Tycoon Edgar “Injap” Sia II’s Hotel101 brand is making its foray in Europe, starting with an acquisition of prime commercial land in Madrid, Spain for the planned expansion.
This comes after Hotel101 earlier laid the groundwork for an expansion in Japan, its first site outside the Philippines.
In a disclosure yesterday, DoubleDragon subsidiary Hotel101 Global Pte Ltd said it signed an agreement to purchase 6,593 square meters of prime commercial land in Madrid for Hotel101-Madrid, its second overseas site after Japan.
Hotel101-Madrid will have about 736 rooms and will be the first Hotel101 development in Europe, according to the disclosure.
It is the second of an initial three overseas Hotel101 projects with Niseko Hokkaido Japan and later on, California. USA.
The first three overseas sites will serve as bridge projects to jumpstart the transition of Hotel101 to transcend beyond these first three countries and become a global brand with a truly unique business concept that can be planted in over 100 countries, the company said.
The target expansion roadmap for Hotel101 Global lists 25 countries by 2026 namely: Philippines, Japan, Spain, USA, United Kingdom, UAE, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, Germany, France and China.
Hotel101-Madrid, meanwhile, is envisioned to become one of the Top 5 largest hotels in Madrid.
In all, DoubleDragon’s vision for Hotel101 is to become world-class and create job opportunities for Filipinos who reside in the Philippines or abroad.
The company expects condotel sales revenue of about €143.3 million (₱8.8 billion) from the Hotel101- Madrid project given the high real estate investment demand in Madrid driven by the Spanish Golden Visa.
Singapore-registered Hotel101 Global is the worldwide hotel expansion subsidiary of Philippine parent company DoubleDragon Corp.
Eventually, DoubleDragon aims to list Hotel101 Global at the NASDAQ given that eventually Hotel101 Global is expected to derive over 95 percent of its revenues outside the Philippines.
“If there is one hotel chain that can optimize the use of modern technology in the global hospitality space, we believe it will be Hotel101 given its pioneering standardized single room type asset-light concept globally,” said Sia, chairman of DoubleDragon and Hotel101 Global.
By 2024, the target for Hotel101 is to have a total room portfolio of at least 500,000 in 100 countries, Sia also said.