

Hotel101 has started construction in Spain for its 680-room Hotel101-Madrid located on a 6,593-sqm property in the Valdebebas area beside the IFEMA Convention Complex and the upcoming new F1 Grand Prix Track, a three-minute walk from Valdebebas Train Station, four minutes from the IFEMA convention complex, five minutes from the Real Madrid Sports Complex and seven minutes from Madrid’s Barajas International Airport.

Hotel101 Madrid is the official hotel accommodation partner for the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, held yearly in Madrid, from 2026 to 2035, through a 10-year agreement signed recently with MATCH Hospitality.

With 680 rooms, Hotel101 Madrid is one of the five largest hotels in the Spanish capital, offering unparalleled accessibility and convenience for Formula 1 fans, teams and stakeholders.

With its partnership with MATCH Hospitality, Hotel101 Madrid will deliver world-class accommodation for attendees in the 2026 Formula 1 event and beyond.

MATCH Hospitality manages hospitality programs for global sporting events such as the FIFA World Cups and the Formula 1 British Grand Prix. MATCH will work closely with Hotel101 Madrid to ensure seamless integration of premium lodging services with the event’s VIP and hospitality offerings.

Another Hotel101 property, the 482-room Hotel101-Niseko, is under construction in Hokkaido, Japan. In the US, a site has been secured in Los Angeles, California to build the first Hotel101 in America.

Hotel101 is an asset-light, prop-tech hospitality platform pioneering a globally standardized “condotel” business model.

Injap became a billionaire with his Mang Inasal grilled chicken chain which was bought 100 percent by Jollibee Corp. in 2016 for P5 billion.

Injap started Mang Inasal on Dec. 12, 2003 with his chicken barbecue stall in the parking lot of Robinsons Mall in Iloilo City. Mang Inasal is the Hiligaynon term for “Mr. Barbecue.” Aside from its really tasty grilled chicken barbecue, Mang Inasal was hugely popular for its unlimited rice – an industry first that enabled it to beat outside competitors, including Jollibee itself.

Says top analyst Eric Jurado: “Hotel101 has emerged as a powerful growth engine within the group, accounting for 10.8 percent of DoubleDragon’s total revenue and rapidly gaining momentum as it expands internationally.”

Between 2022 and 2024, Hotel101’s revenue grew from P478.9 million to P894.9 million, representing a 77.5 percent increase over three years, or an annualized growth rate of 21.1 percent.

“This kind of growth is exceedingly rare in the traditional hotel industry, where expansion is often slow, capital-intensive and dependent on variable property formats and franchisee execution,” notes Eric.

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