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<keyword id="2550719" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">OYO Rooms</keyword> has laid out plans for its future and they look quite promising. The hotel aggregator, which trimmed losses from Rs 496 crore in last year to Rs 325 crore in 2016-17, is planning to double its inventory of 70,000 rooms to 1.5 lakh by the end of next year. OYO’s <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> said they will cater to business and leisure travel in India, which is growing and to meet the demand, OYO will add at least 15,000 rooms this year. The company's gross bookings run rate grew to Rs 2,563 crore annually. "We have been doubling our revenues year-on-year and within this year we will continue to grow our revenues by two-and-a-half times year-on-year. We will see more properties coming up in areas where occupancy rates are high,” Agarwal told ET. Also, OYO is enhancing customer experience and will be making bookings easier for customers. Moreover, every property will be given a unique number to distinguish it from neighbouring OYO properties and the signages are expected to display the address more clearly. Speaking about GST affecting OYO, Agarwal told ET, “We and most of our partners think the rates have been thought of very fairly. We have kept our prices similar to what it was before GST. I do not see the GST having very significant implications. The market continues to grow. The demand for business traffic is high. Leisure business demand is higher than ever.”

OYO has trimmed its losses and here’s how it plans to add more rooms, enhance customer experience

<ul><li>OYO has launched a partner network for its 8,700+ asset owners. </li><li>OYO is the 6th largest hotel chain in the world currently.</li><li>In India, over 15 cities have 200 <keyword id="4964826" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-hotels">OYO hotels</keyword> per city. </li></ul>OYO is beefing up technology platform and is now looking to build a partner network of hotel owners, much like the big technology giants like Microsoft, HP, Amazon, who have a network of distributors, vendors and retail partners. The move seems to be targeted at extending the company’s reach and brand to a wider and deeper audience on the hotel owner side. OYO, which hasn’t yet celebrated its 5th anniversary, has been growing fast and taking on big hotel chains like Hyatt, Choice hotels among others. Now, in a bid to grow to the world’s largest hotel chain (it currently ranks sixth), OYO has turned its focus to hotel owner or asset partners, promising them several new services. OYO which already has an app for travellers for bookings, had a parallel app for hotel owners to manage the same and also their business transactions. OYO has now upgraded the app (called Co-OYO) to offer hotel owners financing help through its network of Indian banks, marketing support to boost their reach, help in compliance with regulations through access to top law and accounting firms and timely payments by assuring an interest of 18% on delayed payments. The hotel chain has also included technological solutions like OYO OS, a property management system. These new services will be available to over 8,700 hotel owners in OYO’s current network. At the launch of the network called OPEN - OYO Partner Engagement Network, <keyword id="229263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aditya-Ghosh">Aditya Ghosh</keyword>, CEO, India &amp; South Asia, OYO hotels, spoke about the company’s plans to expand fast. “Today with the launch of OPEN, we are laying the foundations of a structured way of exchanging ideas, providing support and most importantly, building a relationship of trust on which we hope to build the next several decades to come. We are doing this in several ways but in this fast moving world, being in touch on a real-time basis is key and therefore for the very first time in the hospitality industry, we are proud to launch the Co-OYO app which will transparently provide business metrics,” said Aditya Ghosh, CEO, India &amp; South Asia, of OYO Hotels. OYO has 175,000+ rooms in India, whereas in China it has 322,000+ rooms and in the rest of the world put together, it is adding 60,000 rooms every month. In India, over 15 cities have 200 OYO hotels per city. “Some of the largest hotel chains in India which have been around for 100 years have 20,000 rooms, And OYO in 30 days added 60,000 new rooms. I have been asked this question are we growing too fast? I believe we are not growing fast enough,” said Ghosh. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/home-renting-giant-airbnb-invests-in-indian-unicorn-oyo-rooms/articleshow/68670636.cms">Airbnb picks up a stake in its Indian rival Oyo Rooms</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-partners-with-softbank-to-launch-oyo-hotels-japan/articleshow/68719436.cms">OYO partners with Softbank to create a joint venture for its Japan business</a>

OYO upgrades its app for hotel owners and offers financing, marketing support and timely payments

