Budget hotel platform ZEN Rooms has joined hands with South Korea based travel group Yanolja.
Yanolja was the lead strategic investor in ZEN Room’s $15 million funding round in 2018, and has doubled down with a strategic partnership and additional shareholding.
Booking Holdings backed Yanolja will take over the shareholding of early investor Asia Internet Holdings.
ZEN and Yanolja will collaborate on automation technology to improve the customer experience, and reduce budget hotels’ operating costs.
"We were honoured to be Yanolja’s first international investment. With this strategic alliance, we are joining forces with one of the most technologically innovative travel groups to create the first full service budget and mid-range hospitality group in SEA," said Nathan Boublil, co-founder and CEO of ZEN.
ZEN Rooms has about 13,000 rooms under franchise and claims to be the largest chain in the Philippines, with 5,500 rooms.
Yanolja plans to fully support ZEN to solidify its status as the leading full-stack hospitality company in the region," said Jongyoon Kim, CEO of Online Business at Yanolja.
Earlier this year Yanolja received funding of $180 million from GIC and Booking Holdings, valuing the business at about $1 billion.
