Here are five key pointers on how OYO is helping small hotel owners grow fast.
In recent years, tourist arrivals from neighbouring ASEAN nations and other medium-haul markets have increased. At the same time, domestic travel has seen a continued upward trend, growing 8.5% in the number of travellers and rising 11.1% in expenditure in 2017. Campaigns have been launched to attract international visitors, such as Visit Malaysia 2020 and the Malaysia Year of Healthcare Travel 2020. Coupled with the target to welcome 30 million international tourists and achieve RM100 billion in tourist receipts in 2020, efforts to step up tourist infrastructure in the public and private sector are most timely.
With the strength of the domestic and medium-haul traveller demographic, the demand for dependable and good quality budget accommodation is healthy. For asset owners in the budget space keen to grab their slice of the hospitality pie, customer confidence and discoverability are key. Here, becoming a part of OYO’s chain of hotels is an ideal proposition as asset owners can upgrade their properties, improve quality standards and guest confidence with OYO’s guidance and riding on the strength of OYO’s operational expertise of running hotels.
OYO Hotels & Homes is South Asia’s largest, China’s 2nd largest, and the world’s 6th largest and fastest-growing chain of leased and franchised hotels, homes & living spaces. It started operations in Malaysia in early 2016 and, since then, over 250 franchise partners and asset owners have become a part of OYO’s chain, which is present across 25 cities in the country. OYO offers over 8,000 rooms in 250+ exclusive hotels in Malaysia to travellers looking for quality experience at an affordable cost.
It is helping 250+ hotels and Malaysian asset owners upgrade their hospitality properties, to provide quality living spaces for travellers. Once a hotel becomes a part of OYO’s chain, the asset owners enjoy various benefits, such as support for technology, design, operations, revenue management, marketing and distribution. All of this has contributed to the positive turnaround of different properties on the OYO chain. On an average, hotels becoming a part of OYO’s chain witness an increase in occupancy from 25% to 65% in a brief period of three months.
Strategic Branding
First and foremost is the new push for branding and transformation that OYO undertakes at its hotels. With its dedicated transformation and renovation team, powered by technology, the hotel chain is capable of renovating assets in a record time of up to 14 days – a stark contrast to the industry standards. Post the transformation, the hotels can be easily booked across OYO’s website, application and call centre. The hotels further gain visibility on other Online Travel Agents (OTAs), improving discoverability.
With the proper branding and descriptors in place, properties like OYO 535 Tanjong Inn in Kota Bharu have seen significant improvement. This included 70% occupancy growth rates and doubled revenues, with the impact maintaining even during off-peak seasons. Before joining OYO, the owner – Che Mohd Ariff – often struggled with the challenge of getting his accommodation offering noticed.
Streamlined Management
With innovation, there is bound to be optimisation at every level. Every hotel which is a part of OYO’s chain works on OYO operating system (OYO OS) giving them a cutting-edge advantage with sophisticated features, including express check-in, check-out. It further allows online procurement and inventory management. The OS offers apps for housekeeping and audits while introducing solutions for multiple hotel management aspects like expense management, staff training and engagement along with performance review and incentives for the hotel staff. All these facets come together to deliver technology-driven efficiency at each one of the 250 OYO hotels in Malaysia.
Such has been the experience of Tan Gok Khim, whose hotel OYO 246 Link Inn experienced a healthy recovery last year. With tracking of inventory and assignments switched over to a digital system, the staff have become more focused on operations. This includes delivering high-quality experiences, employing demand management strategy and creating offerings with dynamic pricing.
Tan Gok Khim is a happy owner who has seen high-quality makeover taking place, that elevated the customer experience. Besides boosting occupancy, revenue has also seen an increase by 30%.
Meeting Industry Benchmarks
The changes that hotel owners enjoy when they become a part of OYO’s chain also involve several critical efficiencies that come into play. Beyond enhanced marketing and inventory tracking, room turnaround time and service offerings also see a remarkable improvement. Faster and more effective room cleanup, high-quality upkeep and well-maintained features ensure user experiences always hit the mark.
With these enhancements in place, occupancy at OYO 430 Oak Valley saw a healthy jump from 60% to 85%+. Elaine So has been a happy owner since then and has been doing everything in her capacity to ensure guests are always happy with their experience.
Digitally Relevant
OYO has revolutionized the fragmented and legacy-driven budget hospitality space by empowering small and independent asset owners with the operational capabilities and technology that enables them to compete with big hotel chains and achieve high occupancies and, therefore, yields. The biggest differentiating attribute of the company is the full-scale fulfilment-led model that it builds, with world benchmark scale and efficiency that starts with supply acquisition, renovation, hospitality and operations, technology and omnichannel distribution across online and offline channels.
When paired with OYO’s unique business model and added-value propositions, these hotels experience more than just occupancy and revenue growth. Fan following, consumer engagement and going beyond meeting basic needs – these factors then become mainstay components for the hotels.
Skill-Set Progression
Beyond platform and service upgrades, OYO also sees to the proper day-to-day processes are put in place. This is done in all its hotels. A key focus of the change is to engage guests effectively to ensure they enjoy the very best from OYO Hotels and Homes. In doing so, hotels like OYO 371 Grand Eastern saw a significant rise in occupancy.
OYO Hotels and Homes will continue to strengthen and grow while staying true to its core value proposition that ensures that the guest experience is the same for all its offerings, hence maintaining its ease-of-access promise to any holidaymaker.
As Malaysia continues to welcome the world and more people have the opportunity to see the world through travel, the demand for safe, high-quality, and affordable accommodation remains a driving force in the hospitality industry. As the fastest growing hotel chain, OYO Hotels and Homes continues offer the opportunity for transformation to every small hotel owner in Malaysia and across the globe.
Filed in: hotel / OYO Hotels and Homes