<ul><li><keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword> is buying @Leisure from <keyword id="420697" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Axel-Springer">Axel Springer</keyword>, the media and technology company, for $415 million. </li><li>This will add 300,000 rooms to OYO’s list.</li><li>Vacation homes are becoming a big part of OYO’s strategy, after having launched OYO Homes in 2017.</li></ul>From a unicorn in 2018 to becoming a global hotel chain, Indian hospitality <keyword id="138263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="startup">startup</keyword> OYO <keyword id="6368036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hotels">Hotels</keyword> &amp; Homes has achieved a lot within a year. Now, OYO is once again in the news for having acquired Amsterdam-based <keyword id="7586774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Leisure-Group">@Leisure Group</keyword> of hotels. OYO is buying @Leisure from Axel Springer, the media and technology company, for $415 million. The acquisition marks an important step in OYO’s journey, as this becomes one of the biggest acquisitions done by an Indian startup in the global arena. With the acquisition, OYO will now have @Leisure’s more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe and a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries. This will add 300,000 rooms to OYO’s list. OYO has 175,000+ rooms in India, whereas in China it has 322,000+ rooms and in the rest of the world put together, it is adding 60,000 rooms every month. In India, over 15 cities have 200 OYO hotels per city. “If one were to look at Europe alone, there is an ever-increasing demand for vacation homes with an increasing trend of booking an entire home. Through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be immediately unlocked for OYO’s Homes business. Today, more than 2.8 mn holidaymakers from over 118 countries book their holiday every year with @Leisure Group. The combined strength of both brands can scale the opportunity multifold,” said OYO’s Global Chief Strategy Officer, Maninder Gulati. Vacation homes are becoming a big part of OYO’s strategy – it had launched OYO Homes in 2017. OYO Homes already has over 15,000 villas and apartment units globally. Global expansion mode In a bid to become the world’s largest hotel chain (OYO currently holds the 6th position), OYO has been fast expanding its businesses in India and globally. In 2017, OYO had entered the China market and rapidly expanded to be one of the biggest hotel chains in the country. In fact, OYO has more rooms to offer in China than it does in india. Earlier in 2019, OYO announced its partnership with Japan-based SoftBank Corp and the SoftBank Vision fund to launch a new venture called Oyo Hotels Japan. It had also started a housing rental service in Japan called Oyo Life. The company also has a presence in Indonesian, European and Sri Lankan markets. In September 2018, OYO had opened its signature OYO townhouses in London. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-upgrades-its-app-for-hotel-owners-and-offers-financing-marketing-support-and-timely-payments/articleshow/68940755.cms">OYO upgrades its app for hotel owners and offers financing, marketing support and timely payments</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-partners-with-softbank-to-launch-oyo-hotels-japan/articleshow/68719436.cms">OYO partners with Softbank to create a joint venture for its Japan business</a>

OYO's $415 million acquisition of Amsterdam-based holiday home chain part of plan to become the world's largest hotel company

<ul><li><keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">Oyo</keyword> wants to have 1 million <keyword id="18966" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hotel">hotel</keyword> rooms in the next one-and-a-half years. </li><li>The hospitality unicorn had recently appointed <keyword id="229263" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aditya-Ghosh">Aditya Ghosh</keyword>, former <keyword id="6354706" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IndiGo">Indigo</keyword> president, as its CEO of South Asia operations. </li><li>The company is focusing on international growth with plans to further enter into the European, Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian markets. </li></ul>In 2013, a scrawny 20-year-old from Odisha set out to start a portal from where you could book hotel rooms online. Cut to 2019 and the 25-year-old <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> is the founder of India’s unicorn startup <keyword id="2550719" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">Oyo Rooms</keyword>. It also has Aditya Ghosh, the former president of Indigo Airlines, on board and together, they intend to make Oyo the biggest <keyword id="150849" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="hotel-chain">hotel chain</keyword> in the world. Oyo Rooms is already the largest hotel chain in South Asia. “We will have one million rooms inventory into our fold in the near distant future. I think, it should happen in a year and a half,” Ghosh told the news agency PTI on January 15. Ghosh is the CEO, South Asia operations. A million rooms will be about double its existing network of 450,000. Over the years, Oyo has put up its red-and-white logo in almost every other budget hotel in the country and has gone from being just an aggregator for hotel bookings to owning properties including Oyo Townhouse (budget hotels) and Oyo Living (coliving rental spaces). While Oyo had marked its first international debut in 2018 with Dubai, it has been focusing more on China, Europe, Malaysia and Indonesia. Agarwal has brought in Ghosh to drive the fast developing South Asia operations. In fact, the company’s fast expansion into the Chinese market saw it become one of the top 10 hotel chains in China in just one year of operations. Oyo Rooms <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/oyo-manages-more-rooms-in-china-than-in-india/articleshow/66725906.cms">reportedly</a> manages more hotels in China than in India. Oyo also has its eyes in Japan, taking stock of the large number of people that’s going to visit the country for the <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-oyo-hotels-eyes-biggest-hotel-chain-tag-to-double-global-footprint-2707996">2020 Olympics</a>. The hospitality startup had turned into a unicorn in<a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/oyo-appoints-top-level-execs-to-drive-international-growth/"> 2018</a> after it received a funding of $800 million at a valuation of $5 billion. It has found backing from top investors like Softbank Group, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed India among others. It has the money, it has the drive, and it certainly has room to grow fast and large. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-rooms-is-the-most-valuable-hotel-chain-in-south-asia-after-softbank-investment/articleshow/65964564.cms">OYO Rooms is the most valuable “hotel chain” in South Asia after Softbank investment</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/this-24-year-old-dropped-out-of-college-won-funding-from-peter-thiel-then-raised-480-million-for-his-startup/articleshow/65910683.cms">This 24-year-old dropped out of college, won funding from Peter Thiel, then raised $480 million for his startup</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/this-24-year-old-dropped-out-of-college-won-funding-from-peter-thiel-then-raised-480-million-for-his-startup/articleshow/65910683.cms">This SoftBank-funded startup was founded by a 24-year-old to glam up budget hotels, and it's just launched in the UK</a>

