Oyo Rooms, also known as Oyo Hotels & Homes, is one of the largest and fastest-growing hospitality chains of leased and franchised hotels, homes and living spaces in India. 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 India, Malaysia, UAE, Nepal, China, Brazil, Mexico, UK, Philippines, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, the United States and more. 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. 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. OYO currently has over 17,000 employees globally, 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, hires GMs to oversee operations and customer experience as well as generating around a million job opportunities in India and South Asia alone. OYO has also set up 26 training institutes for hospitality enthusiasts across India.
Funding
The company is currently valued at $10 billion as per the last round of funding. In September 2018, OYO 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. In October 2019 – Series F funding of $1.5 billion led by SoftBank Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India. Founder & CEO, Ritesh Agarwal, through RA Hospitality Holdings 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.
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.
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. In March 2018, OYO acquired Chennai-based service apartment operator Novascotia Boutique Homes 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. In April 2019, OYO announced a strategic global distribution partnership with bedbank Hotelbeds. 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. 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. In May 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group, Europe's largest vacation rental company. In July 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Innov8. 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.
Products and services
OYO Rooms, OYO Hotels & Homes has a multi-brand approach. These include:
OYO Townhouse 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.
OYO Vacation Homes which identifies itself as the world's 3rd largest vacation home brand with vacation rental management brands Belvilla, Danland, and DanCenter 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.
Capital O offers hotel booking services.
Palette offers the perfectly curated staycation for those in search of an intuitive experience at competitive prices, an upper-end leisure resorts category.
Collection O offers booking and renting services to business travelers.
OYO LIFE, targeted at millennials and young professionals in search of fully managed homes on long-term rentals, at affordable prices.
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.
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.
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.
Sending of unsolicited emails
In 2018, the company sent mass unsolicited job offer emails targeting senior- and mid-level employees of competitors.
Downsizing of OYO China
In March 2020, it was reported that OYO China will downsize and lay off up to 72% of its staff.
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.
Fire furloughed US Staff
On June 27, 2020, OYO informed its US staff that a "large majority" of its currently furloughed employees will have to be fired once the furlough period ends.
