MICROSOFT AND OYO Hotels and Homes will work together to develop “smart room” technology including customized in-room experiences, self-check-in, guest ID verification and augmented customer service, IoT-managed smart locks and virtual assistance using Microsoft Azure IoT. Small and independent hotels and homeowners worldwide will be able to use the new technology to manage guests’ experience, increase revenue and run operations securely.
As part of the partnership, Microsoft has also made an equity investment in OYO. According to an OYO spokesperson, a large number of the new smart room solutions are a direct result of feedback and input received from its patrons who operate small and medium hotels.
“Our patron app ecosystem provides a lift in revenues for new hotels and homes that join the OYO network. We do this through our products, and application of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, be it running millions of pricing optimizations per day to increase revenues or enabling users to book an OYO within seconds,” said Abhinav Sinha, OYO’s global COO and chief product officer. “Our technology and products have helped our patrons drive operational efficiencies and continuously improve the experience for our guests. This alliance with Microsoft will accelerate the deployment of our products in the hands of small businesses we work with, allowing us to create even more impact through an integrated technology ecosystem available on the cloud for businesses in the remotest corners of the world.”
Sinha added that this new alliance will mean more personalization, better choices, differentiated experiences and an improved guest experience in the future.
OYO also will begin to share existing workloads on Microsoft Azure, adopt the Microsoft 365 suite for better collaboration and productivity and switch to Github Enterprise for accelerating tech development in a secure manner, the statement further said.
“Combining the power of Azure with the tech and product stack developed by OYO, we are looking forward to accelerating innovation in travel and hospitality,” said Anant Maheshwari, president of Microsoft India. “It is inspiring to see how the Microsoft cloud is empowering digital natives like OYO to accelerate industry transformation and innovations, turning the challenges of a post-pandemic era into opportunities for the future.”
According to reports, more than 100 hotels are on the OYO platform in the U.S. The pandemic forced OYO to layoff and furlough “a certain number of employees” in the country.
OYO offers more than 40 integrated products and solutions to patrons who operate hotel and home storefronts across India, Europe and Southeast Asia and more than 35 countries.
