OYO offers free stay to medical staff, first responders in the US

OYO Hotels & Homes said Tuesday that it will be offering free stays to doctors, nurses and other medical first responders in the US, who are helping in the fight against Coronavirus.
From Tuesday, medical first responders will receive free accommodations at any OYO Hotel in the United States so they can sleep, shower or just get off their feet and recharge.

"All of us at OYO are grateful for the bravery and sacrifices all the medical personnel are making to save lives and stop the spread of Covid-19," said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes. "Our hearts go out to all those impacted by this terrible illness."
The Covid-19 disease is caused by the novel coronavirus which has taken a toll on the entire world, infecting over 400,000 and taking more than 18,000 lives. The US is considered the new epicentre of the spread of the disease, with nearly 55,000 cases and over 700 deaths.
"OYO Hotels are offering free stay to our amazing medical professionals and first responders fighting this virus on the frontlines. These kinds of impactful acts of benevolence are what help keep this Nation and our world #TogetherApart," US President Donald Trump's daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump tweeted on Tuesday night.
Those on the front lines in the medical community in the US can call (+1) 628-213-7020 with the code OYO4FIRSTRESPONDERS to get their reservation for the nearest OYO. With a valid active First Responder identification, OYO Hotels will cover all the costs of their stay.
In India, OYO is reaching out to several States' health departments to understand how it can leverage its network of hotels for providing pay per use or self quarantine facilities for travellers at a reasonable and affordable price.
It is also setting up a central helpline number to ensure it can take requests from people as well as all state governments and relevant authorities as the case may be.
"With regards to heightened precautions for employees, frontline staff and customers, we at OYO Hotels & Homes have been monitoring the Covid-19 situation, and have been taking necessary steps to ensure their health and well being. To ensure social distancing, we have directed our colleagues across all corporate offices to work remotely since March 18 and increased the need for regular hand washing and hygiene checks for staff interfacing with customers and other stakeholders," said an OYO spokesperson.

Oyo continues to trim workforce, plans to let go 1,200 in India in 4 months

OyoHotels is firing thousands of staff across China and India, people familiar with the matter said, adding to growing signs of trouble at one of the largest start-ups in SoftBank Group Corp’s portfolio.
It has let go of 5 per cent of its 12,000 employees in China partly due to non-performance, while dismissing 12 per cent of its 10,000 staff in India, one of the people said. It plans to shed another 1,200 in India over the next three to four months, the person added.

Oyo is undergoing a restructuring, trimming redundancy in China and India, leading to thousands of dismissals, according to the people, who requested not to be named because they aren’t authorised to talk to media. An Oyo representative had no immediate comment when contacted.
Oyo’s downsizing is another setback for Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, whose portfolio has been buffeted by recent trouble at WeWork and slumping share prices at Slack Technologies and Uber Technologies. The billionaire has called for greater financial discipline among the founders in his portfolio, spurring job cuts at smaller outfits like Zume Pizza. Other SoftBank investees, including Getaround, Wag Labs, Fair and Brandless, have had to cut staff or change business models once it became apparent revenue and profits were not living up to their once-grand ambitions.
Adding to Oyo’s challenges, hotel owners in China have been protesting in front of the firm’s offices, accusing it of violating contractual agreements. The growing turmoil may complicate SoftBank’s efforts to raise a successor to the Vision Fund, the world’s largest pool of start-up investments. “Oyo is one of SoftBank’s current crown jewels,” said Michael Norris, research and strategy manager at AgencyChina. “Issues in China, Oyo’s largest market, continues OyoHotels is firing thousands of staff across China and India, people familiar with the matter said, adding to growing signs of trouble at one of the largest start-ups in SoftBank Group Corp’s portfolio.
It has let go of 5 per cent of its 12,000 employees in China partly due to non-performance, while dismissing 12 per cent of its 10,000 staff in India, one of the people said. It plans to shed another 1,200 in India over the next three to four months, the person added.

