By Arra B. Francia, Reporter

DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Corp. targets to book P3.01 billion in sales from its Hotel101 project in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

The listed property developer unveiled Hotel101-Fort to investors late Wednesday, putting the hotel’s 609 rooms worth P4.95 million each up for sale. The 33-storey hotel will be built on a 1,224-square meter lot in Fort Bonifacio, touted as the country’s rising financial district next to Makati central business district.

The sale of the units will fund the construction of the hotel, which is due to start within the year.

“For the Hotel 101, it’s a very unique business model because we pre-sell the units during the construction period. So it’s low capex on our part, because the proceeds of the selling activities actually fund the construction,” DoubleDragon Chief Investment Officer Hannah M. Yulo said during the a press launch for the hotel in Taguig City on Wednesday.

Once the hotel starts operations, DoubleDragon will remit 30% of the rooms’ gross revenues to their owners, providing investors a steady stream of income. The company will then oversee the management and day-to-day operations of the hotel.

Hotel101-Fort forms part of DoubleDragon’s plan to have 5,000 rooms under its hospitality portfolio by 2020. Of this, 4,000 will carry the Hotel101 brand, while the remaining 1,000 will have the Jinjiang Inn brand.

The hotel is one of four projects under the Hotel101 brand, with the other three in Manila, Boracay, and Davao City currently in different stages of construction.

Asked on how the ongoing cleanup of Boracay will affect the company’s project there, Ms. Yulo is confident it will not delay construction.

“I believe its a six-month cleanup and so we’re still in the planning and design stages so that also takes time on finalizing our plans and securing the permits, so it wouldn’t delay construction,” Ms. Yulo said.

DoubleDragon is currently in the planning stages of Hotel101 Resort-Boracay, which is expected to be the country’s largest hotel in terms of room count at 1,001.

This comes amid the government’s plan to shut down the entire island between June and September to give the Department of Tourism and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources enough time to rehabilitate the island. President Rodrigo R. Duterte had earlier tagged Boracay as a “cesspool,” prompting authorities to conduct the cleanup.

The company looks to open the Boracay hotel by 2020. “In fact, it’s very good for us when it reopens because we’re going to come back with a stronger, more world-class island,” Ms. Yulo said.

DoubleDragon grew its consolidated net income by 71.8% to P2.53 billion in 2017, with recurring revenues surging to P1.31 billion from P347.6 million in 2016 as the company benefited from higher rental revenues.

Shares in DoubleDragon dropped 4.63% or P1.65 to close at P33.95 apiece at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

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