ANALYSTS are bullish about the prospects of property developer DoubleDragon Corp. (DD) and its subsidiary Hotel101 Global Holdings Inc. following the latter’s debut on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York City last Friday.
Hotel101 Global became the first Filipino-owned company to list on the tech-heavy bourse and its shares are set to begin trading on Nasdaq on July 1, 2025 (US time), under the ticker symbol “HBNB.”
The listing was marked with a bell-ringing ceremony at the Nasdaq that was attended by key company officials.
Hotel101 CEO Hanna Yulo-Luccini dedicated the moment to “every Filipino who dares to dream big.”
With a deemed equity value of $2.3 billion, the listing was said to have positioned Hotel101 at the forefront of the global hospitality space and granted it access to global capital markets — a development that analysts say could significantly enhance value for both Hotel101 and DoubleDragon.
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Unicapital Group research head Wendy Estacio-Cruz told The Manila Times that the listing “is expected to unlock the value of this business segment within DoubleDragon, which the market has yet to fully price in.”
She noted that Hotel101 could gain greater visibility among global investors.
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“We expect DD’s valuation, reputation, and financial flexibility to improve, potentially narrowing the current 60-70 percent valuation gap,” Estacio-Cruz added.
Investment & Capital Corp. of the Philippines Senior Managing Director Mariano Ocampo, meanwhile, said the listing was “positive” for the company, citing the strategic benefits of raising capital in the US to support Hotel 101’s international growth plan.
“HBNB is building hotels outside the Philippines — so this provides the company with foreign currency revenues,” he added.
Hotel101’s business model — a fusion of real estate and hospitality using standardized, pre-sold condotel units — is said to have positioned the company as a potentially disruptive player.
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Its roadmap includes developing 1 million hotel rooms across 100 countries by 2050, with projects currently underway in Spain, Japan, the United States and Saudi Arabia.
Ocampo said the roadmap was achievable and added: “I guess they have to build more. They have equity capital now, then they borrow and hopefully operate profitably so they can keep on expanding.”
At the listing ceremony, Nasdaq Vice Chairman Bob McCooey described Hotel101 as an “asset-light prop tech hospitality platform built for efficiency and scalability.”
He said the company was “set to disrupt the hospitality industry by offering identical standardized hotel rooms around the world which offer unbeatable efficiency, simplicity, and value.”
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In a statement, DoubleDragon Chairman and Hotel101 founder Edgar “Injap” Sia II called the Nasdaq debut “a historic moment” that reaffirmed the company’s global ambitions.
“We’re just getting started – with a globally scalable model and a long runway ahead, we aim to redefine the industry and become a leading global hospitality brand working towards our vision of an inventory of 1 million Hotel101 rooms globally,” he added.
DoubleDragon shares closed at P13.00 apiece last Friday, down 28 centavos or 2.11 percent.
