OYO rolls out accelerator programme for small first-generation hoteliers

Hospitality tech platform OYO on Thursday said it has rolled out an accelerator programme, which will provide financial assistance, mentorship and guidance to selected small first-generation hoteliers.

Hotel owners with more than five running hotels are eligible to be a part of the accelerator programme.

Over 200 properties are expected to be onboarded under this programme in key business cities, such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai in south India, Delhi, Gurugram and Noida in north India; Kolkata and Siliguri in east India and Mumbai in west India, OYO stated.

During the pilot phase of this programme, which started two weeks ago, OYO has onboarded two hoteliers in Hyderabad, and one each in Kolkata and Delhi, who are operating more than 50 properties located across these three cities.

"OYO's accelerator programme will provide financial assistance, access to a pan-India network of over 15,000 corporate accounts and more than 10,000 travel agents, mentorship & guidance, dedicated relationship managers, and active monitoring of hotel level dynamic pricing," the company stated.

The focus of the programme is on increasing the footprint of brands like Townhouse Oak, OYO Townhouse, Collection O and Capital O.

The plan is also aligned with OYO's focus on increasing its premium hotel footprint in India in 2023. It aims to increase the number of premium hotels under its brands.

"We come across many hoteliers whose aspiration for growth and their business acumen far exceeds the capital and resources available to them. OYO had tried to support their growth in the past in whatever manner we could.

"However, we realised that we will be able to encourage many more such hoteliers if we provide special focus to this initiative and move in a planned and targeted manner to help many more such small entrepreneurs," Anuj Tejpal, Chief Merchant Officer at OYO, said.