OYO HOTEL
are budget hotels which have partnered with and enlisted the services of OYO Rooms Malaysia. We speak to Tan Ming Luk, the country head for OYO Malaysia and Singapore to find out more about the business model, and how despite the pandemic, OYO hotels can help spur domestic tourism back to life once interstate borders reopen.
Many would have heard or read about Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of OYO Rooms, who was at one point the world’s youngest billionaire. The concept for OYO Rooms came to him during his travels, in which he realised that there was not one standard chain or brand for hotels in the budget segment.
“And the fragmentation of budget hotels meant that standard within each hotel would vary in terms of quality and pricing, as no one actually ‘governs’ the budget hotels, because it’s not a star hotel,” shares Ming Luk.
“Thus he [Ritesh] started the business with the hope that he could unify and help budget hotel operators elevate their business in terms of operations and customer acquisition. Therefore, each property would then have a certain fixed standard, and in every OYO hotel guests go to, they can expect a certain level of hospitality. Essentially making these properties clean and cosy; providing core values for the right price,” he explains.
Once OYO Rooms signs up the hotels, the company provides the branding and the SOPs in order to uplift the property to the OYO hotels standard. And once the building