When OYO CEO Ritesh Agarwal received Rs 20 tip from angry customer

Ritesh Agarwal is a recipient of the Thiel Fellowship

OYO CEO Ritesh Agarwal remembered the early days of his career in a recent interview, opening up about the time when he worked not only as the boss of his own hospitality company but also doubled up as front desk manager and cleaning staff when needed.

Ritesh Agarwal, 29, dropped out of college when he was still a teenager – a fact that turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it made him eligible for the Thiel Fellowship, created by billionaire Peter Thiel. Agarwal became the first Asian recipient of the fellowship grant of $100,000, which enabled him to return to India and start his hospitality business OYO.

When OYO was still in its early stages, back when Agarwal had just returned from his time at the Thiel Fellowship, he worked as hotel staff whenever needed – filling in for cleaning crew or customer care or front desk manager as needed.

In an interview with Biz Tak, Ritesh Agarwal spoke about the time when he went to clean a hotel room, only to find an angry customer waiting there. “Unhone badi daant lagayi ki 10 minute ho gaya (He scolded us because we were late),” the CEO of OYO recalled.

He said the customer assumed that Agarwal was part of the cleaning crew and reprimanded him over the delay, which occurred because Agarwal and his team was cleaning another room.

In the end, Agarwal cleaned his room thoroughly and the customer, impressed with his work, even gave him a tip of Rs 20.

The real stars of the hospitality industry are the front office managers, cleaning crew, receptionists and behind-the-scenes staff who ensure guests have the best possible experience during their stay.

Early on I got to experience this first-hand when a customer tipped me Rs… pic.twitter.com/M1Gre6NTUh

— Ritesh Agarwal (@riteshagar) May 28, 2023

“The real stars of the hospitality industry are the front office managers, cleaning crew, receptionists and behind-the-scenes staff who ensure guests have the best possible experience during their stay,” he wrote while sharing a snippet from the larger interview on Twitter.

Agarwal has also spoken about the early days of his career in 2020 in an interview with Humans of Bombay, when he said: “During those initial days, I even worked as part of the hotel staff -- servicing rooms, babysitting and even playing UNO with customers -- sometimes, being tipped for it all as well!”