Oyo Rooms

Oyo Rooms (stylised as OYO), also known as Oyo Hotels & Homes, is an Indian hotel chain. It is one of the largest and fastest-growing hospitality chains of leased and franchised hotels, homes and living spaces. [1][2][3][4] Founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO initially consisted mainly of budget hotels. The startup expanded globally with thousands of hotels, vacation homes and millions of rooms in hundreds of cities in India, Malaysia,[5] UAE, Nepal,[6] China, Brazil, Mexico, UK, Philippines, Japan,[7] Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka,[8] Indonesia, Vietnam, the United States[9] and more.[10][11]

Oyo Rooms
OYO Rooms
OYO Hotels and Homes
Privately held company
IndustryHospitality
Founded2013 (2013)
FounderRitesh Agarwal
HeadquartersGurgaon, Haryana, India
Area served
Asia, Europe and Americas
Key people
Ritesh Agarwal (CEO)
Websitewww.oyorooms.com
OYO in Changshu, Jiangsu, China

The company's investors include SoftBank Group, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, Hero Enterprise, Airbnb and China Lodging Group.

History

In 2012, Ritesh Agarwal launched Oravel Stays to enable listing and booking of budget accommodations. After undertaking months of research and staying in various bed and breakfast homes, guest houses, and small hotels across India, he pivoted Oravel to OYO in 2013.[12]

OYO partners with hotels to give similar guest experience across cities. Shortly after launching Oravel Stays, Ritesh Agarwal received a grant of $100,000 as part of the Thiel Fellowship from Peter Thiel.[13][14] OYO currently has over 17,000 employees globally,[15][16] of which approximately 8000 are in India and South Asia. OYO Hotels & Homes is a full-fledged hotel chain that leases and franchises assets. The company invests in capex,[17] hires GMs to oversee operations and customer experience as well as generating around a million job opportunities in India[18] and South Asia alone. OYO has also set up 26 training institutes for hospitality enthusiasts across India.[19]

Funding

The company is currently valued at $10 billion[20] as per the last round of funding.[21]

September 2018 – raised $1 billion, of which the RoC filing for the amount of $100 million raised from Star Virtue Investment Ltd. was made on 13 February 2019.[22]

October 2019 – Series F funding of $1.5 billion led by SoftBank Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India.[23]

Founder & CEO, Ritesh Agarwal, through RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman)[24][25] in 2019 signed a $2 billion primary and secondary management investment round, supported by global institutional banks and his financial partners, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals. Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia India, OYO's early supporters, are selling part of their holdings in order to help the founder increase his stake and thereby commitment while remaining invested significantly in the company's long-term mission.[26]

Financial results

In 2019, OYO registered a revenue of USD 951 million, a 4.5 times increase on a year on year basis, as compared to USD 211 million.[27]

Appointments

In December 2019, Rohit Kapoor was appointed as the CEO for India & South Asia OYO Hotels & Homes[28][29]

In December 2019, Aditya Ghosh was elevated to the Board of Directors (Earlier CEO India & South Asia)[30][31][32]

In December, OYO Appointed Ankit Gupta as the Chief Operating Officer & SVP for it’s Frontier Businesses, OYO India & South Asia.[33]

Further, the company elevated Abhinav Ankur to Head - Strategy for OYO India & South Asia, Sharad Saxena to Chief Supply Officer - Franchise business, South Asia and Asit Biswal to Chief Supply Officer - Frontier Businesses, South Asia, OYO Hotels & Homes.[34][35]

In January 2020, OYO appointed Rishabh Gupta as the Country Head, UK & Ireland, OYO Hotels & Homes. Rishabh had been earlier entrusted with introducing and launching OYO in Indonesia.[36]

In January 2020, OYO appointed Raj Kamal as Chief Operating Officer for OYO’s Vacation Homes business in the UK and Europe.[37]

Management
OYO hotel in Johor, Malaysia.

