Oyo launches self sign-up service for hotels

SoftBank-backed Oyo has announced the launch of Oyo 360, a service that will allow hotel owners to self sign-up on the platform. This service is expected to shore up the number of hotels and help reverse the sharp fall in the number of properties under Oyo's umbrella following the pandemic.

Moneycontrol had earlier this week reported on Oyo's plan to launch the self sign-up service.

The service cuts the time required for hotels to onboard on the portal to 30 minutes from around 15 days under the current process.

According to the company, over 70% of hotel and home-owners who join Oyo have never sold online.

This tool would require basic details on the hotel, room number, amenities, and imagery. The tool uses AI capabilities in photo upload to auto check for image quality, reject images with objectionable content and auto categorise images by detecting the elements in the images.

If the property is already listed on any of the OTAs, all this information is auto-filled.

"Oyo 360 is a big bet to accelerate supply acquisition and enhance the overall experience by making onboarding simpler and convenient. It aims to provide direct control on pricing, increasing occupancies and visibility on simplified contracts and reconciliation processes," said Rohit Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer, OYO INSEA.

"As we sign up more patrons and keep building our network, we are confident that we’ll be able to attract more guests, diversify the customer base and solidify their business performance through Oyo’s tech tool-stack,” he added.
The company which is doubling down its focus on technology has increased its investment in the same, including human resources by over 60 percent in the last two to three years.

Oyo had offered its technology team increments and promotions last year right after the first wave of the pandemic. It had also given full variable for the period of July 2019-June 2020.

The company also recently announced plans to hire over 300 technology professionals including software development, engineering, product managers, designers, data scientists across entry-level to senior leadership roles.