Buko Ventures is excited to invest in Cocotel, a branded network of independent hotels and resorts that empowers hotel owners to grow their businesses through a booking & hotel management technology platform.

The Philippines tourism sector has seen some of the fastest growth rates of any industry in the last decade driven by regional asian tourism from Chinese and Korean travelers, and increasing domestic tourism with the continued growth of consumer spending. From 2003 to 2019, annual tourist arrivals to the Philippines grew from 2m to 8m visitors per year. However, compared to the 40m tourists visiting Thailand annually, the Philippines still has lots of upside. On the precise metric of ‘tourist arrivals per square kilometer of beautiful sandy beach’, the Philippines is massively underpenetrated with huge potential. With many airport renovations and construction projects in progress, Philippines' tourist destinations are also becoming increasingly accessible, which will drive further growth in the years to come.

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While Covid is still disrupting tourism today, now is the perfect time to invest and develop the market for this longer-term opportunity. This is what Cocotel is doing.

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Cocotel is a technology-powered “soft brand” for hotels, which means local hotel owners can join the Cocotel network, use Cocotel’s branding, and plug into Cocotel’s booking platform to gain new customers and benefit from Cocotel’s property management tools. When traveling to new areas where accomodation quality can be unpredictable, tourists like the comfort and consistency promised across the Cocotel hotel network. With over 50 partner properties across 33 different locations already, Cocotel has quickly grown to become one of the leading managed hotel brands in the country. In addition to its own branded booking site cocotel.com.ph, Cocotel’s technology also enables its partners to list properties in 30+ online platforms such as Expedia, Agoda, and Booking.com

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Cocotel’s CEO Rafael Jouwena is an MBA grad from Ateneo University in Manila and studied at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Before co-founding Cocotel he worked in finance roles for JP Morgan and Thomson Reuters.

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We're excited to support the Cocotel team in helping bring technology to hotel entrepreneurs in the Philippines and around the region.

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Try booking your next trip on Cocotel, and recommend Cocotel to any hotel owners looking for a better way to run their operations.

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