The rapid rise of OYO Rooms from a startup to the market leader in just two years

With a whopping 1,000 hotels under their branded network across 55+ cities, OYO Rooms‘ growth has been nothing short of phenomenal, and the rapid expansion has meant that the funded start-up now owns India’s largest branded network of hotels.

The company has raised multiples rounds of funding, the last one being an impressive $25 Million funding from Lightspeed Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks Capital and DSG Consumer Partners in March earlier this year and provides the same amenities and the same experience across all its rooms at prices that no other player offers across so many locations. Which technology at the heart of what the company does, it has been able to provide its customers with a seamless experience from booking to check-out.

Founded two years ago by India’s first Peter Thiel fellowship programme graduate Ritesh Agarwal, then only 19 years old, the company was created with a view to solve the problems that travelers were facing at budget hotels in India using technology as an enabler.

“As a student I travelled across the country and stayed at many budget hotels, but found one thing missing in most hotels – a reliable customer experience. We started OYO Rooms with the aim to offer standardized stay experiences at pocket-friendly prices with basic amenities including AC rooms, TV, free Wi-Fi, clean bed and linen, hygienic washrooms and complimentary breakfast. With our prices starting from just Rs 999, we have tried to redefine the meaning of a budget stay and provide our guests a truly seamless experience. We have also come up with the OYO Rooms mobile app which allows customers to book an OYO in just a few clicks,” Ritesh says.

The app has been a real hit among users, with over 3 lakh downloads in just three months. The company gets almost half of its bookings through the app as of today, which just goes on to show how tech-enabled utilities are truly the way forward.