Kolkata, Mar 12 (UNI) OYO Hotels, Homes and quality spaces, today announced a commitment of Rs 1400 crores ($ 200mn) for the India and South Asia business as part of its efforts to further double on its expansion plans, improve customer experience and ensure increase in continued asset owner success.
The idea is to further deepen and widen presence across the home country while focusing on aggressive capacity building to bring the choice of a beautiful living space of an OYO hotel to every corner of the country.
The company today also announced the addition of Collection O hotels to its existing portfolio of the budget- to mid-segment hotel chain brands while introducing an in-app SOS button that activates on check-in- a first in the hospitality industry. Currently, over 93 per cent of OYO’s sales are from repeat or word-of-mouth customers. With the additional funding, OYO Hotels & Homes furthers its commitment to deliver consistent improvement in customer experience, across its brands.
Referring to the India & South Asia business, Aditya Ghosh, CEO, India & South Asia said, “The focus on growing and deepening presence in India & South Asia is relentless. Key priorities as identified by the business for the year include delivering superior quality of product and service for every OYO brand with a focus on safety and security, winning hearts and minds while expanding our presence deep and wide, a focused fast-paced growth while making partnering with OYO the most attractive entrepreneurial opportunity for asset owners.
"Today, with the further investment of Rs 1,400 crores and the launch of mid-market brand Collection O hotels, I think we are all set to ensure our customers get the best experience and prices like always - but just a little better than yesterday,” he added.
The company aims to focus on investing and franchise building to take advantage of the global Rs$3.6trn accommodation market opportunity rather than chase short-term goals like profitability. Improvement in economics is ongoing, however, with losses as a percentage of realised value (OYO Hotels’ sales run rate) reducing year-on-year from 44.5 per cent in FY 2016-17 to 20.3 per cent in FY 2017-18. In FY 2018-19, OYO estimates further improvement in the economics of close to fifty per cent with losses going down to 10.4% (Estimates).
Globally, OYO Hotels & Homes is now present in ten countries, over 500 cities, and hosts millions of guests from around the world in over 18,000 buildings (hotels & homes) and over 515,000 rooms with OYO Hotels’ sales run-rate at December ended 2018 at $1.8 bn - growing 4.3x yoy.
UNI PL KK