A 6-year-old Indian startup wants to be world’s biggest hotel chain

<ul><li>Silicon Valley startup Airbnb has picked up stake in <keyword id="2550719" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">OYO Rooms</keyword>, India's largest hotel rooms aggregator.</li><li>Business Insider had interviewed Airbnb's co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk earlier in March.</li><li>Here are excerpts from his thoughts on the potential for Airbnb in India.</li></ul>One of Silicon Valley's hottest startups, Airbnb, is betting big on India. The startup, which is a marketplace for people offering and looking for homestays and was reportedly valued at $31 billion at last count, has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/home-renting-giant-airbnb-invests-in-indian-unicorn-oyo-rooms/articleshow/68670636.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">picked up a stake</a> in a rival hotel rooms aggregator, OYO Rooms, today. Both companies are looking at opportunities to collaborate on a range of projects, including making OYO accommodations available on the Airbnb platform, a source told Business Insider. While Airbnb has not offered an official comment yet, here is an interview with the co-founder of Airbnb, Nathan Blecharzyk, that was conducted before the deal was announced. The following are the edited excerpts of the answers on the India-specific questions, including one about its competition with OYO, received via email on March 13. Q. Airbnb had aimed to sign up 50,000 homestays in India by 2020. How far have you come? And what is your projection for, say, 2025? How big a part of the global business will India be by 2025? Since the last time I was in India (which was early 2016) our community of hosts has gone from strength to strength and the number of Airbnb listings in India has increased by more than 150%. Our loyal community of hosts have welcomed more than 1.25 million travelers during that period, over 60% of which occurred in just the past 12 months. That growth isn’t just limited to foreign travelers; domestic travel on Airbnb in India has increased by 78% in the past year. Travel to emerging economies is expected to increase at twice the rate of travel to advanced economies from now until 2030 and emerging markets like India are leading the way. With over 45,000 listings, India is a key market for Airbnb. More than one million Indians have chosen Airbnb for their travel globally just last year alone, indicating a tremendous demand for Airbnb among the travellers. Needless to say, India continues to be a promising market for us. We are now working towards achieving 1 billion Airbnb users in the next ten years and India will play an important role in helping us achieve that goal. Q. Are you disillusioned by the recent policy developments in India? Has that affected how bullish you are on India? To the contrary, we’re committed to working closely with policymakers in India and we’ve worked diligently with them to promote home sharing. Q. How big a role do discounts play in Airbnb’s business model? Our platform is fuelled by hosts and guests who are loyal to Airbnb because we treat them like members of a community, not commodities. As a result, Airbnb isn’t governed by discounts and cash backs. Q. Other companies like OYO rooms have scaled their business much faster in India. Was it a conscious decision on part of Airbnb to go slow in India? If yes, why? We don’t typically comment on competitors. Travel and tourism is a large and growing industry in India, and there are going to be a lot of winners here. We are deeply committed to our community in India, we have a thriving business and we’re deeply optimistic about our future. Q. Is Airbnb going to remain a product for English-speaking urban elites? Does it not cap the scalability of the business? India is on its way to becoming one of the new ‘centres of influence’ in global tourism, and it’s going to be an engine of our growth, for us as we aim to welcome one billion users onto our platform in the next ten years. We really think Airbnb can be for everyone, and we have started to focus on specific segments and customize the products for those segments. We have our Plus offering, we have a high end luxury offering as well, and we also have Airbnb for Work, which is actually doing very well in India and it grew about four-fold year over year in India with about 6,500 companies that have signed up to do business travel directly with Airbnb. Q. How feasible it is to sell airline tickets in India? It is a heavily competitive market and deep discounts are imperative? We’re not interested in building our own airline or creating just another place on the Internet where you can buy a plane ticket, but there is a tremendous opportunity to improve the transportation experience for everyone. We’re going to explore a broad range of ideas and partnerships that can make transportation better. We haven’t settled on exactly what those will look like. Q. Will it be easier for you to focus on Indian travellers who are headed abroad than to convince Indians to share their homes with strangers? Would that be your approach to evade some of the policy and infrastructure challenges? Global tourism is growing rapidly and as citizens, businesses and policy-makers open up to the sharing economy phenomenon, and we are seeing increased interest in emerging economies like India. Our loyal community of hosts have welcomed more than 1.25 million travelers since 2016, over 60% of which occured in just the past 12 months. Our growth isn’t just limited to foreign travelers. Domestic travel on Airbnb in India has increased by 78% in the past year. India has approx 410 million millennials, that’s more than the entire population of the US. This group increasingly makes up the dominant segment of consumers, and are looking for new and authentic travel experiences. So while India sees close to 1.2 million outbound travellers, the number of domestic guest arrivals on Airbnb in India increased by almost 78%, last year. We are also planning to focus to more on mainstream domestic travel over the course of the next 2 years i.e. by 2020-21 in line with the origin total addressable market of $17.5 billion which is dominated by domestic business, which is 74% of total total addressable market. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/home-renting-giant-airbnb-invests-in-indian-unicorn-oyo-rooms/articleshow/68670636.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Airbnb picks up a stake in its Indian rival Oyo Rooms</a>

