Hotels body seeks police probe against Oyo

More than a week after the registration of a first information report (FIR) against Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal filed by Bengaluru hotelier Natarajan VRS, Bengaluru-based Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association has also written to the commissioner of police in Bengaluru to conduct an investigation against the company.

The Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association, which claims it is a permanent invitee to the advisory panel of the department of tourism in the Karnataka government wrote to the commissioner of police in the city to conduct an investigation against Oyo last week. The association has stated in its letter that owing to the "unfair business practices of Oyo" receivables and losses to hoteliers in Karnataka amount to hundreds of crores.

In its letter, a copy of which ET has seen, the association which claims it has over 1800 members across hotels and restaurants, stated that Oyo has been making wilful misuse of its dominant position and their technology to deliberately falsify booking data and cheating the hoteliers by modifying data and withholding substantial amounts.

“We also met the additional commissioner of police last week and it was conveyed to us that appropriate action will be taken. We have received complaints from our members against the company and we want to ensure it does not become a big scam. It is not just our association members, but we believe no hoteliers should suffer. We have informed all our members to be careful,” said PC Rao, president of the association and vice president of the Karnataka Hoteliers Association.

In a response to ET’s query, Oyo said ‘barring a couple’, none of the association members have Oyo partners as members and that the association primarily caters to the restaurant owners in the area.

Rao said more than 100 members are Oyo partners and that while some members are still continuing with Oyo, some have ended agreements recently.