Oyo is undergoing a restructuring, trimming redundancy in China and India, leading to thousands of dismissals, according to the people, who requested not to be named because they aren’t authorised to talk to media. An Oyo representative had no immediate comment when contacted.
Oyo’s downsizing is another setback for Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, whose portfolio has been buffeted by recent trouble at WeWork and slumping share prices at Slack Technologies and Uber Technologies. The billionaire has called for greater financial discipline among the founders in his portfolio, spurring job cuts at smaller outfits like Zume Pizza. Other SoftBank investees, including Getaround, Wag Labs, Fair and Brandless, have had to cut staff or change business models once it became apparent revenue and profits were not living up to their once-grand ambitions.
Adding to Oyo’s challenges, hotel owners in China have been protesting in front of the firm’s offices, accusing it of violating contractual agreements. The growing turmoil may complicate SoftBank’s efforts to raise a successor to the Vision Fund, the world’s largest pool of start-up investments. “Oyo is one of SoftBank’s current crown jewels,” said Michael Norris, research and strategy manager at AgencyChina. “Issues in China, Oyo’s largest market, continues the Vision Fund’s woes.” It would make raising a similar-sized second Vision Fund a challenge, he added.
Son has been a keen supporter of Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal, helping fund the hotel company’s fast international expansion. Oyo had been growing at a rapid clip, but its reputation has suffered due to customer complaints about bad experiences along with grievances about poor or unfair treatment from several of the over 20,000 hotel owners in its chain.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund has so far invested about $1.5 billion in Oyo, pushing its valuation to $10 billion. The company also counts Airbnb, Sequoia Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners as backers. It promoted its real estate business chief, Rohit Kapoor, to CEO for India and South Asia in December to shake up the business.
In its aggressive effort to acquire market share, Oyo offered hotel stays for as cheap as $4 a night, according to a person familiar with its practices. The firm stocked up on rented room inventory by signing exclusive deals and guaranteeing income to hotel owners. It’s allegedly reneging on those guarantees, the cause of the protests outside its Chinese offices, one person said.
Trimming shock for SoftBank
Ritesh Agarwal-founded Oyo is undergoing a rejig, trimming redundancy in China and India
It has let go of 5% of its 12,000 employees in China partly becauseof non-performance
In India, the firm has already dismissed 12% of its 10,000 staff
This is another setback for SoftBank, whose portfolio has been buffeted by troubles at WeWork and slumping share prices at Slack and Uber
The growing turmoil may complicate SoftBank’s efforts to raise a successor to the Vision Fund, the world’s largest pool of start-up investmentsVision Fund’s woes.” It would make raising a similar-sized second Vision Fund a challenge, he added.
Son has been a keen supporter of Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal, helping fund the hotel company’s fast international expansion. Oyo had been growing at a rapid clip, but its reputation has suffered due to customer complaints about bad experiences along with grievances about poor or unfair treatment from several of the over 20,000 hotel owners in its chain.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund has so far invested about $1.5 billion in Oyo, pushing its valuation to $10 billion. The company also counts Airbnb, Sequoia Capital, and Lightspeed Venture Partners as backers. It promoted its real estate business chief, Rohit Kapoor, to CEO for India and South Asia in December to shake up the business.
In its aggressive effort to acquire market share, Oyo offered hotel stays for as cheap as $4 a night, according to a person familiar with its practices. The firm stocked up on rented room inventory by signing exclusive deals and guaranteeing income to hotel owners. It’s allegedly reneging on those guarantees, the cause of the protests outside its Chinese offices, one person said.
Trimming shock for SoftBank
Ritesh Agarwal-founded Oyo is undergoing a rejig, trimming redundancy in China and India
It has let go of 5% of its 12,000 employees in China partly becauseof non-performance
In India, the firm has already dismissed 12% of its 10,000 staff
This is another setback for SoftBank, whose portfolio has been buffeted by troubles at WeWork and slumping share prices at Slack and Uber
The growing turmoil may complicate SoftBank’s efforts to raise a successor to the Vision Fund, the world’s largest pool of start-up investments

Oyo, Cure.fit continue to be LinkedIn's top two start-ups to work with

Hospitality chain Oyo and fitness start-up Cure.fit continue to be among the top two start-ups to work with in India in 2019, according to a list of 25 such start-ups prepared by LinkedIn.
LinkedIn data shows that the 25 start-ups that featured on its list collectively created about 18,000 jobs in the past year.

