OYO Hotels sees room for growth in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR: India’s OYO Hotels is expanding into the Southeast Asian market, with Malaysia being a key market in its plan.
OYO Hotels said it was committed to a highly localised approach to building its business in Malaysia.
In a statement, OYO Hotels said it had committed an initial US$20 million (RM79.72 million) for expansion in Malaysia, with plans to double-down on investments in the country next year.
OYO Hotels currently operates 50 branded hotels in all major cities in Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi, Johor and Melaka, with the largest concentration of properties being in Kuala Lumpur, and covering key localities such as Bukit Bintang, Cheras, Ampang, Masjid India, Pudu, Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam.
It said this resulted in a variety of quality and affordable stay options for international tourists and domestic travellers, with room prices starting as low as RM49 a night.
Having experienced strong growth in the first quarter of the year, the company forecasts positive growth for the rest of the year and into next year.
The company has served more than 150,000 customers via 100,000 check-ins in Malaysia.
“Owing to our widespread presence, we are seeing high demand for our hotels. Daily room nights increased five-fold in the last quarter alone. At this growth rate, we are looking at achieving a 20-fold increase by onboarding 1,000 hotels over the next 12 months.
“With 50 hotels here, OYO Hotels is the only hotel network operating on such a scale while offering value for money to guests. The Malaysian market is very promising for us, which justifies our heavy investment here,” said OYO chief operating officer Abhinav Sinha.
Founded five years ago, OYO Hotels is already shaping up to be one of the most powerful and successful hospitality brands to emerge in the last decade.
“Before OYO Hotels came about, hospitality and real estate were broken categories.
“There was a huge disconnect between demand and supply of quality living spaces, forcing travellers and urban dwellers to compromise on location, quality and price.
“With a solid platform and network, we utilise technology and talent to fix this problem,” said Abhinav.
The company partners with existing hotel properties on an exclusive inventory basis in a techbased franchise setup.
OYO Hotels then takes on complete 360-degree ownership of the end-to-end customer experience in properties, from the search and booking process to in-room amenities, service-delivery and check-out.