Online hospitality chain OYO Hotels has announced its foray into London, the United Kingdom, marking its first market beyond Asia. The company plans to invest £40 million in UK and will look to launch in 10 cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Edinburgh by 2020.
Oyo will begin operations with four properties in London that offer more than 80 rooms. It then plans on expanding this to over 5000 rooms in the next 15 - 18 months.
''OYO has established itself as a strong and popular Indian brand in South Asia and I am happy to see the company making a commitment to invest in creating beautiful living spaces in the United Kingdom. I convey my best wishes to the OYO team for their future endeavours,” Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Y K Sinha, said at the launch event.
By 2020, OYO plans to hire 100 people in cities across UK and host guests in over 5000 rooms.
“The UK has been the topmost international travel destination for several years and last year hosted over 19 million tourists from around the world. Driven by its booming domestic and international travel and budget hospitality needs, the UK presents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity for OYO. We are thrilled to now be able to offer OYO’s affordable, hassle-free and quality living experiences to guests across the UK. - and to be empowering the UK independent hoteliers with the technology and operational expertise that helps them focus on customer experience and thereby generate increased, sustainable incomes,” Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO – OYO said in a statement.
The UK business will be led by British entrepreneur Jeremy Sanders, who co-founded the British restaurant chain, Coco di Mama.
OYO will start operations in UK with its Townhouse offering, which will be operated under models of manchise, lease with full inventory control similar to other markets like India and China. These hotels will provide affordable and trusted living options for both Indian and International tourists, business travelers, and local city-dwellers.
“We want to become the trusted partner of independent hotels across the UK and, as we’ve experienced in Asia, we are confident that our bespoke technology and operational expertise brings real value to hotel owners and customers alike. There is so much potential here - I and the team cannot wait to get started,” Jeremy Sanders, Head of OYO UK, said.
Oyo’s expansion in UK comes nearly three months after it launched operations in China. Currently, apart from India, OYO is present in China, Malaysia and Nepal.