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Business

OYO launches ‘Super OYO’

In line with the company’s mission to double down on trusted and best-in-class customer experiences, ‘Super OYO’ is one of the multiple programmes OYO is working on to help customers find choices for the kind of stay they are looking for…reports Asian Lite News

Global travel technology company OYO has launched a programme to recognise hotels that provide the most consistent and high-quality customer experience.

The category called ‘Super OYO’ constantly analyses each hotel’s performance on multiple parameters such as customer ratings and reviews, keeping maximum rooms operational consistently, smooth check-in experience, among others, said the company.

Consumers can now see hotels marked ‘Super OYO’ while booking through the OYO App. Currently, there are around 200+ Super OYOs available on the site and the company will encourage other hotels on its platform to work towards achieving this highly selective moniker and becoming a part of this exclusive category.

In line with the company’s mission to double down on trusted and best-in-class customer experiences, ‘Super OYO’ is one of the multiple programmes OYO is working on to help customers find choices for the kind of stay they are looking for, provide relevant information to make an informed choice and ensure comfortable and hassle-free stays at highly competitive prices.

‘Super OYO’ is now available to all app users in India and is set to be launched across key global markets in 2023. OYO customers can easily access the Super OYOs category from the home screen by clicking on the Super OYO banner that leads to a dedicated aSuper OYO’ store, select their destination city and browse all available hotels.

While appealing to guests, this new category also recognises hotel operators (patrons) who go above and beyond to provide exceptional customer experiences. Since only hotels that meet predefined parameters can beArecognised as ‘Super OYO’, these properties are required to maintain an average rating of 4 and above, ensuring zero check-in issues, low cancellations and minimal negative feedback.

Since the tag is a non-paid category achievable by maintaining excellent customer experiences, hotel owners can create a niche for their hotel in the market, said the company.

“Over the last few months, as travel resurged, our customers gave us a lot of constructive feedback. One of the questions I always get is, when staying in a city where multiple OYOs are available, which is the ‘best OYO’. So today we are announcing ‘Super OYO’,” said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO.

“The best OYOs by experience, location, analysis of thousands of reviews and verified experiences. For our customers, you get the best of the best OYOs and for our owner patrons’ they get higher returns on their assets. Just download the OYO App and hit the Super OYO widget on the home screen,” Agarwal said.

As per App Annie, the OYO App is the world’s third most downloaded platform globally in the travel category. So far, the app has been downloaded across geographies by more than 100 million users, with a majority based in India.

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“Over the next few months, we will continue to launch initiatives to make customer journeys smoother – right from more tailored products, better digital experiences, and faster turnaround for all travellers,” informed Agarwal.

Since the pandemic, a permanent shift in consumer behaviour has rewired consumption patterns, leading to the adoption of a renewed value system – especially when it comes to travel decisions.

During this time, OYO has worked towards building a more nuanced, updated, and easy-to-use app that catered to the post-pandemic consumers’ interests.

To make customer journeys smoother, OYO has launched several tags and highlights such as Trip Type, Long Stays, Check-in Ratings and Super OYO, among others.

The new app also includes a brand-new user interface and improved features for smoother navigation, clear transparency with no hidden terms and conditions.

The OYO app is now 50 per cent faster, allowing users to load the home page within just 1.9 seconds. Check-in ratings offer consumers greater transparency so that they can make informed choices while booking hotels.

Further, OYO’s loyalty programme ‘Wizard Plus’ offers free room nights after every five stays.

The company said it is also embarking on an initiative to install a contemporary version of the ubiquitous OYO signboards on the fascia of select OYO hotels.

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Business

OYO slashes 10% of its workforce

OYO is merging its product and engineering teams for smoother functioning…reports Asian Lite News

Hospitality major and IPO-bound OYO on Saturday said it is downsizing 10 per cent of its 3,700-strong workforce, laying off 600 employees while hiring 250 fresh members in the team.

OYO is merging its product and engineering teams for smoother functioning, according to the company.

“OYO is downsizing its product and engineering, corporate headquarters and the OYO vacation homes teams, while it adds people to the partner relationship management and the business development teams,” the company said in a statement.

“OYO will downsize 10 per cent of its 3700-employee base, which includes fresh hiring of 250 members and letting go of 600 employees,” it added.

According to the hospitality major, “the downsizing in tech is also happening in teams which were developing pilots and proof of concepts such as in-app gaming, social content curation and patron-facilitated content”.

“Additionally, members of projects which have now been successfully developed and deployed such as ‘Partner SaaS’ are being either let go or are being redeployed in core product & tech areas such as AI-driven pricing, ordering and payments,” it added.

IPO-bound hospitality tech player OYO has surprised the industry observers by posting a positive EBITDA of Rs 10 crore in the first quarter of FY23 — against the backdrop of Rs 472 crore EBITDA loss in FY22.

The key drivers of this recovery, according to the information filed by the company, were higher monthly revenue per hotel due to increase in occupancy rates and more homes being added to the platform.

The company said that “it will be adding 250 members primarily in its relationship management teams to ensure better consumer and partner satisfaction and in business development teams to help scale up the number of hotels and homes on its platform”.

“Every member of the OYO team and I myself will proactively endorse the strength of each of these employees. It is unfortunate that we are having to part ways with a lot of these talented individuals who have made valuable contributions to the company,” said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO.

As integration of various functions of its European vacation homes business progresses, it is downsizing in some parts of the business to increase efficiency and harness synergies.