In 2018, the hospitality chain company announced the appointment of Aditya Ghosh, the former president of India's largest airlines, IndiGo, as the chief executive officer of its South Asia business. Ghosh would be in charge of India and Nepal.[38]

In November 2018, OYO appointed Max Healthcare executive Director, and Rohit Kapoor as the CEO[39] of its new real estate businesses. In 2018, OYO hired Prasidha Menon as Global Head of Communications.[40]

CTO

In 2016, OYO announced the hire of AmazonIndia's Anil Goel as Chief Technical and Product Officer.[41]

COO OYO China

OYO hired former Pepsi China COO, Sam Shih, to head its China operations as chief operating officer.[42]

OYO UK

In September 2018, OYO hired Jeremy Sanders[43] who co-founded and sold Italian fast-food chain Coco di Mama as its country head.

In January 2020, OYO announced the appointment of Raj Kamal as COO of its Vacation Homes business in the UK and Europe.[44]

CEO OYO Technology and Hospitality Company, Japan

In February 2019, OYO started its Japan operations in a Joint Venture with Yahoo! Japan[45] and hired former Japan market leader for Handy and Booking.com, as the CEO of OYO Technology & Hospitality Company. Yahoo! has since sold its interest back to OYO as of December 2019.

CEO Southeast Asia and Middle East

In August 2019, OYO hired Dr Mandar Vaidya[46] – a medical doctor by education and former partner at McKinsey – to lead its operations in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Acquisitions and partnerships

In March 2016, OYO acqui- hired the team of Qlik Pass, founded by Rahul Gupta & Rishi Swami to setup and lead its Data Science Department. [47]

In March 2018, OYO acquired Chennai-based service apartment operator Novascotia Boutique Homes[48][49] marking its first major buyout as well as establishing its presence in the service apartment and corporate executive stay.

In 2018, the company acquired Weddingz.in, a Mumbai-based online marketplace for wedding venues and vendors marking its entry into the fragmented $40 billion wedding industry.[50]

In April 2019, OYO announced a strategic global distribution partnership with bedbank Hotelbeds.[51] The company also announced two joint-venture with Softbank and Yahoo!Japan.

In 2019, OYO and Airbnb announced a strategic partnership with Airbnb investing in OYO and the company will list their properties on Airbnb platform.[52] OYO in March 2019, announced a 1400 cr investment in its India and South Asia businesses over 2019 as a part of its efforts to increase infrastructure, strengthen technology and internal capability.[53]

In May 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group, Europe's largest vacation rental company.[54]

In July 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Innov8.[55]

In August 2019, Oyo made its first major investment in the United States by purchasing the Hooters Casino Hotel, near the Las Vegas Strip, in partnership with US-based real estate company Highgate, for $135 million.[56][57]

Products and services

OYO Rooms, OYO Hotels & Homes has a multi-brand approach. These include:

  • OYO Townhouse[58] which is promoted as the neighbourhood hotel is in the midscale segment targeted at millennial travellers.
  • OYO Home, which OYO claims is India's maiden Home Management System that offers private homes in different locations and are fully managed by OYO.[59][60]
  • OYO Vacation Homes which identifies itself as the world's 3rd largest vacation home brand with vacation rental management brands Belvilla,[61] Danland,[62] and DanCenter[63] along with Germany-based Traum-Ferienwohnungen.
  • SilverKey launched in April 2018, caters to the needs of the corporate travellers undertaking business trips for a short or long duration.[64][65]
  • Capital O offers hotel booking services.[66]
  • Palette offers the perfectly curated staycation for those in search of an intuitive experience at competitive prices, an upper-end leisure resorts category.[67][68]
  • Collection O offers booking and renting services to business travelers.[69][70]
  • OYO LIFE, targeted at millennials and young professionals in search of fully managed homes on long-term rentals, at affordable prices.[71][72]

OYO Partner Engagement

In April 2019, the company announced the launch of OPEN programme, an initiative for its partner hotels to help them reach their business goals. It further Introduced upgraded Co-OYO app for hotel partners to provide complete visibility on all business & customer metrics. [73]

