Global homestay major Airbnb has invested nearly USD200 million in Gurugram-headquartered hospitality unicorn OYO. This raise is part of the Series E round, that was announced in September 2018.
In addition to this strategic investment, both parties are exploring opportunities to collaborate on a range of projects, including making OYO accommodations available on the Airbnb platform.
While the two don’t compete directly in terms of product, they target a similar consumer bracket — consumers seeking an alternative to conventional hotels and lodgings.
“As the 6th largest hotel chain operator in the world, we at, OYO Hotels & Homes, are committed to offering our guests and travellers around the world, great quality living spaces. We are happy to have Airbnb as our partner in this vision,” said Maninder Gulati, Global Chief Strategy Officer at OYO Hotels & Homes.
Airbnb’s strong global footprints and access to local communities will open up new opportunities for OYO Hotels & Homes to strengthen and grow while staying true to our core value proposition. We’re excited by the possibilities and committed to bringing benefits to the millions of travellers who can now rely on Airbnb and OYO Hotels & Homes to find a home away from home,” he added.
OYO has made it clear this is not an exclusive partnership as it works closely with travel majors such as Booking.com and Expedia.
Founded in 2008, Airbnb has 31 offices globally and has more than 4,000 castles and 2,400 treehouses. It offers unprecedented access to local communities and interests through 25,000+ unique, handcrafted activities run by hosts across 1,000+ markets around the world.
According to some media reports, Indian women entrepreneurs, who have associated with AirBnB, made approximately INR93,800 each in the last year, which led to total income of INR74 crore in 2018 by women hosts.
