OYO buys Las Vegas-based Hooters Hotel, to rebrand it as OYO Hotel by end of 2019

Indian hotel aggregator OYO’s expansion story is not a new thing. It has been attracting investment and expanding internationally in the last couple of years. 

After entering the US market with a single property in Texas in February this year and committing $300 million investment in the US, OYO has bought Hooters Casino Hotel in Las Vegas.

The company has partnered with Highgate, which operates Hooters Hotel to create its first key flagship in the city. Though, OYO did not reveal the transaction amount. 

As per media reports,  the deal is said to be worth $135 million.

The hotel constituting 657 rooms and a 35,000 square-feet casino will undergo a complete transformation which is expected to get completed by the end of this year.

It would not be wrong to say that Ritesh Agarwal led startup has found a third home in the US after India and China as it has already spread its wings in 50 US cities including Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, and Miami.

Two months back, the company had committed $300 million to renovate properties, build tech, design and operating teams to spread inventory across the US. Currently, it is offering living spaces throughout 112 plus hotels in more than 60 cities and 21 states. 

This development comes one month after the global COO of OYO – Abhinav Sinha had moved base to the US to personally oversee the execution of growth plans in the Donald Trump-led country.

Entrackr exclusively reported the development.

SoftBank-backed hospitality firm is now planning to hire up to 4,000 mid-and-senior level employees for domestic operations in the next six months.

Recently, OYO had roped in Alejandro Chouza (ex-Uber General Manager) as Vice President of Operations to lead the company’s engineering center in Seattle in July 2019.

Founded in 2013, OYO has turned into the world's third-largest chain of hotels. China has now become the largest market for it. Also, the company has become the second-largest hotel chain in the country within a year of launch.

Since OYO is expanding across the globe with all leaps and bounds, the question that arises is how fast will it grow in its third home market and to what extent?