Awards and honours
  • In 2019 Agarwal was featured in the Bloomberg 50 list as ‘The Amazingly Ambitious Hotelier’,[74] the 50 most powerful people in India by India Today and the Tycoons of Tomorrow’ by Forbes India.[75]
  • His net worth in 2019 was estimated to be approximately $1 billion (7000 crore INR) according to IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List.[76]
  • Market Entrant of the Year 2019 (UK-India Awards)[77]
  • Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies for 2019 – India edition[78]
  • Best Startup – SATTE Awards 2019[79]
  • OYO topped the maiden list of LinkedIn's Top Startups in India (2018)[80]
  • LinkedIn has recognized OYO as one of the top employee attractors in India four years in a row (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)[81]
  • Fast Company: OYO among Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in India (2018)[82]
  • Startup of the Year at The Economic Times Startup Awards (2018)[83]
  • TiE's QGlue Design-led Entrepreneurship Awards (2018)[84]
  • Best Travel Startup – Jury at Zee Business Travel Awards (2018)[85]
  • India's Most Promising Hotel Network, HolidayIQ Better Holiday Awards 2017[86]
  • New Age Entrepreneur Award by Asian Centre for Corporate Governance & Sustainability (2016)[87]
  • OneDirect Quest CX Award for Best Use of Social Media (2016)[88]
  • No. 2 in BT Coolest Start-ups Survey 2016[89]
  • Startup of the Year- Express IT Award (2015)[90]
  • In March 2020, Ivanka Trump, the senior advisor to President Donald Trump, had lauded an initiative by OYO Hotels to offer free stays to doctors, nurses in the US helping in the fight against the novel coronavirus, describing the gesture as “impactful acts of benevolence”.[91]

Controversies

Sharing of customer data with the government

In 2019, OYO rooms plans to implement a digital register mechanism which will allow it to share customer data in real time with the government. This has been described as a threat to privacy.[92][93]

Use of predatory pricing

OYO has been accused of using predatory pricing and not following its own agreements including threatening hotels to unilaterally change some of the clauses or not be paid.[94]

Sending of unsolicited emails

In 2018, the company sent mass unsolicited job offer emails targeting senior- and mid-level employees of competitors.[95]

Downsizing of OYO China

In March 2020, it was reported that OYO China will downsize and lay off up to 72% of its staff. [96]

Exiting certain markets

In June 2020, it was reported that OYO will shut down their operations in Sri Lanka due to the losses incurred in these markets. OYO had 260 active properties and 65 employees working for the company in Sri Lanka.

