Hotel101 recently set up its global headquarters in Singapore, on the back of its new land acquisitions in Niseko, Madrid, and Los Angeles over the past few months.
The hospitality company – a subsidiary of Filipino company DoubleDragon founded by fast food tycoons Tony Tan Caktiong and Edgar Injap Sia II – currently has 11 Hotel101s in the Philippines. Two are operational, while the rest are under construction or in the pipeline.
As to why Singapore was chosen for its headquarters, Hotel101’s CEO Hannah Yulo-Luccini explained: “In addition to Singapore being one of the 25 countries that Hotel101 aims to be in within the next three years, the major financial and economic hub in Asia has a growing pool of experienced international talent that we need to develop the ideal management team to help us achieve Hotel101’s expansion plans.
“Its location and world-renowned airport also make it an extremely convenient hub for our team to fly out of to oversee our various developments and sales hubs globally.”
Travel is very much on the cards, because in addition to Singapore, Hotel101 ambitious plan is to plant a flag in 25 countries over the next three years. Target locations in Asia-Pacific include India, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, South Korea and Australia. Further afield, Hotel101 is targeting to open in the UK, the UAE, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Germany, France, and Switzerland. The global vision is to accumulate a portfolio of one million Hotel101 rooms in 101 countries before 2050.
This ambitious plan is possible, only because all Hotel101s around the world will be three-star, have around 500 keys each, and feature a standard 21m2 room, making it easily exportable, described Yulo-Luccini to TTG Asia during a networking dinner in Singapore earlier in March. She likened the room standardisation to the same way that fast food chains standardise their one iconic burger, and how budget airlines sell the same standard economy seat.
By having that many keys, it also allows Hotel101 to price its rooms lower than its three-star competitors, yet be able to offer typical four-star amenities such as a restaurant, swimming pool, and gym.
The property’s first Hotel101 location in Niseko, Japan, came about as the company acquired a 1.1-hectare prime property in the heart of Hirafu during the pandemic. Currently under construction is a 482-key property, where facilities will include an all-day diner, convenience store, fitness centre, business centre, and function rooms. Being in Niseko, it will also have a ski locker, sauna, hot mineral water bath and indoor swimming pools.
Yulo-Luccini elaborated: “A typical room will come with prefabricated toilets, and standardised flat pack furniture and a single type of bulb in the whole building. Our guests will know what to expect wherever they may be. For hotel owners, Hotel101 will be efficient to build, maintain, and operate, which will result in room rates up to 30 per cent cheaper verses any other hotel chain in its category in any country.”
Besides the templated approach, the hotel chain prides itself on its micro-owner approach, where an individual can own a hotel room, or several, akin to a condo-hotel. The fragmentising of ownership generates the first round of revenue to fund Hotel101’s rapid expansion plans.
For now, most of the global expansion plans are expected to be via joint ventures with developers abroad, or through licensing or franchising.
“Each unit that is sold will bring (initial) revenue to Hotel101. Once the hotel is completed, the hotel unit will generate recurring revenues. Rising interest rates globally has opened up a lot of opportunities for expansion in prime locations across popular destinations that would have previously not been accessible to a new hotel developer,” she noted.
