oyo rooms

Japan's telecoms and internet giant SoftBank Corp has held talks with oyo rooms, a branded budget hotel marketplace, for leading a massive $100 million or Rs 630 crore financing round in the company, people familiar with the matter told TOI.

Merchant discovery and privileges platform Crown-It has partnered with oyo rooms. The strategic alliance is aimed at providing the finest budget stays and cashbacks to Crown-It users by adding oyo rooms’ selection to its ‘Hotel’ category.

A district consumer forum here directed oyo rooms, a website for booking budget lodging, to pay Rs 55,000 to a consumer who booked a hotel room which turned out to be 75km away from the place he wanted to stay.

Budget hotel aggregator oyo rooms has raised $100 million, or Rs 630 crore, from Japanese telecoms and internet major SoftBank as reported first by TOI on May 18.

Japan’s SoftBank-backed Oyo Hotels and Homes said its consolidated losses, including global operations, grew over six-fold to $335 million (Rs 2,390 crore) for the financial year ending March 2019 as it expanded outside India at a breakneck pace, especially China.

Idea Cellular’s digital wallet service, Idea Money has joined hands with OYO to help Idea Money customers with limited or no internet access, to book hotels online at their nearest Idea Money retail store. The service is available across 200 cities in India

The funding round also saw participation from other existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital. The company has already raised $800 million, and has further commitment of $200 million, OYO said in a statement.

Government agencies usually ask for data from hotels after obtaining relevant orders. In Oyo’s case, such data being in government servers is being questioned, especially in the absence of adequate laws. Oyo is said to have held talks with the state governments of Haryana, Rajasthan and Telangana for sharing real-time data about people checking in and out of hotels.

Within a span of around one and a half year of operation in China, Oyo has expanded its presence to over 337 cities and 5 lakh rooms, the company said in a statement. It has crossed 5 lakh rooms inventory in China and plans to invest $100 million in Chinese market over the next two years. Besides, Oyo also claimed that it has now become the largest single hotel brand in China.

The OYO Hotels & Homes said in a statement that they will file a counter complaint against the Bengaluru hotel owner for "using improper legal means to sensationalise a civil dispute and get attention." .

oyo rooms and its three group companies have been booked for fraud and criminal conspiracy. The online travel aggregator, which took a guesthouse in Sector 51 on lease for operations, is accused of duping its owner of Rs 5 crore by manipulating the booking records.

Hospitality firm Oyo Hotels & Homes on Monday said its consolidated net loss widened to $335 million (over Rs 2,390 crore) for the fiscal year ended March 2019, mainly on account of international expansion.

The small and medium-sized hotels in the city will not accept any new room booking in the next two days.

As the small and medium-sized hoteliers’ woes against OYO grows, the KHRA state committee, after its 48-hour strike in the city protesting the intrusion of OYO on Thursday, is checking out the option of initiating legal action against OYO for violating contract norms.

Oyo on Wednesday informed employees that 25% of their fixed salaries will be cut and asked some staff to go on a 4-month leave with limited benefits from May 4 as the hotel rooms aggregator grapples with "economic pressures" due to Covid-19. The company, which has around 10,000 employees in the country, is a leading player in the hospitality industry.