Over the next 12 months, these start-ups together are expected to create more than 19,000 job opportunities in the country, a company spokesperson said.
“Growing talent across different roles, regions and geographies continues to be one of our top five priorities this year, and I am certain that we will continue to attract good talent with diversity in thought,” said Aditya Ghosh, CEO, India & South Asia, Oyo Hotels & Homes.
In August, the Gurugram-headquartered company had announced that it will be hiring over 3,000 over the next six months.
Experts, too, believe that hiring and investments continue to be strong in the start-up ecosystem, despite a slowdown. Anup Jain, managing partner of early stage venture capital firm Orios Venture Partners said there is a lot of bullishness in start-up hiring. “Movement of manpower is happening from big start-ups to smaller ones and from corporates to the start-up ecosystem,” added Jain.
Cure.fit, which stood second in the LinkedIn list in terms of attracting talent, said it would continue to invest towards learning and drive tech-enabled innovative solutions.
Bengaluru based start-up Dunzo, which was Google’s first direct start-up investment in India, lost ground and slipped to the 13th position from last year’s third place. The third spot was taken up by a new entrant TapChief which provides online consultation.

Former IndiGo president Aditya Ghosh checks into OYO as India CEO

He has built the country’s most efficient, affordable and profitable airline and now he will build the world’s top budget hospitality firm. Aditya Ghosh, former president of Indigo Airlines, has joined five-and-half-year old hospitality start-up OYO OYO Hotels as its chief executive officer (CEO) in charge of India and South Asia.
Ghosh, 43, quit Indigo in April 2018 after a decade-long stint during which the airline went on to become the largest and most profitable player in the domestic aviation industry. Reporting to the 25-year old Ritesh Agarwal, who founded OYO in 2013, Ghosh will oversee and grow OYO’s business in South Asia, which will include, India, Nepal, and the other upcoming markets in the region. “He will focus on continuing to drive growth while delivering high-quality customer experience and sustained yields for asset owners,” SoftBank-funded OYO said in a statement. Agarwal, who has been the CEO all along, will now become the Group CEO at OYO Hotels. Ghosh joins OYO from December 2018.
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“With Aditya taking on this mantle for one of our home markets, India and the broader South Asia region, we are confident that he will be able to help OYO Hotels set new benchmarks in the hospitality industry, and nurture a high performing workforce. His business acumen, his problem-solving capabilities, and his customer-centric approach to innovation that helped him build an influential brand that is loved by all makes him an excellent choice for OYO Hotels,” Agarwal said. OYO raised $1 billion in September 2018 which valued the start-up at $5 billion, making it the most valuable hospitality firm in the country.
Besides India, where OYO has a network of 5,500 leased and franchised hotels totalling 143,000 rooms, the start-up operates in China, Nepal, UAE, UK, Indonesia and Malaysia. China, a year-old market for OYO, has already become its biggest turf with a network of 173,000 rooms in 265 cities. It is already ranked among the top ten players in the Chinese market. OYO globally works with 12,000 hotels with a network of 330,000 rooms. Agarwal wants to build OYO into the world's top hospitality company by the number of rooms.

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Unlike most start-ups that have seen a churn at the C-Suite level, OYO has managed to retain most of its top executives. Ghosh is a lawyer by training and had practiced law at the corporate law firm, J Sagar Associates and then as the General Counsel at InterGlobe Enterprises, which owns Indigo. Ghosh said he is excited about OYO’s ‘single-minded focus’ to ‘deliver value to customers and asset owners’.