References
  1. "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  2. "With 8.5 lakh rooms, Oyo claims third spot globally". Moneycontrol.com. 10 July 2019.
  3. "How OYO became India's 3rd best company to work for in just 6 years". The Financial Express (India). 7 April 2019.
  4. Gooptu, Biswarup (22 May 2019). "OYO claims to be second-largest hotel group in China". The Economic Times.
  5. Mishra, Aparna (12 January 2016). "OYO Rooms Goes International; Launches in Malaysia". Inc42.
  6. "OYO expands international presence with hotel launch in Nepal". Business Standard. 27 April 2017.
  7. "OYO and SoftBank form JV to launch hotels business in Japan". The Economic Times. 4 April 2019.
  8. "OYO expands international presence entering Sri Lanka". Daily Mirror. 14 December 2018.
  9. "Hotel Unicorn Oyo Plots $300 Million Push into the U.S. Market". Bloomberg L.P. 19 June 2019.
  10. CHAUDHARY, DEEPTI (2 March 2018). "More room at the top". Fortune.
  11. Jog, Natasha (6 August 2015). "At 21, He's the Mind Behind Multi-Million Dollar Start-Up OYO". NDTV.
  12. CHATTERJEE, PARAMITA (16 May 2017). "How OYO's Ritesh Agarwal transformed the business of budget accommodation". Forbes.
  13. "Oravel founder Ritesh Agarwal wins Thiel Fellowship". Mint. 10 May 2013.
  14. Ghosh, Shona (22 September 2018). "Ritesh Agarwal: Interview with founder of Peter Thiel-backed Oyo". Business Insider.
  15. "OYO to add over 3,000 employees in India". Business Line. 21 August 2019.
  16. "OYO plans mass recruitment in India to boast of 12k staff by year-end". KrASIA. 22 August 2019.
  17. "OYO announces Rs 1,400 crore investments, launches new property 'Collection O' targeting millennials". Business Today (India). 26 June 2019.
  18. "Have created over 1 lakh direct and indirect jobs in India: OYO". The Economic Times. 10 April 2019.
  19. "OYO opens Gurgaon campus, plans to launch a skill training center". The Times of India. 6 September 2019.
  20. "India's Oyo valued at $10B after founder purchases $2B in shares". TechCrunch. 19 July 2019.
  21. "India's budget hotel startup OYO raises $1B for international growth". TechCrunch. 25 September 2018.
  22. "China's Didi Chuxing invests $100 million in Oyo". Moneycontrol.com. 14 February 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  23. "Ritesh Agarwal to invest $700M in Oyo's new $1.5B financing round". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  24. "Ritesh Agarwal's Cayman based firm to bring funds to Oyo". The Economic Times. 17 July 2019.
  25. "Ritesh Agarwal sets up RA Hospitality in Cayman Islands to drive Oyo funding". International Business Times. 18 July 2019.
  26. "Ritesh Agarwal to deploy $2 billion in his hotel startup OYO to boost stake". Business Standard. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  27. "OYO has seen 4.4 times y-o-y growth in revenue in June 2019, says founder and group CEO Ritesh Agarwal". The Financial Express. 25 September 2019.
  28. "Rohit Kapoor Named CEO India and South Asia At OYO Hotels & Homes in Gurgaon , India". Hospitality Net. 3 December 2019.
  29. "OYO: Aditya Ghosh on Oyo Board, Rohit Kapoor named new CEO". The Economic Times. 3 December 2019.
  30. "Oyo shifts Aditya Ghosh from CEO to board member". Mint. 2 December 2019.
  31. "OYO Elevates Aditya Ghosh To The Board". Businessworld. 2 December 2019.
  32. "OYO: A pin up CEO parachuted to the board, Aditya Ghosh takes a back seat in Oyo". The Economic Times. 30 January 2020.
  33. "OYO appoints Ankit Gupta as COO". Moneycontrol.com. 20 December 2020.
  34. "OYO strengthens its leadership table for India & SA business". People Matters. 7 January 2020.
  35. "OYO strengthens leadership table for India, SA and UK-Europe businesses". Business Standard. 8 January 2020.
  36. "Oyo appoints new UK boss". The Caterer. 13 December 2019.
  37. "OYO appoints Raj Kamal from PayU as COO for UK and Europe business". CNBC TV18. 9 January 2020.
  38. "OYO Hotels Appoints Former IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh As CEO-South Asia". NDTV. 15 November 2018.
  39. "OYO reports revenues of Rs 327 crore in FY18OYO appoints Max Healthcare's Rohit Kapoor as CEO of new real estate business". Business Today (India). 27 November 2018.
  40. "OYO appoints Prasidha Menon as Head of Communications". Business Today (India). 27 August 2018.
  41. "OYO hires Anil Goel as Chief Technology Officer". Business Standard. 7 November 2016.
  42. "OYO bulks up international leadership with key hires". The Economic Times. 10 January 2019.
  43. "India's largest hotel chain OYO to expand into Britain". Reuters. 19 September 2018.
  44. "OYO Appoints Raj Kamal As Chief Operating Officer". BW Business World. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  45. "Oyo Partners With Yahoo to Bring Its New Home Rental Model to Japan". skift. 22 February 2019.
  46. "Oyo Partners With Yahoo to Bring Its New Home Rental Model to JapanOYO appoints Mandar Vaidya as CEO for South East and West Asia". Business Standard. 7 August 2019.
