Private hotel owners listed on MMT raises concerns over favouring OYO

Fear of losing revenue and earning shares, a group of independent hotel owners who have their properties listed on MakeMyTrip raised concerns over company's commercial agreement with hotel brand OYO.

Members of Delhi Hotels and Restaurants Owners Association led by Sandeep Khandelwal have met the CTrip-backed company seeking an assurance that it will not favour Oyo over other listed hotels.

According to an ET report, the association, which claims to represent about 400-500 small and mid-sized budget hotel under its umbrella has got a verbal assurance from the NASDAQ-listed company.

The development comes after 3 months of OYO comeback on the OTA platforms (MakeMyTrip and Goibibo) which blocked the SoftBank-backed hospitality platform for more than two years.

Also Read: Exclusive: After Dubai, Oyo kicks-off operations in China

The concerns came to light when MakeMyTrip announced the agreement with OYO and the ratings and reviews of OYO properties had improved quickly. The hotel owners blamed that earlier the ratings were lower than their properties, but the due to backing from big investors and MakeMyTrip the conditions changed in quick time.

A MakeMyTrip spokesperson, however, declined the report saying that the company has neither met nor negotiating with any such association.

Interestingly, MakeMyTrip which has been working with Treebo Hotels and FabHotels on revenue sharing model delisted both players from its platform soon after Oyo agreement.

Meanwhile, MakeMyTrip is also looking for a significant stake in OYO, which is also in talks to raise a major investment from SoftBank and others.