Hotel101, The Philippines-based hotel-operations division of DoubleDragon Corp., is merging with publicly listed British Virgin Islands-based JVSPAC Acquisition Corp., an entity created in January as a “blank check company.”
The deal allows Hotel101 to list on the NASDAQ stock exchange. It's expected to have an equity value of $2.3 billion, according to DoubleDragon.
The company's plan is to fund global expansion of the Hotel101 chain, which is the hotel brand of DoubleDragon's hotel division, Hotels of Asia.
Hotel101 is known for its "condo hotel" rooms that are identical, standardized rooms designed to drive efficiency and value. Individuals own the units, who can opt to list them as hotel rentals on Hotel101's booking platform.
Blank-check companies are publicly traded companies designed as vehicles to merge with or acquire other companies.
Hotel101's deal is expected to close in the second half of this year; the company has procured HBNB as its NASDAQ symbol.
Hannah Yulo-Luccini , CEO of Hotel101 and chief investment officer of DoubleDragon, said in January at the Atlantic Ocean Hotel Investors’ Summit that the hotel firm’s unique selling points are a room type that will be identical around the world and the capability of investors to own one or multiple rooms in any development.
Yulo-Luccini added that “Hotel101’s asset-light business model allows us to generate revenues twice: first from the pre-selling of strata-titled individual hotel units during the construction phase; and second, from the long-term recurring revenue derived from day-to-day hotel operations following completion of the units.”
Currently, Hotel101 has one hotel in operation, the 518-room Hotel101 Manila, in the capital of The Philippines. The brand has seven hotels in construction in The Philippines with a combined room count of 4,013.
Outside of The Philippines, the company has broken ground in Madrid. A 680-room Hotel101 is underway next to the IFEMA Convention Complex, Real Madrid Complex and the upcoming new Formula 1 Grand Prix Track.
Another project in the pipeline is the 482-room Hotel101 Niseko in Japan, and a site has been purchased for another Hotel101 in Los Angeles, which will be the first for the brand in the U.S.
The firm also is targeting expansion to the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, India, China, Italy and Mexico.
DoubleDragon has been publicly listed since 2014, with 70% owned by two companies in The Philippines: Injap Investments and Honeystar Holdings Corp.