Global travel technology company, OYO’s UK operations saw a 140% uplift in revenue or Gross Booking Value (GBV) in 2022, surpassing
pre-pandemic levels of 2019. London emerged as the best-performing market showing strong Y-o-Y growth followed by other regions such as Brighton, Cornwall, Great Yarmouth, Devon, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and the Midlands.
OYO UK has 150+ small hotels in over 65 cities in its network in the UK. It has added 40 new hotels in Otterburn, Folkestone, Worcester, Swansea, Crewe, Kidderminster, Solihull, Peterhead & Boston in 2022.
Talking about the development Gautam Swaroop, CEO of OYO International said, “2022 was the year where we focussed not just on recovery but also on expanding our portfolio across the UK. We doubled our revenue and made significant improvements in RevPar. This was achieved through improvements in both the Average Daily Rate (ADR) of bookings and Occupancy. We were also able to leverage peak days with data-driven demand intelligence via PredictHQ that provides insights to enable smarter pricing and packaging of rooms thereby boosting demand by improving conversions from the key Online Travel Agents (OTAs) where our hotels are listed. Approximately one-third of our growth is also driven by long-tail channels, such as our strategic partnership with bed banks like HotelBeds. As international travel returns to normal, OYO with its global presence will look to drive more guests from markets like India, SE Asia, the US, Europe, China, and LATAM.”
Talking about serving the evolving needs of the new age hotelier, Puneet Yadav, Country Head – OYO UK said, “While OYO is working on improving revenue and RevPAR, it is also helping hoteliers reduce operational cost. With rising costs and staff shortages in the UK, the company has rolled out a completely automated self-check-in technology solution to lower down labour and utility costs, provide a seamless experience to guests and reduce day-to-day operational hassles for the hotel owners. It also empowers hotel owners with an AI-powered chat solution that takes a lot of operational headaches away from the owners.”
OYO empowers hotels by boosting demand and in turn increasing revenue via multiple Online Travel Agents (OTAs) & its own website and mobile app. OYO’s best-in-class Artificial Intelligence-enabled pricing software automatically drives the best booking prices across all channels, based on room type, seasonality, and other factors, therefore, enabling such increase in revenues. In the last 4 years, OYO’s pricing engine has done over 11 million price modifications in the UK market.
The company also helps ensure a great experience for customers, with automated tools such as Artificial Intelligence powered chatbots to quickly resolve customer queries, loyalty programmes, and easy refunds if needed. OYO’s Guest Satisfaction scores are at 85%, a 100% improvement in the last two years and the average issue resolution time is under 3 hours with 90% of guest calls resolved with 5-star satisfaction in under 30 minutes. Nearly 75% of queries are resolved directly by Yo! Chat – OYO’s award-winning chatbot and self-serve IVR menu.
