Oyo China grows double in two months, manages 20% more rooms than in India

Softbank-backed hotel chain Oyo has been growing faster in China. The company has grown into double, in terms of managing rooms, in a span of only two months.

Gurugram-based firm manages 1,80,000 rooms across 4,000 leased and franchised properties in China, which is over 20 per cent of rooms the company manages in India and South Asia.

We are now among top-10 hotels chains in China and our average occupancy jumped to 60-70 per cent from 25 per cent, CEO of Oyo Ritesh Agarwal told ET. The company claims to have 600 supply chain partners and over 100 warehouses for keeping infrastructure.

Oyo China has 20-30 per cent lower in comparison to its competition in the market, added Agarwal.

In May this year, Gurugram-headquartered hotel brand had kicked off operations in China in partnership with China Lodging Group. Entrackr had first reported the development. Ever since it has been aggressive in the Chinese market and registered noticeable growth in the last five months. Oyo is now present in 265 cities.

According to Softbank's CEO Masayoshi Son, who in September led $1 billion round into the hotel chain, the growth was led by the advanced use of technology like artificial intelligence by the hotel brand. Besides, the company has made some aggressive moves to keep the growth wheel moving.

It hired Lei Wei (CFO), who is currently leading the company’s business in China. Oyo has also poached Google and Uber executive Jia Zou as its technology head and Tony Liang, formerly with Wanda, SF Express and Dianping, as its chief human resources officer.

For China operations, Oyo has a dedicated team of over 5,000 employees.

In China, about 70 per cent of its business happens through organic channels, including OYO app and digital platforms. Online travel operators also contribute 20 per cent to the company's revenue.

Last week, ex-IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh was roped in by Oyo Rooms as the CEO for India and South Asia. He would be responsible for operations in countries including India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal and upcoming market in the region.

In October, the Agarwal-led firm had entered Indonesian cities Jakarta, Surabaya, and Palembang with more than 1,000 rooms in three cities.

This year, the company forayed into many international markets including the UK, Nepal, Dubai and China. Oyo aspires to become the largest hotel chain globally by 2022.

Whether that will be a reality or not only time will tell, but one thing is certain that it has been trying to win the market, which has been famous for not so good to international firms such as Google, Uber and Amazon.