OYO Branches Out Into Holiday Homes Biz With A $335 Mn Investment

After venturing into coworking spaces last month, the Indian budget hotel startup announces its entrance into vacation home rental business to expand its footprint in Europe. OYO will be investing $335 Mn (€300 Mn) in the new venture. Ironically, there are speculations that OYO might compete with another global giant Airbnb, which is one of its investors. 

OYO had acquired Amsterdam-based holiday rental company @Leisure from media and technology company Axel Springer in May, this year, and rebranded it as OYO Vacation Homes. The company says that it aims to turn the platform into a “top-notch” holiday experience and the “partner of choice” for the homeowners. 

@Leisure had close to 2.8 Mn travellers annually from 118 countries. In Europe, it has tie ups with 1.15 Lakh homes and 3 Lakhs rooms globally. The acquisition will boost OYO’s growth in Europe as the country’s vacation rental market is said to be growing 4% to 8% annually, and will be worth $18.6 Bn this year. 

The company has four brands – Belvilla, DanCenter and  Danland, with more than 30K hotels across 13 countries of Europe. Traum-Ferienwohnungen offers subscription-based home management services in 85K homes in 50 countries. With this deal, OYO is closer to becoming a global real estate brand.  

OYO plans on paying special focus on the relationship between the homeowners and the venture and enabling them to deliver a chic hospitality experience. It aims to build the largest vacation rental management service business in Europe managed under it.

“We are focusing on enhancing our customer proposition to not just families but new age millennials and young executives, travelling for business or leisure, including consumers from newer geographies who travel to Europe from across the world including US, Asia, China and the Middle East,” Tobias Wann, CEO of OYO Vacation Homes, said in a statement.

OYO claims to be the world’s third-biggest and fastest-growing hotel chain. It operates more than 23K hotels and 1.25 Lakh holiday homes in more than 80 countries, the company said. It also claimed that the OYO Vacation Homes has doubled its growth since the @Leisure Group acquisition.