OYO is continuing its meteoric rise across the world, with the latest destination for its success being China. One of India’s biggest hotel aggregators, OYO was launched in China about 18 months back, and within this short span of time, the company already has a strong presence in 320 cities. With close to 10,000 OYO brand hotels operating around 450,000 rooms, the performance of the company in a new territory has been nothing short of impressive. On Wednesday, OYO reported that it had become the second largest hotel group in China.
When asked what about the secret to the rapid success of the company, COO of OYO China, Sam Shih said, “OYO Jiudian (Hotels) operates like a Chinese company and delivers better living for middle-income people across the country.” What also seemingly works for the company is their strategy of targeting the Tier II to Tier VI cities. The company has kept Tier II cities at the center of its business strategies and as a result has expanded in the target areas rapidly.
Sam Shih further added that at least 200,000 people stay in the OYO properties across China on a daily basis thanks to the great experience being offered at low costs. Not just the guests, the franchise partners and employees are happy with OYO too. In the report, the company confirmed that more than 97% franchise partners have renewed their contracts, an indication to how OYO has improved the business in terms of occupancy and revenue for their partners. Shih said “Also, we have enabled jobs for over 100,000 young people due to the occupancy rise and, as more people stay in our hotels, more economic opportunities are created”.
In the official statement, OYO also added that they were exploring the possibility of collaborating with online travel agents like Ctrip, Fliggy and more traffic building platforms, in order to offer enhanced visibility from potential customers to the asset owners associated with the company.
Founder Ritesh Agarwal said in an interview a few months back that the company’s target was to be the world’s biggest hotel group by the year 2023. With a footprint in over 800 cities in 24 countries across the world, and the exponential growth shown in a challenging market like China, one could say that they are well on track to achieve their founder’s vision.
