OYO’s new offering OYO Living – Kavikrut, Chief Growth Officer-OYO Hotels and Homes

• Why did OYO venture into long term living housing?

We, at OYO, are committed to creating world-class stay experiences while investing in every form of real estate and transforming them into quality living spaces. OYO Living represents our ongoing commitment to continue innovating to meet the changing needs of India’s young and growing population. Interestingly, OYO Living was conceptualized basis the feedback and demand from our valued customers and asset owners. Many of our asset owners on the hospitality side of the business with vacant assets that were perfectly suited for longer term rentals suggested we try this format of offerings, and on the other hand, we saw several customers opting for OYO Rooms and OYO Townhouse for slightly longer stays as well.  These included guests traveling for work projects or for higher studies to another city, looking for fully managed accommodations and also some interesting local use cases like guests utilizing our space for stay while their homes were getting renovated, etc. We saw this as a tremendous opportunity and decided to leverage our hospitality experience to offer a first of its kind end-to-end, fully-managed living experience. We utilized our existing scale of operations, technological prowess and a nationwide network of asset owners to acquire and operate OYO Living properties at lower costs while maintaining quality and efficiency.

• How the OYO Living residents will be assured of their financial independence?

The brand proposition of OYO Living is that we take care of everything that comes with shared housing. A customer only has to move in with their belongings into a private room which is a part of a larger shared home that includes furniture, utilities, thoughtfully designed spaces, scheduled and on-demand cleaning and maintenance. In addition, we also furnish and clean the place, manage repairs, tracks all the bills, etc. We also help our residents save on brokerage, lock-in periods, and the hassle of searching for house helps and support services involved while moving into a new residence. Hence, it is truly a ready-to-move-in and hassle-free living experience that comes without the liability of long-term financial deposits or upfront furnishing costs. Lastly, as an example, we also invest in electronic durables and assets like an 42 inch television in common area, air conditioners , fridge, bed and mattress etc., imagine the amount of money an individual saves by utilizing some of these shared assets as against buying these.

• What are the amenities provided by OYO Living to their residents?

OYO Living properties are designed to meet the needs of the millennials and young professionals moving into a new city or a new personal space away from home. Each OYO Living accommodation is equipped with essential amenities like Wi-Fi connectivity, television, regular housekeeping, power backup, CCTV surveillance, 24/7 caretaking, and independent lockers, etc. These residential units also offer work-from-home laptop stations, facetime/skype corners, yoga and meditation zones, TV lounges, entertainment zones and cubicles for reading books, etc.

• Which is the target market OYO Living is planning to expand itself? What is the target audience that OYO is planning to reach through OYO Living?

Currently, we have over 150 properties with 10,000+ beds across Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Pune. We plan to expand to the top 10 metros by the end of 2019 with over 50,000 beds under our belt. Within a short span of time, OYO Living has witnessed nearly 90% occupancy with 95% of the folks renewing their stay and choosing us as the preferred stay option.

Our idea is that in a year from now when you travel to any of the cities, you should be able to pick a mall or office building or train or metro station and find an OYO Living property close by. Eventually, we aim to make OYO Living a preferred housing option for India’s young and growing population. We will continue to deliver quality-assured experiences to our guests in the months to come.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)