China’s Sleeping

within the addressable market for OYO Jiudian (Hotels).

There is a large blue ocean market beneath the iceberg, which is undoubtedly exciting for us. These small independent hotels with fewer than 80 rooms are scattered around lower-tier cities in China. They are not branded, they lack experience in operations and display low-profit margins. Those are the major long-standing pain points for owners but represent an opportunity for OYO to add value.”

Mastering the mid-market

This is where the company’s unique business model comes to the fore.

It revolves around first-tier cities whilst planting roots in second-, thirdand lower-tier markets, targeting the increasing band of middle-income earners who want to experience affordable quality on their travels.

The biggest differentiating factor is OYO’s full-stack model which starts with supply acquisition, renovation, hospitality and operations, and technology, ending with omnichannel distribution both on and offline.

“OYO’s mission is to upgrade all forms of real estate and provide quality living spaces to travellers around the world,” Shih adds.

“We are committed to offering standardised high quality hotels at affordable prices in convenient locations within China, targeting the core needs of business and leisure travellers, both domestic and international.

“Within China, OYO is working hard to address the Chinese traveller’s desire for consumption upgrade – to recognise that they are pursuing unique experiences above and beyond just a room to sleep in.

“We want to ensure that the middle-income population of China – around 400 million people – have access to high quality and affordable accommodation, and for the first time we’re offering that for less than RMB 150 ($22).”

evident in Japan, the United States and Europe. All of this puts OYO in a visible position whilst making it deeply rooted in people’s hearts.”

Including its Chinese market, OYO has more than 23,000 hotels (700,000 rooms) and 46,000 vacation homes on its books, a footprint spanning 800 cities in more than 80 countries.

But being the world’s largest hotel brand is not OYO’s ultimate goal.

Shih concludes: “We want to be the most loved hotel chain – for consumers by providing quality living spaces and for hotel owners by providing revenue assurance and sharing the benefits of the consumption upgrade trend.

“We have just officially released ‘OYO Hotels 2.0’ to explore the development path of scale and refinement and bundle the revenue of OYO with the revenue of hotel owners. The two will become a real community of common interests and embrace win-win cooperation.”