DoubleDragon unit buys lot for Hotel101 in Spain

SIA-LED DoubleDragon Corp. said on Thursday that its unit Hotel101 Global Pte. Ltd. has agreed to buy a 6,593-square-meter commercial land in Madrid, Spain for a hotel location.

“Hotel101-Madrid is set to be the very first homegrown Filipino hotel chain to enter Spain,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

DoubleDragon said that it expects to generate about 143.3 million euros (PHP 8.8 billion) in consolidated sales from the new location, “given the high real estate investment demand in Madrid driven by the Spanish Golden Visa.” The company was referring to a residence permit for noncitizens of the European Union who invest significantly in Spain.

Its Madrid site will have about 736 rooms and will be located in Avenida Fuerzas Armadas, Valdebebas, Madrid.

“[It is a] three minutes walk to the Valdebebas Train Station, four minutes walk to IFEMA convention complex, five minutes walk to Real Madrid Sports Complex, and around seven minutes to the new Madrid Barajas International Airport,” the company said.

“Hotel101-Madrid is set to become one of the Top 5 largest hotels in Madrid, Spain,” it added.

In an earlier disclosure, the company said that it seeks to build about 500,000 Hotel 101 rooms in its portfolio by 2040.

“DoubleDragon’s vision for Hotel101 [is] to become world-class in all standards and create job opportunities to Filipinos who reside in the Philippines or abroad,” it said.

It also expects the hotel brand to “bring a pinch of pride and honor to each and every Filipino from anywhere around the world where Hotel101 will eventually locate and operate.”

The company reported its net earnings for 2022 at PHP 12.92 billion, up 14.5% from PHP 11.28 billion a year earlier. The increase came despite its consolidated revenues falling by 11.3% to PHP 14.13 billion.

On Thursday, DoubleDragon shares surged by 10.56% or PHP 0.75 to finish at PHP 7.85 each. — By Adrian H. Halili