OYO checks into UK, to put £40 million over 2 years

NEW DELHI: After expanding aggressively in China, SoftBankbacked budget accommodation brand OYO Hotels on Wednesday announced its foray into London, marking the expansion of its footprint beyond Asia.

Over the next two years, the company plans to invest £40 million in the UK and will look to launch in 10 cities that would include Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Starting its operations with four properties in London that would offer about 80 rooms, OYO plans to take the number to more than 5,000 rooms by 2020.

Ritesh Agarwal, CEO, OYO, said the UK represents a multi billion dollar opportunity for the company.

“The UK has been the topmost international travel destination for several years and last year hosted over 19 million tourists from around the world,” Agarwal said. “We are thrilled to be able to… empower the UK independent hoteliers with the technology and operational expertise that helps them focus on customer experience and thereby generate increased, sustainable incomes.”

OYO’s UK business will be led by British entrepreneur Jeremy Sanders, who co-founded the British restaurant chain, Coco di Mama.

Over the next year, they aim to build the team by hiring an additional 100 employees across the country. Sanders said the company wants to become the trusted partner of independent hotels across the UK. “As we’ve experienced in Asia, we are confident that our bespoke technology and operational expertise brings real value to hotel owners and customers alike. There is so much potential here.”

OYO will start with the OYO Townhouse model in the UK and these properties will be operated via the manchise model — leasing, with full inventory control, similar to other markets such as India and China.