OYO Marks Fifth International Foray, Launches In UAE With 1K Rooms

Hospitality company OYO announced its fifth international foray by expanding to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Gurugram-based company has already expanded its operations to China, Malaysia, Nepal, UK and is further planning to set its foot in Japan.

The company has started its operations in the UAE with over 1,100 rooms in Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah with room rates starting with $40.8 (150 Dirhams).

According to the company, it is also looking to expand to more than 12K rooms, and 150 Hotels in all of the seven Emirates namely Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain, by 2020.

Manu Midha, Regional Lead, UAE, OYO Hotels said, “We are really excited about the opportunity offered by the UAE. This expansion, therefore, is in line with our quest to support the country’s hospitality ecosystem and creating infrastructure for asset owners to grow and run successful businesses, all of this while ensuring high standards of quality”.

This development comes at a time when The UAE has set a target of opening over 75K rooms in the country and other neighbouring countries in order to welcome over 25 Mn guests for the World Expo 2020.

According to OYO CEO Ritesh Agarwal, the hospitality market in the UAE will be growing over the years and thus the company is all set to hold onto this opportunity.

“As per a recent report, Dubai alone will host over 20 Mn visitors and currently records approximately hotel keys per resident at 29.9 per 1,000 people, which is on the higher side when benchmarked against international hub cities, a clear indicator of the potential of this market,” Agarwal said.

Hospitality Industry In UAE

According to Alpen Capital’s latest report on GCC Hospitality Industry 2018, the UAE hospitality market is expected to touch $7.6 Bn by 2022 at a CAGR of 8.5%.

The report also stated that the international tourist visits are expected to grow at a five-year CAGR of 4.3% and is predicted to reach 25.5 Mn.

Additionally, the hotel supply is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6% to open nearly 183.7K hotel rooms.

UAE Emirate Dubai which is to host the World Expo 2020, is reportedly one of the leading performing hotel markets in the UAE in terms of hotel revenue per available room (REVPAR).

According to a May 2018 KPMG report, Dubai had recorded 15.8 Mn tourists in 2017 which is projected to grow to 20 Mn by 2020.

At this point, when Dubai is set to embark on a journey towards huge growth and development in this space, this expansion by OYO may be a road to way more bright future for the company.