Hotel101 secures the Ticker Symbol ‘HBNB’

DoubleDragon’s subsidiary Hotel101 Global Pte Ltd has officially reserved the Nasdaq stock exchange ticker symbol “HBNB”.

This step is in line towards Hotel101 Global’s previously announced SPAC listing preparations and given the latest progress, Hotel101 Global expects to sign with its chosen SPAC sponsor the Definitive SPAC Business Combination Merger Agreement by next month in March 2024, to be followed by the official filing of its prospectus subject to the US regulatory approvals.

DoubleDragon expects Hotel101 Global to very soon become the very first Filipino company to list via SPAC in the US Nasdaq Stock Exchange, and seen to become one of the major brands, concept and business model export of the Philippines, given its Asset-Light business model could become one of the major sources of US Dollar inflow to the Philippines from 2025 onwards.

WHY THE TICKER SYMBOL “HBNB” for Hotel101 Global?

If one studies closely the novel and unique Hotel101 concept simultaneously from a deeper detailed view, its Asset-Light and highly portable business model is exportable to over 100 countries globally, of which the network effect of the brand is expected to be further elevated which should positively benefit all the stakeholders within its ecosystem.

Moreover, as far as we know, the Hotel101 unique concept has never been done in any part of the world before, moreso in multiple countries worldwide.

It’s worth noting too that unlike the other existing short-term apartment rental websites and Apps that have no consistency and have been recently disallowed in major cities because it is observed to cause security issues and friction with other residents living in the same building using their apartments as their main family residence.

The Hotel101 concept while it is similar to the Short-Term Rental platforms that its inventory is owned by third party unit owners, it does not cause these issues and it also does not cause a reduction of existing inventory of apartments as Hotel101 being uniform typical 21 square meter units across its ecosystem are always new builds.

In a nutshell Hotel101 is a Uniform and Consistent BNB, or a Branded Uniform Bite-Size Hotel Investment, as far as we know it’s the first and only in the world. The global patent application has been filed.

Hotel101 is also poised to be known as the most tech-advanced hotel company since its mid-end market typical rooms can optimize the use of technology since the rooms are all the same.

The Hotel101 concept and business model of having standardized 21 square meter hotel rooms with 1 type of Room globally in multiple countries backed with titled strata or condominium title that can be enrolled to the Hotel101 App as its core as far as we know does not exist yet anywhere in the world.

Unbeatable efficiency comes from having around 5x the usual size of other branded 3-star hotel chain, as Hotel101 on average has 500 rooms per site, and efficiency brought about by having literally only 1 type of room.  The latest Hotel101 typical room now comes with prefabricated toilets, and standardized flat pack furniture and a single type of bulb within the whole building.

A customer literally knows what to expect wherever they may be. Hotel101 is efficient to build, efficient to maintain, efficient to operate. A formula that is expected to naturally result in room rates up to 30% cheaper versus any other hotel chain in its category in any specific country.

Almost  all  the  industries  especially  those  catering  to  the  mid-end  market  have  already  been standardized to a level of at least 9/10, but if one would take a deep dive in the current millions of existing hotel inventory that the hotel industry have, no branded chain today has over 100,000 of 1 type of room globally just like how it is now in buying a burger in a global burger chain, or getting a typical economy seat in any budget airline.

Hotel101 has literally 1 type of room, all the same sizes, all the same fit out, all the same bulb, doorknob, the same bed size, and in an Asset- Light structure as all rooms are individually titled condominium units with fragmented ownership.

Hotel101 adopts dynamic pricing on its room rates similar to airline tickets where its room price moves up and down depending on the real time supply and demand on the chosen date of booking.

The Asset Light Hotel101 concept allows DoubleDragon to generate revenue and income twice, first from the pre-selling of the units, then second after the project is constructed it generates long term recurring revenue from hotel operations.

The Hotel101 App’s new version coming up soon will have self-check in capability, and since it has only 1 type of inventory in the App, it is very easy to use as there are no other types of rooms to choose from. The efficiency that results from these are expected to bring unmatched value and efficiency to Hotel101 customers.

The worldwide expansion headquarters and the global sales hub of Hotel101 Global Pte. Ltd. is now operational. The headquarters is located at the 4th Floor and the showroom is at the Ground Floor of PLUS Building, 20 Cecil Street at the heart of Raffles Place in the Singapore Central Business District.

The first three overseas Hotel101 projects will be in Niseko Hokkaido, Japan, Madrid, Spain and Los Angeles, California USA. These 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.

Most of the global expansion is expected to be via joint venture with developers abroad, or via licensing or franchising and each unit that is sold will bring revenues to Hotel101 once the building is completed, the enrolled units will all be generating recurring revenues to the Hotel101 Global management.

Target near term expansion roadmap for Hotel101 Global Pte. Ltd. is to be in these first 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.

The Hotel101 concept is positioned as a better alternative to people who buy titled apartment condo real estate units with the intention to lease out or enroll the asset in Short Term Rental App platforms for passive income with the intention to preserve the long-term asset value of the titled apartment unit that they could eventually pass on as inheritance to their children or grandchildren.

“The opportunity that we see globally in the hospitality space is that of standardization because we believe it brings unbeatable efficiency, especially for the mid-end segment. Take for example the budget airline industry – essentially all budget airlines  sell  one  product  across  the  whole industry and that product is the economy seat, ” said DoubleDragon Chairman Edgar Injap Sia II

“Eventually we see Hotel101 rooms to be just like that one iconic hamburger in a global fast-food chain, it is the same no matter where you go – yes, the price changes as costs vary from country to country, but the burger doesn’t change,” said Hotel101 CEO Hannah Yulo-Luccini

Hotel101 Global Pte. Ltd. is expected to derive over 95% of its revenues outside of the Philippines to be consolidated back to the ultimate parent, Philippine-listed DoubleDragon Corporation.

Hotel101 Global’s Vision is to accumulate a portfolio of 1 (one) Million Hotel101 Rooms in 101 countries before 2050

The DoubleDragon team is committed to put in the necessary hard work, entrepreneurial grit and perseverance towards this vision.

“We  believe  that  companies  especially  those  relatively  new  players  in  a  highly  competitive industry  dominated  by  a  few  long  established  giants  and  still  demonstrate  that the  team  can navigate well even during a prolonged major global economic  crisis, such as what we have all experienced  in  the  past  three years, will  catapult  it  to  be in  a unique  position  to capture  the extraordinary opportunities that will present itself in abundance after all the chaos and once the fire has cleared and the smoke has settled.”

“As history has taught us, major economic recessions have actually served as a launchpad for many inspiring entrepreneurs around the world to leap forward. These temporary periods of dislocation and chaos have created rare windows of opportunity for their businesses to strengthen their market grip and have enabled them to successfully scale up which could have been impossible to break through during good times,” said DoubleDragon Corporation Chairman Edgar “Injap” Sia II.