Oyo Rooms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oravel Stays Private Limited

Trade name Oyo Rooms; Oyo Hotels and Homes

Industry Hospitality
Founded 2013; 6 years ago
Founder Ritesh Agarwal
Headquarters Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Area served Asia, Europe and Americas

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

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.[12][13] OYO currently has over 17,000 employees globally,[14][15] of which approximately 8000 are
in India and South Asia. OYO Hotels & Homes now identifies as a full-fledged hotel chain that leases
and franchises assets. The company claims to invest in capex,[16] GMs to oversee operations and
customer experience as well as generating around a million job opportunities in India[17] and South Asia
alone. OYO has also set up 26 training institutes for hospitality enthusiasts across India.[18]

Funding
The company is currently valued at $10 billion dollars[19] as per the last round of funding[20]
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[21]
October 2019 - Series F funding of $1.5 Billion led by SoftBank Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners
and Sequoia India[22]
Founder & CEO, Ritesh Agarwal, through RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman)[23][24] signed $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.[25]

Financial results
In 2019, OYO reported 3.5x growth in revenue in FY 2017–18[26] at Rs 416cr for India operations and a
marginal loss of 360 cr In 2018, OYO reported a loss of 330.97 cr which was better than the previous
year.[27]

Management
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.[28]
In November 2018, OYO appointed Max Healthcare executive Director, Rohit Kapoor as the CEO[29] of
its new real estate businesses. In 2018, OYO hired Prasidha Menon as Global Head of
Communications.[30]
CTO
In 2016, OYO announced the hire of Amazon India's Anil Goel as Chief Technical and Product
Officer.[31]
COO OYO China
OYO hired former Pepsi China COO to head its China operations as Chief Operating Officer.[32]
OYO UK
In September 2018, OYO hired Jeremy Sanders[33] who co-founded and sold Italian fast-food chain
Coco di Mama as its country head.
CEO OYO Technology & Hospitality Company, Japan
In February 2019, OYO started its Japan operations in a Joint Venture with Yahoo! Japan[34] and hired
former Japan market leader for Handy and Booking.com, as the CEO of OYO Technology & Hospitality
Company.
CEO Southeast Asia and Middle East
In August 2019, OYO hired Dr Mandar Vaidya[35] – 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 2018, OYO acquired Chennai-based service apartment operator Novascotia Boutique
Homes[36][37] 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 dollar wedding industry.[38]
In April 2019, OYO announced a strategic global distribution partnership with bedbank Hotelbeds.[39]
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.[40] 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.[41]

In May 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group, Europe's largest
vacation rental company.[42]

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.[43][44]

Products and Services

OYO Rooms, OYO Hotels & Homes currently has a multi-brand approach with curated offerings for the
changing needs of today's traveller. These include,

 OYO Townhouse[45] which is promoted as the neighbourhood hotel is in the midscale segment
targeted at millennial traveller aspiring premium economy accommodations.
 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.[46][47]
 OYO Vacation Homes which identifies itself as the world's 3rd largest vacation home brand
with vacation rental management brands Belvilla[48], Danland[49], and DanCenter[50] 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.[51][52]
 Capital O are premium hotels located in prime locations and especially curated to deliver OYO's
quality-assured experience at an affordable price.[53]
 Palette offers the perfectly curated staycation for those in search of an intuitive experience at
competitive prices, an upper-end leisure resorts category.[54][55]
 Collection O is the newest category under OYO's hotel portfolio that caters to the requirements
of discerning business travellers.[56][57]
 OYO LIFE, targeted at millennials and young professionals in search of fully managed homes
on long-term rentals, at affordable prices.[58][59]

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.[74][75]

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.[76]

Sending of unsolicited emails

In 2018, the company sent mass unsolicited job offer emails targeting senior- and mid-level employees
of competitors.[77]

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