Indian Hospitality Startup OYO has expanded its reach in Saudi Arabia by signing pact with 50 hotel having more than 3,000 rooms across seven cities. As per the deal, now these hotels will be managed on franchise model with total inventory control by OYO as similar to its operations in India.
OYO with this new expansion will be employing 5,000 new local employees by 2020. Along with this OYO will be starting two skill development centers to teach Saudi graduates hotel management. OYO has also inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia.
“The company obtained its foreign investment licence from Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) few months ago and plans to invest significantly in Saudi Arabia, and expand to over 17 cities across 6 provinces by 2020,” SAGIA Governor Ibrahim bin Abdul Rahman Al-Omar said.
“We are committed to creating quality, affordable living spaces, and thousands of jobs for the young people of Saudi Arabia. It has been our long-standing belief that provided with the right direction and tools, smaller assets can also generate positive returns,” OYO Hotels & Homes Group CEO and Founder Ritesh Agarwal commented on the deal.
OYO is India’s leading hospitality startup with around 8700 properties and over 170,000 rooms. As of now OYO has a presence in 180 major cities. The startup has also started operations in other countries besides India, such as UAE, Malaysia, China, UK, Nepal and Indonesia. The company has raised around $2.3 billion in the recent time period and enjoys a funding by companies like Softbank, Lightspeed India, China lodging and Hero enterprises among others which makes OYO is the biggest startup in the Indian Hospitality industry.