OYO To Strengthen Position In Indonesia By Launching Services In 100 Cities

In a bid to boost its presence in the international market, Gurugram-based hospitality unicorn OYO is aiming to expand its operations in 100 cities across Indonesia by the end of 2019. It also recorded 5X growth in the last three months in the country.

With a view to strengthening its position in the Southeast Asian hospitality market, OYO launched operations in Indonesia in October 2018. It started out with nearly 30 properties located across three cities — Jakarta, Surabaya, and Palembang. According to the company, it currently operates 150 hotels across 16 Indonesian cities. OYO is also looking to add nearly 70 hotels to its chain every month.

During its foray into the Indonesian market, the company had announced an investment of $100 Mn (INR 711 Cr) to expand its operations to 35 cities in the country, including Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Bali, over the subsequent 15 months.

“We intend to invest over $100 Mn (INR 711 Cr) in this high-growth market and plan to expand our presence to the top 100 cities in Indonesia, including Yogyakarta, Bandung, Surabaya that we recently entered and breaking into Bali over the next 11 months, ” Ritesh Agarwal, founder and group CEO of OYO Hotels and Homes, said.

While speaking about OYO’s phenomenal growth in Indonesia, Agarwal said that the company had entered the market with the mindset of an Indonesian company and that every aspect of the business was localised. This helped them consider the aspects that matter to travellers and customise their offerings in the country accordingly.

Further, OYO Hotels and Homes Indonesia country head Rishabh Gupta said that at present, more than 70% of the OYO hotels have a rating of over eight (on a scale of 10) across various booking platforms.

The company is backed by major investors such as SoftBank Group, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, Hero Enterprise, and the China Lodging Group.

OYO: Homing In Across Borders

The announcement of OYO’s growth strategy in Indonesia comes soon after the company recently launched its operation in the Philippines. It has started listing hotels in the country with a focus on the capital city, Manila.

Besides Indonesia, OYO has also been taking several initiatives to boost its presence in other Southeast Asian hospitality markets.

Recently, the company appointed Sam Shih as its chief operating officer (COO) in China and Tan Ming Luk as its country head in Malaysia. It also onboarded Andrew Verbitsky to lead its Europe operations.

Founded in 2013 by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO has grown at a phenomenal pace to include more than 13,000 hotels and 3,000 homes in its chain. It embarked on its global expansion in 2016 with its first international launch in Malaysia followed by Nepal. The company really stepped on the gas pedal last year, taking its hospitality services to China, the UK, the UAE and Indonesia.

In December 2018, OYO announced its first Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) for 250 employees in a secondary share acquisition programme worth $5.7 Mn – $7.1 Mn (INR 40-50 Cr).

This month, it also announced the launch of OYO Home in Dubai. Under this, the company will rent out unoccupied houses to users.