Amid global expansion, Oyo denies media reports on lay off at Chinese subsidiary; says recruited over 1,500 people

Amid its ongoing aggressive global expansion, a section of Chinese media claims that Oyo Hotels and Homes is reportedly planning to give pink slips to about 1,000 staff at its Chinese subsidiary—Oyo Jiudian, said a media report.

Oyo plans to sack about 1,000 employees from its Chinese development team, reported The Economic Times citing a report in a Chinese daily Pandaily, which covers technology and startups.

A spokesperson of Oyo denied the report and said facts were being twisted and misrepresented. The company recruited over 1,500 employees in the past few months and would have over 10,000 full-time employees, the report said.

Yicai Global, the English news arm of Yicai Media Group, China’s leading financial news group based in Shanghai, came up with a tweet regarding the layoffs at the Indian company.

India's Oyo Hints About Sluggish Chinese Hotels After Layoff Report @oyorooms https://t.co/dSMUvfOOtV pic.twitter.com/bcvDDk0bzv

— Yicai 第一财经 (@yicaichina) June 25, 2019

On Tuesday, Oyo said it crossed 5 lakh rooms inventory in China, and planned to invest $100 million in that country in the next two years as part of the ongoing expansion, said a PTI report.

Oyo Hotels and Homes is investing in China for quality as well as system improvements and customer service.

Within a span of around one-and-a-half years of operation in China, Oyo expanded its presence to over 337 cities and 5 lakh rooms, the company said in a statement.

Oyo also claimed that it has now become the largest single hotel brand in China.

Last month, the company had claimed that it became the second-largest hotel group in China within 18 months of its foray into the country, with presence in 320 cities and nearly 10,000 Oyo-branded hotels with 4,50,000 rooms, reported PTI.

With second-tier cities at its core, Oyo Hotels’ chain extends deep into China’s tier-2 to tier-6 cities, the company said in a statement.

Oyo China COO Sam Shih said: “Oyo Jiudian (Hotels) operates like a Chinese company and delivers better living for middle-income people across the country.”

Every day, over 2,00,000 heads are on Oyo Jiudian pillows in China due to the great experience at low cost, he added.

In January this year, Oyo had said it was working on a road map for 1-million room inventory from the existing count of 4.6 lakh, reported PTI.

“We will have one million rooms inventory into our fold in the near distant future. I think it should happen in a year and a half,” Oyo CEO, India and South Asia, Aditya Ghosh said.

This will help Oyo to become the “world’s top player from number three now”, he claimed.

The company has set a target of 2.5 million rooms by 2023, its promoter Ritesh Agarwal said.

In November last year, the hospitality firm had claimed that after 12 months of operations in China, the company has emerged as one of the top five hotel chains in the country.

In September last year, Oyo said it had raised a capital of $1 billion (around Rs 7,280 crore) in a fresh round of funding led by SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) through SoftBank Vision Fund for further expansion.

— With PTI inputs