Oyo Hotels and Homes has agreed to acquire Amsterdam-based @Leisure Group. @Leisure is a vacation rental company in Europe and manages holiday homes, holiday parks, and holiday apartments. Oyo will acquire @Leisure from Axel Springer, the media and technology company.
@Leisure Group has three major brands: Belvilla, DanCenter, Danland and Traum-Ferienwohnungen. Through these, it offers more than 30,000-fully managed holiday homes across 13 countries in Europe. Through its Traum-Ferienwohnungen brand it offers a subscription-based home management service with over 85,000 homes across 50 countries. This represents a total inventory of 300k+ rooms.
According to a statement from the company, the acquisition will help Oyo move a step closer in realizing its vision of becoming a global real estate brand while maintaining leadership in the hospitality industry.
Globally, Homes presents Oyo with a massive opportunity of over $2 trillion across 100 million+ homes covering vacation rentals and urban homes. Europe is the largest market accounting for 30-40% of this total supply. Adding to this, @Leisure Group is among the very few companies in the world with an Oyo-like full-stack approach to vacation rentals management, having built deep data-driven capabilities in revenue management, homeowner engagement, and property management services, Oyo claims.
“With @Leisure Group, its team and capabilities, we see OYO further its mission of creating quality living experiences for everyday travellers. With Europe spearheading the vacation and urban home rental trend globally, @Leisure Group is uniquely positioned to capitalize on its experience and insights aided with OYO’s full stack approach towards building the world’s largest global vacation rentals business. If one were to look at Europe alone, there is an ever-increasing demand for vacation homes with an increasing trend of booking an entire home. Further, in such a market of largely fragmented small and independent players, and a handful of established players, of which @Leisure Group, is one of the largest, we feel travelers will be excited with what @Leisure Group can offer,” OYO’s Global Chief Strategy Officer, Maninder Gulati said.
He further added that through this acquisition, the size and scale of the opportunity can be immediately unlocked for Oyo’s Homes business. Today, more than 2.8 million holidaymakers from over 118 countries book their holiday every year with @Leisure Group. The combined strength of both brands can scale the opportunity multifold.
Tobias Wann, CEO, @Leisure Group, will join OYO’s leadership group as CEO, Vacation Homes, OYO Global, and will work with Mahinder to turn OYO’s home business into a global by-word for vacation and urban home rentals.
“We see vacation homes as a unique opportunity with 115,000 units of homes now getting added to our already growing count of beautiful homes and we are excited to continue maintaining our global industry leadership. Our focus, however, will remain to be a beloved consumer brand that has the ability to create a perfect space in every place. The @Leisure Group is a great partner and we are excited to broad base their offerings. @Leisure Group has proven capabilities in helping develop Europe into a vacation rentals hotspot and we are keen to leverage their competencies towards ensuring beautiful vacation rental and urban homes experience for millions of tourists from every part of the world. I am particularly thrilled to welcome Tobias and team into the OYO family. It is a business decision closely aligned with our overall mission that has incredible potential,” Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, Oyo said in a statement.
Launched in 2017, Oyo Home already has over 15,000 villas and apartment units globally. This move will combine Oyo’s capabilities of asset management and technology with the presence, local know-how and category-specific expertise of the @Leisure Group in the sphere of vacation rentals.
“We are delighted to join forces with OYO in its mission of creating quality and beautiful spaces. @Leisure Group was started with a similar mission to identify and service all forms of vacation & urban home rentals, focusing on delivering a hassle-free experience to both homeowners and guests. I am delighted to share that we’ve successfully achieved that over the past few years, and now aspire to leverage our synergies to deepen our presence in Europe and look to expand globally,” Tobias Wann, CEO @Leisure, said.