Oyo Rooms

Oyo Rooms (stylised as OYO), also known as Oyo Hotels & Homes, is an Indian vacation rental online marketplace company.[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 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
TypePrivate
IndustryHospitality
Founded2013 (2013)
FoundersRitesh Agarwal
HeadquartersGurgaon, Haryana, India
Area served
Asia, Europe and Americas
Key people
Ritesh Agarwal (CEO)
ServicesLodging
Websitewww.oyorooms.com
OYO in Changshu, Jiangsu, China
OYO hotel in Johor, Malaysia

The company's investors include SoftBank Group, Didi Chuxing, 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 renamed Oravel to OYO in 2013.[12][13]

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.[14][15] OYO currently has over 17,000 employees globally,[16][17][18] 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,[19] hires GMs to oversee operations and customer experience as well as generating around a million job opportunities in India[20] and South Asia alone. OYO has also set up 26 training institutes for hospitality enthusiasts across India.[21]

Funding

The company is currently valued at $10 billion[22] as per the last round of funding.[23]

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.[24]

In Feb 2019, Oyo got $100 million from a Chinese company (DIDI CHUXING) [25]

In October 2019 – Series F funding of $1.5 billion led by SoftBank Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India.[26]

Founder & CEO, Ritesh Agarwal, through RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman)[27][28] 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.[29]

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.[30]

Acquisitions and partnerships

In March 2016, OYO acquired the team of Qlik Pass, founded by Rahul Gupta & Rishi Swami to setup and lead its Data Science Department.[31]

In March 2018, OYO acquired Chennai-based service apartment operator Novascotia Boutique Homes[32][33] 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.[34]

In April 2019, OYO announced a strategic global distribution partnership with bedbank Hotelbeds.[35] 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.[36] 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.[37]

In May 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group, Europe's largest vacation rental company.[38]

In July 2019, OYO announced the acquisition of Innov8.[39]

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.[40][41][42]

Products and services

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

  • OYO Townhouse[43] 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.[44][45]
  • OYO Vacation Homes which identifies itself as the world's 3rd largest vacation home brand with vacation rental management brands Belvilla,[46] Danland,[47] and DanCenter[48] 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.[49][50]
  • Capital O offers hotel booking services.[51]
  • Palette offers the perfectly curated staycation for those in search of an intuitive experience at competitive prices, an upper-end leisure resorts category.[52][53]
  • Collection O offers booking and renting services to business travelers.[54][55]
  • OYO LIFE, targeted at millennials and young professionals in search of fully managed homes on long-term rentals, at affordable prices.[56][57]
  • YO! HELP is a self-help tool that offers support for check-ins, check-outs and payments.[58]

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.[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.[60][61]

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.[62]

Sending of unsolicited emails

In 2018, the company sent mass unsolicited job offer emails targeting senior- and mid-level employees of competitors.[63]

Unsafe rooms for women

Oyo has been involved in numerous rape scandals. In 2018, a 22 year old woman was raped by the OYO rooms demand manager.[64]

In 2019, a 26 year old woman was raped in an Oyo hotel room.[65]

In October 2020, a 19 year old student was gang raped in an Oyo hotel room.[66]

In August 2017, a 20 year old was raped in Oyo City hotel located at Banjara Hills.[67]

