Replicating scale: Will OYO Homes be as big as OYO Hotels
The global scale that SoftBank-backed Ritesh Agarwal's OYO has achieved in the hotel space is now getting percolated to the home rental market as well globally. And its recent acquisition of Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group might be the inflection point in that journey.
- L-R: Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes; Tobias Wann, CEO, @Leisure, Group and Maninder Gulati, Global Chief Strategy Officer, OYO Hotels & Homes
- Standardization of underutilised or unused hotel inventory gave SoftBank-backed OYO the opportunity to build and scale India's budget hotel accommodation market globally and become perhaps the only startup success story to come out of India that had no precedent before in the world.
- "I believe it (overtaking Marriott) will come sooner," Nikkei Asian Review quoted OYO's Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal during the launch of its apartment rental service - OYO Life in Japan in March.
- "This deal (acquisition of @Leisure Group) will make OYO one of the largest companies globally in markets such as vacation rental and holiday homes.
- OYO in conjunction with Airbnb can certainly become one of the largest businesses in home rental space," Khanna added.