Here's what Airbnb's co-founder had to say about OYO before the deal was announced

<ul><li>After being valued at between $850-$900 million at the end of last year, <keyword id="2550719" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">OYO Rooms</keyword>, is now worth five times more than that courtesy a $1 billion funding round led by <keyword id="163404" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Softbank">Softbank</keyword>’s Vision Fund. </li><li>Infact, with its latest valuation of a little under $5 billion, the Gurugram-based company is now the most valuable hotel chain in South Asia. </li><li>OYO’s founder, 24-year old Ritesh Agarwal, will use the funds to continue the hotel operator’s overseas expansion as well as making further inroads in <keyword id="3658" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>. </li></ul>After being valued at between $850-$900 million at the end of last year, OYO Rooms, which was founded in May 2013 by 24-year old Ritesh Agarwal, is now worth five times more than that courtesy a $1 billion funding round led by Softbank’s Vision Fund. Infact, with its latest valuation of a little under $5 billion, the Gurugram-based company is now the most valuable hotel chain in South Asia, easily leapfrogging the Taj and Oberoi chains, which are valued at around $2 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively. It is also the country’s second-most valuable startup after Paytm. Flipkart has been ruled out of consideration following its acquisition by Walmart. Solid growth While it’s latest funding round could be an indication of the valuation bubble that India’s startup ecosystem finds itself in, the company has recorded a commendable level of growth since its founding. It currently offers nearly 211,000 rooms in 350 cities in five countries. It has about 8,500 hotels across 230 cities India with around 87,000 rooms in 171 cities in <keyword id="1334" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>. This marks an impressive turnaround for a company that was struggling with vacancies and complaints of poor customer service just a few years ago. This caused it to shift gears from the AirBnb model of connecting customers with hotel operators to a franchising model. Through its Townhouse brand, which was launched in early 2017, OYO Rooms focused on offering budget hotel experiences to customers in properties that were fully operated by the company employees. Hence, it got full control of its inventory of rooms in order to improve the customer experience. Under the latest funding round, OYO will receive around $800 million upfront with an additional commitment of $200 million. Softbank was joined by OYO’s existing investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Ventures in the latest round. What will OYO use the money for? The investment will help OYO Rooms accelerate its overseas expansion. It has been expanding its operations outside India into China as well as Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia and also it has its sights set on Europe and West Asian markets like the UAE. Earlier this month, Agarwal told Reuters that he planned to invest $5 million to launch <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-hotels-oyo/indias-largest-hotel-chain-oyo-to-expand-into-britain-idUKKCN1LZ1FX">in 10 cities in the UK</a> by 2020. OYO plans to offer 5,000 hotel rooms by then, backed by a staff of 100 people. The company is set to open its first two properties in London next month. However, the bulk of OYO’s financial resources will be focused on its two main markets - India and China. Agarwal reportedly plans to invest an additional $600 million in gaining further ground in China, especially in Tier-4 and Tier-5 towns.

