DoubleDragon Properties Corp. plans to expand its hotel business in Southeast Asia and is now scouting for properties in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
DoubleDragon chairman Edgar Sia II said in an interview during the stockholders’ meeting the company was preparing to bring its home-grown hotel brand Hotel 101 to other Asean countries.
“We are considering to bring our own hotel brand Hotel 101 outside the country. We are hopeful that it will be the first home-grown hotel chain outside the country. We are now looking at three properties in Vietnam, Phuket and Bali,” Sia said.
Sia said other countries like Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have their own international hotel brands operating around the world.
“We always bring in other international hotel brands but we don’t bring our hotels outside. So internally we have decided that it is about time that we bring our own hotel brand outside. We think there is an opportunity for that.” Sia said.
Sia said he was hoping to secure the first site for overseas expansion over the next few months.
“So where ever we go, we don’t have to check in at other people’s hotel brands and we will just support our own brand,” Sia said.
DoubleDragon plans to develop 5,000 hotel rooms in the Philippines under Hotel 101 and Jianjiang Inn by 2020 as it aims to be one of the leading players in the hospitality sector. DoubleDragon had 866 rooms across its hotel portfolio as of end-2017.
It plans to develop Hotel 101 in Taguig, Boracay, Davao, Bohol and Cagayan de Oro.
Sia said that in its overseas expansion, the group planned to adopt the same “condotel” concept.
it was using in the Philippines. Under this concept, DoubleDragon will presell the hotel units to investors which will enable the buyers to earn income from it.
DoubleDragon is a 50:50 joint venture between Sia and Jollibee Foods Corp. chairman Tony Tan Caktiong. It aims to be one of the top five largest property companies in the Philippines by 2020 through the buildup of 1.2 million square meters of leasable space.