ZEN ROOMS, a disruptive budget-accommodation company under Rocket Internet, aims to double its capacity in six months, as it expands its portfolio of hotel accommodations to more Philippine cities.
Benjamin Nicolas, the country manager of Zen Rooms in the Philippines, said in an interview his group is in talks with a number of hotel and condominium developers across the country to develop budget accommodations under the Zen Rooms brand.
“Currently, we have 600 rooms in six cities. We’re planning to double this number within the next six months to become among the top 3 players within six months to eight the months,” he told the BusinessMirror.
Currently, Zen Rooms is present in six cities: Manila, Boracay, Cebu, Pampanga, Davao and Palawan.
“Every month we’re going to open in new cities. We’re almost done with Palawan. After that, we will open Iloilo, Bohol and Cagayan de Oro, then expand to smaller cities, like General Santos, Zamboanga and Bacolod,” he said. The company is also in talks with hotels in Manila to allow Zen Rooms to rebrand hotels.
“We are discussing with hotels in Manila to have hotels fully operated by Zen Rooms. For this year nationwide, we want to have 10 hotels under the Zen Rooms brand,” he said.
Its business is widely compared globally to the likes of Uber. Basically, Zen Rooms provides customers a portal where they could book hotel rooms for a fraction of the price. Zen Rooms does this by partnering with underbooked hotels and condos, and rebranding rooms as its own. The company does regular physical inspections of the rooms to ensure their quality.
Zen Rooms entered the Philippine market in mid-2016 to offer a better budget-accommodation experience at attractive prices.
Nicolas said his company is “reinventing budget stays by providing double rooms with superior, guaranteed quality starting at only P850.”
He said his company aims to become among the top 3 hotel players in the Philippines “soon”. Aside from the Philippines, Zen Rooms are also available in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Hong Kong.