OYO Rooms is the most valuable “hotel chain” in South Asia after Softbank investment

Japan’s <keyword id="280185" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Softbank-Corp">SoftBank Corp</keyword> is planning to pick up 25-30% stakes in <keyword id="2550719" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">Oyo Rooms</keyword>, which has emerged as the largest player in the fast growing online hotel booking space. 
 
Japan's telecoms and internet giant SoftBank has also held talks with Oyo Rooms for leading a massive $100 million or Rs 630 crore financing round in the company, people familiar with the matter told Times of India. 
 
If everything goes well, this would be the third institutional fund-raise for Oyo Rooms, which was founded by Ritesh Agarwal, a college dropout, as Oravel Stays three years ago. 
 
Softbank is an existing investor in e-tailer Snapdeal, taxi-hailing service Ola and realty portal Housing. 
 
People familiar with the matter, on the condition of anonymity, said Softbank is said to have put in a term sheet, a non-binding agreement between the company and the investor, but the final terms of the funding are yet to be closed. 
 
Sources told TOI that Tiger Global, one of the most aggressive and prolific backers of India's consumer internet story, had also discussed a potential investment in the Oyo Rooms but may have pulled out of the talks. 
 
When contacted by TOI, a Softbank Corp spokesperson in Tokyo said over an email, "We are not able to comment on this." 
 
Meanwhile, CEO of Oyo Rooms also did not offer any comments regarding the matter. 
 
Oyo is present across 15 cities with 4000 budget hotel rooms on its platform. Starting at moderate charges of Rs 999 per night, hotel owners that partner with Oyo see a significant spike in occupancy levels, the aggregator claims. 
 
In March, Oyo had raised $25 million from Greenoaks Capital, an investor in e-Commerce major Flipkart, with existing investors Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners also participating valuing it at $100 million. 
 
"We are seeing for the first time that technology is touching the lower income section so the Indian market will see lots of products and interests in these segments going forward," Rehan Yar Khan, general partner at Mumbai-based early-stage venture fund Orios Ventures told TOI. 
 
Founder of Oyo Rooms, Agarwal, who was chosen for the prestigious Peter Thiel Fellowship aims for Oyo to become the largest technology-enabled network of hotels in the world. 
 
He is also looking to expand its network to 1000 hotels in 25 cities by this year end.

SoftBank says ‘moshi moshi’ to Oyo Rooms

<ul><li>OYO founder <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> was recently booked in a cheating case by a hotel owner in Bengaluru. </li><li>But there have been multiple such incidents across the country. </li><li>In the US too, OYO has been facing similar issues.</li></ul>OYO Hotels &amp; Homes, the Indian unicorn that has gone global seems to be going through a bad time. Founded by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO is on its way to hit its ambitious target of being the world’s largest hotel chain. It helps that they are already South Asia’s largest hotel chain by the number of rooms. OYO also recently launched OYO Partner Engagement Network (OPEN) through which it set up four regional Partner Advisory Councils which “provides a platform to discuss and determine micro and macro issues driving the future of hospitality in India”. Yet the past few months have been turbulent. From multiple FIRs to an uprising from hotel owners, OYO is now dealing with multiple cases. Cheating case against Agarwal and others Recently, a Bengaluru <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/cheating-case-against-oyo-founder-ritesh-agarwal-6-others/articleshow/71905131.cms">hotelier</a> filed a cheating case against Agarwal and six others claiming that the OYO hasn’t paid him his dues. According to the complaint, the hotelier has claimed that OYO was supposed to pay him ₹7 lakh a month for room bookings but failed to do so since May 2019. "Our lawyers are looking into the matter and will be taking strong legal action as these claims are incorrect and defamatory in nature. OYO Hotels &amp; Homes will initiate appropriate criminal proceedings against the Bengaluru owner who is sensationalising a civil dispute to attract attention. On studying a similar matter where an FIR was wrongfully filed in September, the honourable Karnataka High Court recently stayed the adverse actions via an injunction in Bengaluru. We, therefore, have strong reasons to repose our faith in the justice system," said a statement from OYO. OYO also claims to have an annual retention as high as 99.5% across the chain in India &amp; South Asia. Incidents at OYO Hotels Recently, a national level shooter was found dead in an OYO hotel reportedly due to electrocution. On the other hand, an employee in a Gurugram-based OYO hotel was also accused of <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/electrocution-case-oyo-says-it-is-cooperating-with-police-authorities/articleshow/71607725.cms">raping</a> a guest. In both cases, OYO has said that it is working with the authorities and helping with the investigation. Hotel owners’ rising rage Hotel partners have been raising their concerns about OYO for quite some time now, with some even calling it the <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/business/hotel-operators-who-partnered-with-oyo-call-it-biggest-online-fraud-demand-criminal-probe-against-softbank-backed-startup-7462021.html">‘biggest online fraud’.</a> Multiple protests have also been organised by hoteliers against OYO across the country. Most of the protests have been about clearance of dues. Another point <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/as-softbank-oyo-booms-over-10000-hotels-cry-foul-and-check-out/story/383337.html">raised by hotel owners</a> has been that while OYO charges 20% franchise fee on room revenues, it ultimately takes more money through different sources that aren’t disclosed initially. Trouble in America too OYO, after having had a great run in China, also expanded to the US. It has even taken over a Hooters hotel in Las Vegas and rebranded it to be an OYO hotel. US-based media outlet <a href="https://skift.com/2019/10/24/budget-chain-oyo-can-be-a-nightmare-for-u-s-hotel-operators-despite-its-hype/">Skift</a> has reported that several hotel owners complained that OYO’s partner management system didn’t work properly along with non payment of dues. CCI investigation MakeMyTrip and Oyo’s commercial agreement is being investigated by the Competition Commission of India. The alleged dominance that they would enjoy is now under scanner. And prima facie, MakeMyTrip is identified as ‘dominant’ in the online travel market while OYO holds the same position in the hotels market. The joint effect of their partnership could alter the way the market operates. “OYO has been prima facie found to be a significant player in the ‘market for franchising services for budget hotels in India,” said the report. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/why-makemytrip-and-oyo-are-in-trouble-with-the-cci/articleshow/71818051.cms">MakeMyTrip and Oyo are in trouble with the CCI, opening up a gray area for business partnerships in India</a>

