OYO Hotels & Homes has announced launching of its services in Japan. The Indian hotel chain will now offer its services across 50 cities in that country, including in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, in collaboration with investment giant Softbank Group. OYO, India’s largest lodging start-up that has also turned into world’s third largest hospitality chain, said that its services would be launched through more than 100 hotels in Japan and will be headed by OYO’s founding member Prasun Choudhary, who has launched the other global businesses of the hotel aggregator.
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The Japan launch comes after OYO founder and CEO Ritesh Aggarwal set up his business in the US and is bullish on rapid expansion in the global markets by offering a unique model that offers the customers an affordable stay in budget hotels through logging into the OYO app. The company said that in Japan, it is focused on offering convenient and comfortable accommodations to travellers and guests, enabling them to experience #LivingTheGoodLife. It said this will also create increased business opportunities for several real estate owners in that country.
"As the world’s third largest hotel chain, we are focused on expanding our presence and offering great hospitality experiences to over 3.2 billion middle-income travellers in the world. The service launch with 100+ hotels in Japan is a step forward in that direction. We will continue to be invested in driving efficient growth in Japan and across the globe," said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO (Group), OYO Hotels & Homes.
OYO has currently partnered with more than 35,000 buildings worldwide, which have been renovated and styled as per fixed parameters. The venture is backed by some of the world’s leading investors including Airbnb, SoftBank Vision Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Sequoia India and Hero Enterprise.
"We are very excited to launch hotel operations and extend our offering of good quality, beautifully designed, comfortable and ‘value-chic’ accommodations to domestic and international travellers in Japan. The 100+ hotel milestone, in a span of six months, is a big moment for us and further fuels our passion to continue to drive growth across the country while delivering quality customer service and empowering asset owners to run a sustainable business," said Prasun Choudhary, operating partner, OYO Hotels Japan.