At a time when Oyo is expanding aggressively across the globe, it is also entering new categories within India. In a latest move, the online hospitality player has forayed into the property rental business with long-term housing rentals. Called OYO Living, the objective is to provide ‘upgraded living experiences at an affordable price for India's young and growing population’.
OYO Living will target always-on generation of millennials and young professionals and hopes to be available in 10 major Indian cities before the end of the next calendar year offering 50,000 beds from its inventory. As of now, it has around 2,000 beds. In the words of the company it aims at organizing end-to-end managed, comfortable, high-quality living experience for its customers. The cities covered now are in Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Pune.
“Today, with the launch of OYO Living, we are all set to offer something new while remaining true to our core mission of creating beautiful living spaces. Interestingly, OYO Living was conceptualized based on the feedback and demand from our valued customers and asset partners. We saw this as a huge opportunity and decided to leverage our hospitality experience to offer a first of its kind end to end fully managed living experience. This launch, therefore, marks a key milestone as we embark on our journey towards becoming India’s biggest provider of housing, consolidating our position as a category innovator and leader,” Ritesh Agarwal, CEO and Founder of Oyo said in a statement.
The unique aspect of OYO Living, as the customers will find out is that OYO takes care of the contracting, furnishing, cleaning, maintenance, and in-stay services. Wi-Fi connectivity, television, regular housekeeping, power backup, CCTV surveillance, and 24/7 caretaking will also be included in the amenities that the tenants in these properties can expect to enjoy. The tariff could start at Rs 7,999, per bed, per month. OYO Living customers need not pay any brokerage and there will be no lock-in periods.
On the other side, owners of properties stand to gain as well, leaving everything to OYO including regular maintenance and professional upkeep of their properties, while ensuring guaranteed rental yields.
If they succeed in attracting a large base of customers, trust others to jump in and provide some competition.