Dues, death and an investigation — all that went wrong with OYO hotels in the last 6 months

<ul><li>Oyo has received an undisclosed amount of funding from <keyword id="719382" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airbnb">Airbnb</keyword> in a series E round. </li><li>The strategic investment will see both Oyo and Airbnb collaborate on various projects. </li><li><keyword id="2550719" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">Oyo Rooms</keyword> had also announced its home rental service in Japan on Monday.</li></ul>US-based home renting startup AirBnB has reportedly picked up a stake in Oyo Rooms. In a series E funding whose details are undisclosed, AirBnB has invested in the Indian hospitality unicorn. According to earlier <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/airbnb-in-talks-to-invest-100-200-million-in-oyo-report/story/329283.html">reports</a>, AirBnB had been looking at investing anywhere between $100 million-$200 million in the Indian startup. “As the 6th largest hotel chain operator in the world, we at, OYO Hotels &amp; Homes, are committed to offering our guests and travelers around the world, great quality living spaces. We are happy to have Airbnb as our partner in this vision,” said Maninder Gulati, Global Chief Strategy Officer at OYO Hotels &amp; Homes. Gulati further said that Airbnb’s strong global footprints and access to local communities will open up new opportunities for OYO Hotels &amp; Homes to strengthen and grow while staying true to our core value proposition. According to sources, the funding development from Airbnb comes as a strategic <keyword id="7485728" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Investment-in-OYO">investment in Oyo</keyword>. Both Oyo and Airbnb are looking at opportunities to collaborate on a range of projects, including making OYO accommodations available on the Airbnb platform. “India has approximately 410 million millennials, that’s more than the entire population of the US. This group increasingly makes up for the dominant segment of consumers and is looking for new and authentic travel experiences. We are working towards achieving 1 billion Airbnb users in the next 10 years and India will play an important role in helping us achieve that goal,” Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of Airbnb had told Business Insider on March 13. Oyo Rooms has been growing at a fast rate, expanding its business territories beyond India. Having successfully expanded in China and several South East Asian markets, on Monday, Oyo also announced that it’s expanding in Japan with Oyo Life – an apartment rental service. An official statement from the company said that the company has already received over 11,000+ pre-registrations and has touched an occupancy of over 114% at the time of launch itself. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">A 6-year-old Indian startup wants to be world’s biggest hotel chain</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/exclusive-airbnb-may-defer-its-ipo-plan/articleshow/68392360.cms">'We have not decided if we will go public in 2019': Airbnb cofounder hints at IPO timing</a>

