Following several rumours last week, AirBnb has finally confirmed that it has invested in the Indian hotel-startup Oyo.
While neither Airbnb nor Oyo has commented on the amount that has been invested, reports suggest that the deal could be anything between $150 and $200 million.
Maninder Gulati, Global Chief Strategy Officer at OYO Hotels & Homes told Hotelier Middle East, “As the sixth largest hotel chain operator in the world, we at, OYO Hotels & Homes, are happy to have Airbnb as our partner in this vision.”
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He added, “Airbnb’s strong global footprints and access to local communities will open up new opportunities for OYO Hotels & Homes to strengthen and grow while staying true to our core value proposition. We’re excited by the possibilities and committed to bringing benefits to the millions of travellers who can now rely on Airbnb and OYO Hotels & Homes to find a home away from home.”
This news comes close on the heels of Airbnb acquiring last minute-hotel booking service — HotelTonight. Oyo too, has just acquired its Chinese rival company Qianyu.
Airbnb has spoken about plans to get a stronger foothold in India and China and this investment could work in its favour. Currently, Oyo is one of the biggest markets in India and also has a strong foothold in China. At the end of 2018, Oyo revealed that it had more “180,000 franchised and leased rooms in [more than] 4,000 hotels under franchise, manchise and leased format across [over] 285 cities in China, including Hangzhou, Xian, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Xiamen, and Kunming, among others”.
Talking about this, Airbnb’s president of homes, Greg Greeley said, “Emerging markets like India and China are some of Airbnb’s fastest-growing. In many of these markets, OYO is empowering local hospitality entrepreneurs to provide more options to more travellers. We share a dedication to offering people more choices when traveling and we’re excited to partner with OYO as we work to make Airbnb for everyone.”
When Oyo was launched five years ago, it started as a platform to book budget hotels in India. Today, the company has around 458,000 rooms across eight countries including China, Malaysia, Indonesia and the United Kingdom.
Earlier this week, Oyo also launched a home renting service in Japan called — Oyo Life.