Oyo Hotels and Homes, which is India’s largest hospitality chain, based out of Gurugram, has thrashed media reports that suggest the company has fired more than 1,000 of its China staff, cited yourstory.
The statement from Asia’s one of the largest hotel chains comes a day after it claimed to have crossed 5 lakh room inventory in China.
“This is absolutely incorrect, facts are being twisted and misrepresented. In the last few months, we have hired over 1,500 people and will have over 10,000 full-time employees on the roll. The presumption of any letting go is wrong, where regular monthly performance reviews are being twisted and reported out of context. Especially since we just announced an investment of $100 million in China today, towards talent, customer experience, and quality & system improvements. We have also created jobs for over 200,000 people in China and will continue to be a leading job creator in China for years to come,” an Oyo spokesperson said.
The SoftBank backed hospitality chain Oyo was started by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013. The startup was started from a single hotel to over 8500 hotels at present. It is the fastest growing network of hotels, offline and online and the current evaluation is over $400 million.
At present, the company operates more than 23,000 properties with more than 850,000 rooms, making it the world’s sixth-largest lodging provider by its own measure.
The reports began when China’s publication Jiemian reported that OYO China is downsizing.
“The general presumption that we have confirmed that we are letting go of people is absolutely wrong. We have only confirmed that we have hired close to 1,500 people, resulting in an overall headcount of 10,000 and created over 200,000 jobs for young Chinese people. It also said that we will hire more as we go and that we have a strong focus on quality, performance, and compliance,” an anonymous source said.
The source, however, added that OYO, on a regular basis, conducts performance evaluations to identify and reward good performers, aligned with the company’s larger mission.
Commenting on the development, Sam Shih, COO, OYO China said, “OYO Jiudian (Hotels) has been growing at a rapid pace and we are humbled by the support that we are receiving from thousands of employees, asset owners and the 300,000+ travellers who are resting their heads on OYO Jiudian pillows each night.”
While, other hospitality startups, which are emerging at a fast pace in India includes Yatra, Fabhotels, Treebo, MakeMyTrip, ClearTrip, etc.