Airbnb picks up a stake in its Indian rival Oyo Rooms

OyoRitesh Agarwal is the chief executive of Oyo.<ul class="summary-list"><li>India's budget hotel chain Oyo has laid off thousands of employees across China and India, according to a report in <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-10/softbank-backed-oyo-is-firing-thousands-across-china-and-india">Bloomberg</a>.</li><li>Oyo is the third company in SoftBank's portfolio to jettison jobs this week, following the layoffs at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zume-pizza-robots-layoffs-leadership-turmoil-alex-garden-softbank-2020-1">Zume</a> and <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/getaround-to-lay-off-about-one-fourth-of-staff">Getaround</a>.</li><li>Oyo has raised more than $3 billion in capital, though the last fundraise included $700 million from its young chief executive, Ritesh Agarwal.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>Oyo, a budget hotel chain that's backed by SoftBank, is letting go of 1,800 employees across China and India, according to a report in Bloomberg.The startup has laid off 5% of its staff in China and another 12% of employees in India, as part of a reorganization, a source with knowledge of the situation told Bloomberg. It expects to cut an additional 1,2000 jobs in India, where it's based, in the next several months.Oyo is the third company in SoftBank's portfolio to jettison jobs this week, following the layoffs at robotic pizza startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zume-pizza-robots-layoffs-leadership-turmoil-alex-garden-softbank-2020-1">Zume</a> and car rental company <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/getaround-to-lay-off-about-one-fourth-of-staff">Getaround</a>.The company lets people book hotel rooms in more than 80 countries through its app. It turns struggling local hotels into Oyo franchises, puts up some money to redecorate and make sure the wireless internet is working, and takes a cut on every booking.Oyo has raised more than $3 billion in capital, though the last fundraise included $700 million from its young chief executive, Ritesh Agarwal. He bought back shares from existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital, as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oyo-raises-15-billion-from-ceo-and-other-backers-at-10-billion-valuation-2019-10">part of a deal that raised Oyo's valuation</a> to $10 billion. SoftBank has been pumping money into the company since 2015.The startup has been called "SoftBank's jewel in India" for being one of the country's most valuable private companies, though a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/technology/oyo-softbank-india.html">recent report in The New York Times</a> said its growth has been accelerated by questionable business practices. An investigation showed that Oyo rented thousands of rooms at unlicensed hotels and guesthouses and let police and other officials use the service for free to avoid trouble with the authorities.Oyo's press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Do you work at Oyo or another SoftBank-backed startup and want to share your story? Contact this reporter via email at mrussell@businessinsider.com or Twitter DM at @meliarobin. <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-job-interview-rule-2013-12">How Elon Musk can tell if job applicants are lying about their experience</a></h3>

Oyo, the hotel startup known as SoftBank's 'jewel in India,' has laid off 1,800, becoming the 3rd SoftBank-backed company to cut jobs this week

<ul><li>Oyo launches a SOS button for its consumers. </li><li>The unicorn startup also has a trained Oyo Safety Response Team. </li><li>With a pilot project in Gurugram currently, the service will soon be available across 25 cities in India.</li></ul>Indian unicorn hospitality startup <keyword id="2550719" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO-Rooms">Oyo Rooms</keyword> has <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/technology/report-oyo-launches-industry-first-in-app-sos-button-here-is-how-the-feature-works-2728644">launched </a>a SOS button for its users. The in-app SOS button will help users staying in Oyo hotels or partnership hotels to alert authorities during an emergency situation. The hospitality chain has also trained a 24x7 OYO Safety Response Team (SRT) which will be able to help consumers. The app will also initiate a call with local law enforcement authorities if the situation arises. A pilot of the SOS button has already been launched with Gurugram and will soon be made available in 25 cities. With increasing number of women and solo travellers in the country, the feature has been long due. “We believe that this will enable guests especially women and solo travellers to feel secure further encouraging travellers to travel to and within India," <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/technology/report-oyo-launches-industry-first-in-app-sos-button-here-is-how-the-feature-works-2728644">said</a> Aditya Ghosh, CEO - India and South Asia, OYO Hotels and Homes. Oyo, which is the largest hotel chain in South Asia, aims to be the world’s biggest hotel chain. “We will have one million rooms inventory into our fold in the near distant future. I think, it should happen in a year and a half,” Ghosh had told the news agency PTI on January 15. The company had recently raised $100 million from China’s ride-hailing <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/chinas-didi-chuxing-invests-in-oyo-brings-billion-dollar-funding-round-to-a-close/">company</a> Didi Chuxing, in continuation with the $1 billion fund Oyo was raising. Oyo’s valuation stays at $5 billion. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">A 6-Year-Old Indian Startup Wants To Be World’s Biggest Hotel Chain</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-rooms-eyeing-acquisition-of-freshmenu/articleshow/68112104.cms">Oyo wants a bite of foodtech, may acquire Freshmenu: Report</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/solo-travel-in-india-rises/articleshow/67936872.cms">More Indians are travelling solo than ever before</a>

