OYO Expands Network In NorthEast; Offers 250 Rooms In Gangtok And Darjeeling

OYO Rooms, a Gurgaon-based branded budget hotel marketplace, has expanded its services to the northeast. It will offer 250 rooms in Gangtok and Darjeeling, at a minimum of INR 999 per night and premium rooms for INR 2,500-4,000 per night. The rooms will be available in popular tourist spots like Tiger Hills and Mall Road in Darjeeling, and Tsango Lake, MG Marg in Gangtok.

The step was taken after the company received a high number of queries for starting services in the Northeast from cities like Kolkata, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi.

“The hospitality sector is still underdeveloped in the Northeast and we are certain that the introduction of OYO’s standardised, affordable stays will attract more tourists,”said Ritesh Agarwal, CEO at OYO Rooms. “Kolkata accounts for 30 per cent of the bookings in Darjeeling and Gangtok while Delhi contributes 12 per cent bookings in the region,” he added.

This announcement comes at the time when it announced to have unit profitability at an aggregate level across its presence in 170 cities of India. The startup registered 15x year/year growth with 2.3 Mn booked room-night transactions in Q1 Jan-Mar 2016.

Launched in 2014 by Ritesh Agarwal, OYO rooms is currently operational in 177 cities, having a network of 65,000 rooms in 5,500 hotels. It typically picks up 10-15 rooms in an existing budget hotel, and standarises the look and feel and ensures quality a tad better that what the hotel gives.

The company has to date raised a total of $225.65 Mn in five rounds of funding, including recent $100 Mn funding last month. It is backed by marquee investors such as Softbank, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, DSG Consumer Partners, and Venture Nursery.

It recently acquired ZO Rooms, a similar venture, based in Delhi/NCR, Bangalore and Mumbai, and has also launched Malaysian operations this January.