OYO Japan saw an occupancy rate of 51% even during the coronavirus pandemic

• OYO Japan recorded an average occupancy rate of 51% in the month of March during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the data shared in a SoftBank presentation.
  
• As of March 2020, OYO has 5,857 rooms in Japan.
  
• The SoftBank presentation further said that the OYO revamp growth strategy was establishing a community-based OYO brand at affordable prices.
  
  

OYO Japan recorded an average occupancy rate of 51% in the month of March during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the data shared in a SoftBank presentation. This was at a time when the industry average stood at 32%.




As of March 2020, OYO has 5,857 rooms in Japan. The SoftBank presentation further said that the OYO revamp growth strategy was establishing a community-based OYO brand at affordable prices.


OYO launched in Japan in 2019 and in the first year itself went through a whole list of ups and downs. Riding into the country on the back of its investor – SoftBank, OYO was hoping to make a splash, but it was soon mired in controversy. Yahoo bought 30% shares in OYO’s subsidiary company in Japan – OYO Life in March 2019. However, within seven months in November, Yahoo sold those shares back to OYO.


It has been a difficult year for the Indian unicorn OYO. From laying off hundreds of employees across geographies to increasing complaints from hotel owners about delayed payments, OYO has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.


However, right before the lockdown, the company was already scripting a turnaround story in Japan. OYO Life booked 4,000 rooms in January 2020, said a blog post by Kavikrut and Prasun Choudhury, board members, for OYO LIFE, Japan and OYO Hotels, Japan respectively.


“We swiftly turned our widespread operations into a fully focused effort. In our long-term housing rental business, we exited strategically identified keys, merged functions, simplified processes, drove tech-enabled synergy, and enhanced efficiency,” wrote Kavikrut and Prasun Choudhury.

In China too, OYO has been seeing a slight recovery. While 70% of OYO hotels in China are now operational, it plans to open the remaining hotels in the next 30 to 45 days, the company told Business Insider.

OYO is present in over 337 cities and has 500,000 rooms in China. In FY19, OYO China contributed to $307 million or 32.3% of OYO’s global revenue. As the coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China, OYO – the largest hospitality chain – had to close the doors on its hotels, as business came to a halt and many of its employees too were infected.

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