Oyo's new SOS button promises to make Indian hotels safer

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">OyoOyo founder Ritesh Agarwal.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Indian hotel marketplace Oyo has expanded into the UK. It aims to partner with budget British hotels to standardising their decor and service.</li><li>Oyo offers a marketplace of mostly budget hotel rooms via its app, hoping to create a level of standardisation of service and decor at low-cost hotels.</li><li>The company was founded by 24-year-old Indian entrepreneur Ritesh Agarwal, and has raised $450 million to date from investors such as SoftBank's Vision Fund, Lightspeed, and Sequoia.</li></ul>Indian startup Oyo has launched in the UK to try and raise the standards of budget hotels across the country.The UK is Oyo's first market outside of Asia, where it has racked up a network of more than 200,000 rooms across India, Malaysia, China, and Nepal.The startup has appointed Coco di Mama cofounder, Jeremy Warner, to run its British business, and plans to invest £40 million ($53 million) in the UK.The startup will become available in 10 cities over the next 18 months, and already has several hotels in its launch city of London.Oyo is like a mix of Airbnb and WeWork. The premise in the UK is that Oyo takes unloved budget hotels, brings them into its franchise under the Oyo brand, and then renovates them to a particular standard.The startup promises to take the management load off independent hotel owners, and to boost their bookings. It takes a cut from room bookings, and benefits from adding to its huge network of rooms around the world.The upside for hotel customers is that they can travel to a particular city and expect a consistent type of decor and service from an Oyo hotel.The startup already has a physical presence in London and is targeting a mix of locations in the city. It has one "townhouse" in Paddington and another in Ilford, an unglamorous location in east London.Customers can book rooms through the Oyo app, or through third-party aggregators like Booking.com.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">OyoAn Oyo Townhouse in Paddington.</div></div></div>Oyo has generated major hype in its home market, not least because of its youthful founder, 24-year-old Ritesh Agarwal, who bases himself Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, India.While at university, Agarwal won $100,000 from the Thiel Fellowship, a grant for budding entrepreneurs that requires them to drop out of college. He has raised $450 million to date from top-tier backers including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Greenoak, and SoftBank's Vision Fund.The company is <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/8XRYZKfISaOL0KDql7SVxJ/Oyo-in-talks-to-raise-up-to-800-million-in-fresh-funding.html">rumoured by the Indian media</a> to be in the process of raising a further $800 million to $1 billion, at a valuation of $4 billion, although Agarwal was tight-lipped about this in a call with Business Insider."We continually get inbounds," he said. "There is no specific view on capital raising right now."He added that Oyo wasn't a particularly capital-intensive business and had a "healthy balance sheet," though he didn't provide further financial detail.Agarwal bills Oyo as a way to rejuvenate struggling local hotels and, by extension, their neighbourhoods. The messaging <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/success-story-of-wework-2017-9/#wework-founders-adam-neumann-and-miguel-mckelvey-met-where-else-at-the-office-1">has echoes of WeWork founder Adam Neumann</a>, another SoftBank entrepreneur who regularly draws on the importance of "community."Agarwal said: "If you think about London, every [area] had its own neighbourhood hotel, a butcher's... these are all slowly disappearing in the face of big businesses showing up. Oyo's goal is to try and keep the originality of the neighbourhood hotel while upgrading them with great quality design and customer service."At the same time," he added. "[Hotel] owners see significantly more return when franchised or leased by us. That's the principle we've taken." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-xs-max-xr-event-wrap-up-2018-9">Apple's entire iPhone XS event in 8 minutes</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "Oyo Rooms India" and got 12 results

OYO has trimmed its losses and here’s how it plans to add more rooms, enhance customer experience

BI India Bureau

OYO upgrades its app for hotel owners and offers financing, marketing support and timely payments

Sanchita Dash

OYO's $415 million acquisition of Amsterdam-based holiday home chain part of plan to become the world's largest hotel company

Sanchita Dash

A 6-year-old Indian startup wants to be world’s biggest hotel chain

Sanchita Dash

Here's what Airbnb's co-founder had to say about OYO before the deal was announced

Sriram Iyer

OYO Rooms is the most valuable “hotel chain” in South Asia after Softbank investment

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SoftBank says ‘moshi moshi’ to Oyo Rooms

BI India Bureau

Dues, death and an investigation — all that went wrong with OYO hotels in the last 6 months

Sanchita Dash

Airbnb picks up a stake in its Indian rival Oyo Rooms

Sanchita Dash

Oyo, the hotel startup known as SoftBank's 'jewel in India,' has laid off 1,800, becoming the 3rd SoftBank-backed company to cut jobs this week

Melia Russell

Oyo's new SOS button promises to make Indian hotels safer

Sanchita Dash

This SoftBank-funded startup was founded by a 24-year-old to glam up budget hotels, and it's just launched in the UK

Shona Ghosh

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