The company said it has also reassessed its corporate headquarter base afresh and is merging congruent roles and flattening team structures where needed.

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India News

India regulator fines OYO, GoIbibo, MakeMyTrip

A major allegation against MMT-Go was that it imposed a price parity in their agreements with hotel partners…reports Asian Lite News

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday imposed penalties of Rs 223.48 crore and Rs 168.88 crore on MMT-Go (GoIbibo and MakeMyTrip) and OYO, respectively, for anti-competitive conduct.

The Competition watchdog also directed MMT-Go to amend its market behaviour, for indulging in anti-competitive conduct.

The monetary as well as behavioral sanctions on MMT-Go (MakeMyTrip and GoIbibo) have been imposed by the CCI for abusing its dominant position and also for having anti-competitive arrangement with OYO (Oravel Stays Ltd).

Monetary penalty was also imposed on OYO for its anti-competitive arrangement with MMT-Go through which MMT-Go delisted the competitors of OYO from its online portals in 2018.

A major allegation against MMT-Go was that it imposed a price parity in their agreements with hotel partners.

Under such agreements, the hotel partners are not allowed to sell their rooms on any other platform or on its own online portal at a price below the price at which it is being offered on the two entities’ platforms.

It was also alleged that OYO was given preferential treatment by MMT on its platform, resulting in blocking of market access to other players.

Reacting to the development, FHRAI Executive Committee member and Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) President Pradeep Shetty said that it was on the basis of their complaint that OYO and Go-MMT were being investigated upon.

“Based on the complaints filed by us back in 2019, Oyo and Go-MMT were under investigation by the CCI for indulging in anti-competitive conduct. The CCI had then identified a case for investigations into both the entities’ business practices under Section 26(1) of the Competition Act, 2002. Today, the CCI has imposed penalties of Rs 223 crore and Rs 168 crore on Go-MMT and Oyo for anti-competition practices,” FHRAI said in a statement.

“This is by far one of the biggest wins for the hospitality industry against the dominance of the aggregators. We also see this as a major verdict that will go a long way in disciplining the OTAs and saving the Industry,” it added.

The actions of Go-MMT and Oyo have individually as well as collectively caused immense damage to hotels across all segments. These entities indulge in deep discounting, unfair business practices, dominant positioning and unilateral agreements, among other unethical business practices, FHRAI said.

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Business

Oyo plans big for South India

Travel is rebounding in the country with continued growth in occupancy rate owing to the increase in demand…reports Asian Lite News

Buoyed by the strong booking trends in the business as well as liesure travel segments, global hospitality technology major, OYO is looking to significantly increase hotels and homes (storefronts) in South India on its platform. The company intends to add around 35 hotels per week, a release stated on Monday.

Currently operating around 1350 properties in the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, OYO aims to increase its storefronts by 500-700 in the region.

Travel is rebounding in the country with continued growth in occupancy rate owing to the increase in demand. Down South, cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai are among the top 10 business markets for OYO in India. Additionally, Kochi, Visakhapatnam and Pondicherry have emerged as prominent leisure markets in the country among others.

OYO has witnessed sustained momentum in travel with a jumpstart in business from various industry sectors since January 2022 as Bangalore and Hyderabad top the list of most booked OYO hotels in the country besides Delhi. Further, the company is optimistic of its growth plans as its surveys have shown that the momentum is likely to continue, buoyed by a resurgent economy and the upcoming festive season, the company release noted.

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Business

OYO buys Danish chain Bornholmske Feriehuse

Bornholmske Feriehuse was founded in 2002 by Rasmus Lund and Jacob Lund. It has 737 holiday homes exclusively spread over 30 holiday parks…reports Asian Lite News

In line with its commitment to the ‘Invest in Denmark’ initiative, online hospitality major OYO has acquired Europe-based holiday homes operator Bornholmske Feriehuse, which aims to accelerate the growth of travel and tourism in the market.

Bornholmske Feriehuse, which has over 700 homes on its platform, is based out of Bornholm island in Denmark and is expected to clock more than 2,50,000 guest nights in 2022.

“I feel elated as we welcome Rasmus and integrate Bornholmske Feriehuse under the brand OYO. Bornholm exhibits great potential for tourism in the coming years. We are happy to extend cooperation to the ‘Invest in Denmark’ initiative and work for the development of tourism in Bornholm and Denmark,” Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO, said in a statement.

‘Invest in Denmark’ helps attract and retain foreign investments in Denmark by providing a customised one-stop service for foreign companies looking to set up or expand a business in Denmark.

Bornholmske Feriehuse was founded in 2002 by Rasmus Lund and Jacob Lund. It has 737 holiday homes exclusively spread over 30 holiday parks. It is a full stack operator providing end-to-end solutions to homeowners.

In the coming time, the holiday homes from Bornholmske Feriehuse will become available for booking through more than 130 online portals with which DanCenter works closely.

“The collaboration with OYO through DanCenter A/s, therefore, gives us the opportunity to keep up with demand, just as our homeowners also benefit from the many online portals that DanCenter collaborates with. The agreement may help our many holiday homeowners achieve a higher rental percentage, while also contributing income and jobs to Bornholm,” said Rasmus Lund, Director of Bornholmske Feriehuse.

Voted as Europe’s second best holiday island by the Conde Nast Traveler, Bornholm is one of Europe’s most sought-after holiday islands.

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