References
  1. "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com. Retrieved 3 April 2020. Cite uses generic title (help)
  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. Pranayagrawal (21 September 2020). "HOW OYO ATTAINS HUGE HEIGHT IN THE MARKET AFTER USING AWS SERVICES". Medium. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  14. "Oravel founder Ritesh Agarwal wins Thiel Fellowship". Mint. 10 May 2013.
  15. Ghosh, Shona (22 September 2018). "Ritesh Agarwal: Interview with founder of Peter Thiel-backed Oyo". Business Insider.
  16. "The rise (and fall?) of OYO ... perhaps the world's fastest growing hospitality brand from India, offering "tasteful spaces, whenever you need them, at unbeatable prices."". GeniusWorks. 15 May 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  17. "OYO to add over 3,000 employees in India". Business Line. 21 August 2019.
  18. "OYO plans mass recruitment in India to boast of 12k staff by year-end". KrASIA. 22 August 2019.
  19. "OYO announces Rs 1,400 crore investments, launches new property 'Collection O' targeting millennials". Business Today (India). 26 June 2019.
  20. "Have created over 1 lakh direct and indirect jobs in India: OYO". The Economic Times. 10 April 2019.
  21. "OYO opens Gurgaon campus, plans to launch a skill training center". The Times of India. 6 September 2019.
  22. "India's Oyo valued at $10B after founder purchases $2B in shares". TechCrunch. 19 July 2019.
  23. "India's budget hotel startup OYO raises $1B for international growth". TechCrunch. 25 September 2018.
  24. "China's Didi Chuxing invests $100 million in Oyo". Moneycontrol.com. 14 February 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  25. Gooptu, Biswarup; Sharma, Samidha. "Oyo gets $100 million from China's ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing". The Economic Times. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  26. "Ritesh Agarwal to invest $700M in Oyo's new $1.5B financing round". TechCrunch. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  27. "Ritesh Agarwal's Cayman based firm to bring funds to Oyo". The Economic Times. 17 July 2019.
  28. "Ritesh Agarwal sets up RA Hospitality in Cayman Islands to drive Oyo funding". International Business Times. 18 July 2019.
  29. "Ritesh Agarwal to deploy $2 billion in his hotel startup OYO to boost stake". Business Standard. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  30. "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.
  31. "OYO Rooms hires 3 senior executives". The Economic Times. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  32. Gooptu, Biswarup (18 March 2018). "OYO acquires Chennai's Novascotia Boutique Homes". The Economic Times. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  33. "Oyo acquires Chennai-based Novascotia Boutique Homes to expand corporate offering". The News Minute. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  34. "OYO acquires wedding marketplace Weddingz". The Economic Times. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  35. "Hotelbeds & Oyo Hotels & Homes announce strategic distribution partnership". The Economic Times. 15 April 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  36. "Airbnb confirms stake in India's OYO, sources say it invested $150M-$200M". Techcrunch. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  37. "OYO plans ₹1,400-cr. expansion". The Hindu. 12 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  38. "OYO plans ₹1,400-cr. expansion". The Economic Times. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  39. "India's budget hotel startup Oyo enters co-working business with $30 million Innov8 acquisition". Tech Crunch. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  40. "Oyo buys Las Vegas Hooters Hotel in its first US purchase". 23 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  41. Morris, Keiko. "India's Oyo Rolls Dice With Purchase of Las Vegas Hooters Hotel". WSJ. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  42. "Ritesh Agarwal to invest $700M in Oyo's new $1.5B financing round". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  43. "Budget hotel chain OYO launches OYO Townhouse". The Economic Times. 24 January 2017.
  44. Bhattacharya, Ananya (21 September 2017). "In trying to be the Indian Airbnb, OYO may be turning too cumbersome". Quartz Media.
  45. "Unlocking Homes for Great Holiday Experiences". OYO Rooms. 15 September 2017.
  46. "Airbnb-backed OYO moves into Europe, buys Leisure Group from Axel Springer for $415M". TechCrunch. 1 May 2019.
  47. "OYO to acquire Amsterdam based vacation rental company @Leisure Group". The Economic Times. 2 May 2019.
  48. "Oyo to invest $335M in vacation rental business in Europe push". TechCrunch. 14 August 2019.
  49. "OYO to scale up its SilverKey hotels portfolio to 19 cities across India". The Economic Times. 3 April 2019.
  50. "OYO plans big focus on serviced apartments for corporate clients". Business Standard. 18 April 2018.
  51. "India's Oyo launches Capital O hotels in the UAE". Arabian Business. 16 July 2019.
  52. "Oyo forays into leisure segment with Palette Resorts". The Times of India. 30 August 2018.
  53. "OYO forays into upper-end leisure resorts category; launches Palette Resorts". The Economic Times. 30 August 2018.
  54. "OYO woos biz travellers with Collection O; ups investment". Deccan Chronicle. 13 March 2019.
  55. "OYO's Collection O Hotels reaches milestone 175 buildings in 3 months". Asian News International. 13 July 2019.
  56. "Why OYO Life is betting big on the co-living market in India". The News Minute. 9 May 2019.
  57. "Oyo looks to enter student housing and co-working, to expand co-living segments". The Economic Times. 6 May 2019.
  58. "Yo! Help comes to Oyo's rescue". The Economic Times. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  59. "OYO launches OPEN programme for asset owners". The Economic Times. 18 April 2019.
  60. "Oyo Rooms wants to share digital record of your check-ins with government". India Today. 15 January 2019.
  61. "Oyorooms with new concept of data sharing with government authorities". Indian people times. 16 January 2019.
  62. Chaturvedi, Anumeha (1 December 2018). "Budget hotels teaming up to take legal route against Oyo". The Economic Times.
  63. S.H., Salman (27 April 2018). "All's fair in talent war: Oyo targets staff at rivals". Mint.
  64. "Shocking! OYO Rooms manager arrested for raping woman in Gurgaon hotel". The Financial Express. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  65. "Man raped and threatened to kill woman at Oyo Hotel". News Track. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  66. Network, Newsmeter (17 October 2020). "19YO student gang-raped in OYO hotel at Kukatpally, three arrested". NewsMeter. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  67. "Four arrested for rape of Delhi woman at a hotel in Hyderabad". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 27 October 2020.

68."OYO has $1 billion to fund operations until IPO, says CEO Ritesh Agarwal"

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.