Injap Sia to disrupt hotel business, globally

VIRTUAL REALITY

- TONY LOPEZ

The unrivaled king of Philippine chicken barbecue, Edgar "Injap" Sia II of Mang Inasal fame, has a vision. His Hotel101 Global will build one million rooms, in over 100 countries, starting with 25 countries in the next three years.

The first 25 countries, outside of Philippine locations, include: Spain, Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, UAE, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mexico, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey, Italy, Germany, France, China and of course, Singapore, where the company is based.

Injap will disrupt the hospitality industry by offering identical, standardized hotel rooms around the world, creating what it believes to be unbeatable efficiency, simplicity and value.

To do that, Injap is raising money abroad. On June 27, 2025, his Hotel101 Global becomes the first Philippine company to be listed on the NASDAQ.

The listing enables Hotel101 Global to raise almost free capital to finance its global expansion. Its business combination on April 8, 2024, with JVSPAC, an acquisition company, valued Hotel101 at $2.3 billion. The combined company, called Hotel101 Global Holdings Corp., will be listed and trade under the ticker symbol "HBNB."

Hotel101 is a subsidiary of Philippine-listed Double Dragon Corp., Injap's joint venture property company with Jollibee's owners who bought Sia's Mang Inasal grilled chicken chain in 2016 for P5 billion.

"With DoubleDragon's deep experience in real estate and high-growth businesses, we are fully committed to supporting Hotel101 as it makes its mark on the global stage," said Injap, founder of DoubleDragon.

Hotel101 Global CEO Hannah Yulo-Luccini said that the listing brings the hotel chain closer to its goal of becoming the world's truly global one-room hotel chain.