Bondi terror suspects’ red light district bolthole: Father and son’s month in seedy Philippines hotel favoured by sex tourists

The father and son accused of carrying out the Bondi Beach massacre spent a month at this shabby one-star hotel in a red-light district in the Philippines costing £11 (AU$22) a night, the Daily Mail has revealed.

Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, went on holiday to the southeast Asian country in November before they were alleged to have carried out the atrocity at the Hanukkah event, which left 15 people dead on Sunday.

The couple stayed in a cramped double room at the GV Hotel in Davao City, the country’s second-largest city, in an area of ​​neon-lit massage parlors and go-go bars frequented by Western sex tourists on the island of Mindanao.

Opposite the hotel is a spa called ‘Spring Valley’ which advertises ‘happy hour’ from 10am to 5pm.

Just a few meters away there is a bar called ‘Ladiestar’ offering karaoke and ‘massage’.

As well as this, there is a cocktail bar and restaurant called Bondi & Bourke, which, by a touching coincidence, is named after the famous beach where the attack took place.

Davao City is a five-hour drive from the Islamic city of Marawi, where ISIS sympathizers have been fighting for a decade against the Catholic-dominated government.

Security experts said they believed Sajid and Naveed had traveled to the Philippines to receive military-style training; this claim was denied by the troubled country’s President Marcos.

The couple stayed in a cramped twin room at the GV Hotel in Davao City, the country’s second-largest city.

Opposite the hotel is a spa called ‘Spring Valley’ which advertises ‘happy hour’ from 10am to 5pm. Just a few meters away there is a bar called ‘Ladiesstar’ offering karaoke and ‘massage’.

Sajid Akram, pictured, and his son Naveed Akram are alleged to have carried out the atrocity at the Hanukkah event on Sunday, where 15 people died.

The 50-year-old father from western Sydney, pictured, was shot dead by police at the scene.

Hotel staff showed the Daily Mail to room 315 on the hotel’s third floor, where the men stayed overnight and lived on takeaway.

Spaciously furnished with two single beds, an old television and an en-suite bathroom, it’s where the Akrams claim they spend almost all their time indoors, only leaving each day to buy food.

Jenelyn Sayson, who works at the hotel, said ‘they each arrived with a large suitcase and a backpack’ and that cleaners would remove fast food wrappers from their rooms.

He said they ate at the popular Jollibee chicken restaurant, which is also famous for its spaghetti bolognese.

We were told that unlike other guests who were friendly and interactive with the staff as well as other tourists, the men stayed on their own.

When they left the hotel, they walked to the next street or the next hotel block. The staff never saw them get into the taxi or get picked up from the hotel.

“We thought they probably had business here in the city because they would go out and come back,” he added.

‘The longest they would be out would be about an hour and they would be right back here at the hotel.’

As seen in the picture, when they left the hotel, they were walking towards the next street or the next hotel block.

Picture: Interior of GV Hotel. Hotel staff showed the Daily Mail to room 315 on the hotel’s third floor, where the men stayed overnight and lived on takeaway.

Spaciously furnished with two single beds, an old television and an en-suite bathroom, it’s where the Akrams claim to spend almost all their time indoors.

Jenelyn Sayson, who works at the hotel, said ‘they each came with a large suitcase and a backpack.’

Once, Naveed asked a staff member where he could buy durian, a type of fruit known for its pungent aroma and sweet taste. They were told to go to Magsaysay Park and Bankerohan market but returned without taking anything.

This luxury hotel is located in the Poblacion District of the city, known for its nightlife, surrounded by many ‘bikini bars’. Strip clubs are proliferating in the city’s red light district, where most bars have private rooms at the back that men can rent for just £25 (AU$50).

When authorities searched the room, it is said that no documents or other evidence were found.

Sajid and Naveed flew from Sydney to Manila at 11 am on November 1 and reached the capital early in the morning.

They then took a domestic flight to Davao, where they checked into the budget GV Hotel around noon that day and apparently stayed there until November 28.

Philippine authorities denied allegations that the duo came to the country for terrorist training.

The armed forces there insist there is no indication the alleged Bondi killers were training with terror groups while in the country.

Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said: ‘Data from field units indicate that there is no foreign terrorist activity in the area. ‘There is no training being conducted in the area.’

When authorities searched the room, it is said that no documents or other evidence were found.

Picture: A bar near GV Hotel. Investigations are ongoing into what the men actually did during their month-long stay in the country.

However, investigations into what the men actually did during their month-long stay in the country are ongoing.

An initial police investigation showing that they only stayed in Davao City and did not leave would be a version of events that would please the Philippine government.

The country’s national security adviser, Eduardo Año, told reporters that the country was working with Australia to gather intelligence on the two men and determine their reasons for traveling to the Philippines.

Mr Año confirmed the dates of entry into the country, adding that Sajid was traveling on an Indian passport and his son Naveed on an Australian passport.

Detectives are now understood to be tracking the men’s exact movements by tracking their credit cards and local SIM cards.

It has been suggested that they used Davao as an entry point to then drive to reach Cagayan de Oro city and then Marawi.

Marawi is known as a no-go area for tourists and locals alike, and the Philippine government has even issued a category four warning to civilians not to travel to the area under any circumstances.

Civilians traveling here face the risk of death due to ongoing violent clashes between terrorist groups and the Philippine armed forces.

The region was captured by an offshoot of ISIS called the Maute Group in 2017, leading to the departure of 350,000 people from the majority-Catholic part of the country.

Following an attack in Sydney on Sunday in which Jews celebrating the beginning of Hannukah were shot dead, police in Australia discovered two homemade ISIS flags in Naveed’s vehicle. Two bombs were also found in the vehicle.

New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed on Tuesday that both men had traveled to the Philippines but said the motive was still unknown at this time.

Davao City, pictured, is five hours away from the Islamic city of Marawi, where ISIS sympathizers are fighting against the Catholic-dominated government.

Meanwhile, immigration spokesperson Dana Sandoval told The Australian: ‘Sajid Akram, 50, an Indian citizen (Australian resident) and Naveed Akram, 24, an Australian citizen, arrived in the Philippines together from Sydney Australia last November 1, 2025.

‘Both reported Davao as their final destination. ‘They left the country on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila on November 28, 2025, and their final destination was Sydney.’

Sajid was shot following the attack on Sunday, which also injured 42 people.

Meanwhile, the bricklayer’s son, who survived the police shootout and was hospitalized, was charged with 59 offences, including 15 murders and one act of terrorism which investigators claimed was ‘ISIS-inspired’.