Singapore budget hotel startup RedDoorz enters the Philippines with US$5m investment

REDDOORZ, a Singapore-based startup that runs a budget hotel booking platform, on Wednesday announced its expansion into the Philippines, for which it has invested over US$5 million.

RedDoorz will use the money to grow its footprint to 100 properties across the Philippines over the next 12 months.

The Philippines marks RedDoorz' third market in South-east Asia, after Singapore and Indonesia.

Amit Saberwal, founder and chief of RedDoorz, said: "The Philippines ranks second as the fastest-growing Internet economy in the world, right after Indonesia - with an Internet penetration of 63 per cent (67 million users) of approximately 105.7 million Filipinos. We realised that the Philippines held a strong demand for hotel rooms not only for tourists but also for business travellers. We felt that it was timely for us to make the conclusive move to start expanding here."

With its entry into the Philippines, RedDoorz will introduce a new category of properties, RedDoorz Premium. The latter comprises properties that are designed for the budget business traveller, are located close to business districts, and offer more amenities than its other two existing categories, RedDoorz and RedDoorz Plus.

Rishabh Singhi, chief operating officer of RedDoorz said: "This introduction of Premium properties came with our observation of how the Filipino concept of a 'condotel' had seen a remarkable growth in the Philippines over the past decade.

"By adding this new category, we could create a distinction of rooms in the market while also keeping to our ethos of providing the same standardisation and predictability that comes with all RedDoorz properties - all at affordable prices. The aim of this new category is to target the business traveller who looks for certain amenities like good Wifi connection, location closer to business districts and other amenities."

Mr Singhi added that RedDoorz Premium will be a relevant category as the startup expands into other South-east Asian cities, where there is "an influx of business travellers".

In March, RedDoorz announced it has raised its pre-Series B funding of US$11 million from investors including World Bank Group's private investment arm International Finance Corporation, UOB-backed InnoVen Capital, Sushquehanna International Group's Asia Investment Fund, and Shanghai-based FengHe Group.