Chinese hotel operator China Lodging Group Ltd has picked up less than 5% stake in budget hotel marketplace OYO Rooms for $10 million (around Rs 63.9 crore) as part of a strategic partnership.
The partnership also includes alliances in areas including local sourcing and procurement, joint loyalty programmes, venture partnership opportunities and technology sharing, OYO Rooms said in a statement.
“The partnership will draw on the strengths of China Lodging Group's management team, hotel operations expertise and strong loyalty programme and OYO's technologies that enable the transformation of hotel operations,†said Jenny Zhang, CEO of China Lodging Group.
“OYO is a new-age technology company disrupting the hospitality industry with category-leading capabilities of using technology to transform existing supply and standardise operations and distribute these through online and offline channels. Addressing consumers in India and China – two of the world's fastest-growing markets – through our combined strengths opens up a large and significant growth opportunity,†said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO of OYO Rooms.
Delhi-based Oravel Stays Pvt. Ltd, which runs OYO Rooms, was founded by Agarwal in 2012. The company operates economy brand OYO Rooms and managed hotel brand Townhouse. Townhouse was launched in January this year and is positioned as a friendly neighbourhood hotel. The firm operates in more than 230 cities across India, Malaysia and Nepal.
Two days ago, OYO Rooms raised $250 million (Rs 1,600 crore) in a Series D round of funding led by existing Japanese investor SoftBank Group Corp.
OYO recently said it narrowed its losses to Rs 325 crore from Rs 496 crore in the financial year ended 31 March 2017 from the previous year.
While it did not disclose its revenues for FY2016-17, the hotel aggregator said its gross booking value run rate rose to $400 million annually in the quarter ended 30 June 2017.
