According to Aditya Ghosh, any business or relationship will witness difficult conversations and there will be some misalignment between expectations and offerings
Ritesh Agarwal promoted hotel chain brand OYO Hotels & Homes has been receiving a lot of flak in the past few months from partner hotel asset owners across North, West and South India markets. The bone of contention asset owners say is the one-sided agreements being enforced by the Japanese investment firm Softbank-backed hotel chain while it continues to flout the terms of the contract and is non-transparent in levying charges/ penalties on the asset owners.
The hotel company claims that OYO Partner Engagement Network (OPEN) platform has been created to address issues faced by partner hotel asset owners and have a continuous dialogue/ engagement with them. However, asset owners said the OPEN platform isn't serving the purpose it is meant to. And going by the protests and backlash OYO has been receiving over the past few months, it's clear there is one set of asset owners that feel OYO is not delivering on its promise and another set that feels otherwise.
Speaking to DNA Money on this market divide and the recent turbulent times, Aditya Ghosh, chief executive officer - India and South Asia, OYO Hotels & Homes, said, "I don't see any turbulence at all. In fact, this is not even a weak shake. The (protesting) set of hotel asset owners is not even a fraction of a percentage and that is very important to know."
According to Ghosh, any business or relationship will witness difficult conversations and there will be some misalignment between expectations and offerings. More insight on such situations can be gathered through regular interaction and engagement and clear any misunderstandings.
"What I want to emphatically say is the hotel guest is the most important person and that's something one must never forget. If you try to chase short-term gains, over what is the need/experience of the customer, I think that is just bad karma. And some of it comes and hits you. We are always open to engage as much as possible with every individual hotel owner partner. But we will not recognise any so called association because that creates an unhealthy environment. The actual issue of the real hotel owner gets sidelined amongst whoever screams the most from the rooftop," said Ghosh, adding that the OPEN platform has been introduced for this very reason.
However, hotel asset owners said the OYO management wasn't listening to the issues they faced; it continues to do so and the OPEN platform isn't helping either. "That's primarily the reason hotel asset owners have come together to address the problems being faced and get ourselves heard," said a OYO hotel asset partner requesting not to be quoted.
Countering the allegations, Ghosh said the hotel company would not have grown significantly over the past six months if that was the case. "Of the number of partners who have joined OYO in the last six months is way faster than what we have seen in the last five-and-a-half years. In fact, in December last year, we were about 8,000 partners and today we are more than 13,000. Secondly, the business has grown faster and better than we have seen in the past. And with all due respect to the asset owners, after a few weeks of high decibel noise most of them have disappeared."
OYO claims, of the asset owners (protesting), not even 10% own the hotels. "These are mere instigators with a self-driven motive agenda and influencing others to join them. Besides, they are representing some body that's not even recognised by the industry. It's been done for various reasons. But fundamentally, if OYO is creating a delta in the market, it might be creating issues for someone who is not part of the network," said Ayush Mathur, chief supply officer, OYO Hotels & Homes.
The hotel chain is of the view that the hotel asset owners want to charge a higher rate to the customer but do not want to be penalised for a bad customer experience. "I don't understand what kind of people exist in the hospitality business, to come out openly with their greed and say, make the customer/ common man pay more. And even if I deliver a bad experience, it doesn't matter. I'm the owner of the business, take it or leave it," said
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