  47. "OYO Rooms hires 3 senior executives". The Economic Times. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  48. Gooptu, Biswarup (18 March 2018). "OYO acquires Chennai's Novascotia Boutique Homes". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  49. "Oyo acquires Chennai-based Novascotia Boutique Homes to expand corporate offering". The News Minute. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  50. "OYO acquires wedding marketplace Weddingz". The Economic Times. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  51. "Hotelbeds & Oyo Hotels & Homes announce strategic distribution partnership". The Economic Times. 15 April 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  52. "Airbnb confirms stake in India's OYO, sources say it invested $150M-$200M". Techcrunch. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  53. "OYO plans ₹1,400-cr. expansion". The Hindu. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  54. "OYO plans ₹1,400-cr. expansion". The Economic Times. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  55. "India's budget hotel startup Oyo enters co-working business with $30 million Innov8 acquisition". Tech Crunch. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  56. "Oyo buys Las Vegas Hooters Hotel in its first US purchase". 23 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  57. Morris, Keiko. "India's Oyo Rolls Dice With Purchase of Las Vegas Hooters Hotel". WSJ. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  58. "Budget hotel chain OYO launches OYO Townhouse". The Economic Times. 24 January 2017.
  59. Bhattacharya, Ananya (21 September 2017). "In trying to be the Indian Airbnb, OYO may be turning too cumbersome". Quartz Media.
  60. "Unlocking Homes for Great Holiday Experiences". OYO Rooms. 15 September 2017.
  61. "Airbnb-backed OYO moves into Europe, buys Leisure Group from Axel Springer for $415M". TechCrunch. 1 May 2019.
  62. "OYO to acquire Amsterdam based vacation rental company @Leisure Group". The Economic Times. 2 May 2019.
  63. "Oyo to invest $335M in vacation rental business in Europe push". TechCrunch. 14 August 2019.
  64. "OYO to scale up its SilverKey hotels portfolio to 19 cities across India". The Economic Times. 3 April 2019.
  65. "OYO plans big focus on serviced apartments for corporate clients". Business Standard. 18 April 2018.
  66. "India's Oyo launches Capital O hotels in the UAE". Arabian Business. 16 July 2019.
  67. "Oyo forays into leisure segment with Palette Resorts". The Times of India. 30 August 2018.
  68. "OYO forays into upper-end leisure resorts category; launches Palette Resorts". The Economic Times. 30 August 2018.
  69. "OYO woos biz travellers with Collection O; ups investment". Deccan Chronicle. 13 March 2019.
  70. "OYO's Collection O Hotels reaches milestone 175 buildings in 3 months". Asian News International. 13 July 2019.
  71. "Why OYO Life is betting big on the co-living market in India". The News Minute. 9 May 2019.
  72. "Oyo looks to enter student housing and co-working, to expand co-living segments". The Economic Times. 6 May 2019.
  73. "OYO launches OPEN programme for asset owners". The Economic Times. 18 April 2019.
  74. "Ritesh Agarwal, the Amazingly Ambitious Hotelier". BloombergQuint. 4 December 2019.
  75. "Tycoons of Tomorrow". Forbes India. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  76. "IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2019: All You Need To Know". Outlook (Indian magazine). 26 September 2019.
  77. "OYO Hotels wins 'Market Entrant of the Year' at UK-India Awards". Hotel Owner. 2 July 2019.
  78. "The World's Most Innovative Companies 2019: India Honorees". 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  79. "Best Startup – SATTE Awards 2019". 16 January 2019.
  80. "LinkedIn says these are the 25 most attractive startups to work for in India". 18 September 2018.
  81. "Top Attractors Where India Wants to Work Now". LinkedIn. 3 April 2019.
  82. "THE WORLD'S MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES 2018". 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  83. "OYO books top spot at ET Startup Awards 2018". The Economic Times. 25 July 2019.
  84. "TiE Global Summit 3 2018". 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  85. "Zee Business Travel Awards: Here's the complete list of winners". Zee News. 22 September 2018.
  86. "OYO VOTED THE MOST PROMISING HOTEL NETWORK". 16 May 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  87. "Asian Centre for Corporate Governance & Sustainability: 4th Asia Business Responsibility Summit". 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  88. "OneDirect organised the Second Edition of Quest – India's largest Customer Experience Management Summit". Inc42. 27 April 2016.
  89. "Coolest Start-Ups of India 2016". Business Today (India). 27 April 2016.
  90. "Winners 2015 – Express I.T Awards". 20 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  91. "Ivanka Trump lauds Indian hotel chain OYO for offering free stays to doctors in US amid COVID19 crisis". Moneycontrol. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  92. "Oyo Rooms wants to share digital record of your check-ins with government". India Today. 15 January 2019.
  93. "Oyorooms with new concept of data sharing with government authorities". Indian people times. 16 January 2019.
  94. Chaturvedi, Anumeha (1 December 2018). "Budget hotels teaming up to take legal route against Oyo". The Economic Times.
  95. S.H., Salman (27 April 2018). "All's fair in talent war: Oyo targets staff at rivals". Mint.
  96. "Oyo Hotels Said to Cut Over 72% of China Staff". Mingtiandi. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.

Official website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.