Hospitality unicorn OYO becomes third largest global hotel chain

Oravel Stays Pvt Ltd, which operates OYO Hotels and Homes, announced today that it is the world's third largest hotel chain as per room count at the end of June 2019. 

The Gurugram-based hospitality chain made its foray into China in June 2018, and went on to become the second largest hotel chain in China in less than a year.

Last month, OYO announced that it would be pumping in $100 million into its operations in China — OYO Jiudian.

OYO Hotels and Homes entered the markets of Indonesia and Vietnam to capitalise on its momentum in the Asian market, and expand its presence in south-east Asia. 

The hospitality unicorn had announced in March that it planned to put in $200 million to expand its foothold in the south-east Asian market. In April, the hotel chain announced plans of entering the Japanese market in partnership with SoftBank.

Oravel announced last month that it was planning to invest $300 million in the US to expand its presence in North America.

The recent acquisition of @Leisure has further helped the company strengthen its leadership in the vacation home segment in Europe.

A significant part of funds is being invested in the business as the company focuses on maintaining its growth momentum across geographies, the company said in a statement.

“This is a strong validation of the impact we have on their business, both at customer experience and revenue levels,” Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO (Group), OYO Hotels & Homes, said. “Today, we are a small percentage of the world’s accommodation market, and we have an incredible opportunity ahead of us. We are just getting started.”

OYO Hotels and Homes has garnered funding from Airbnb, SoftBank Vision Fund, Greenoak Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Hero Enterprise.