OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal is the new keeper of the light
G6 Hospitality’s Sonal Sinha and Agarwal discuss leadership, G6 acquisition
Ritesh Agarwal, OYO Rooms founder and CEO, and G6 Hospitality’s newly appointed CEO Sonal Sinha talked to Asian Hospitality about leadership and the key to success.
Ed Brock is an award-winning journalist who has worked for various U.S. newspapers and magazines, including with American City & County magazine, a national publication based in Atlanta focused on city and county government issues. He is currently senior editor at Asian Hospitality magazine, the top U.S. publication for Asian American hoteliers. Originally from Mobile, Alabama, Ed began his career in journalism in the early 1990s as a reporter for a chain of weekly newspapers in Baldwin County, Alabama. After a stint teaching English in Japan, Ed returned to the U.S. and moved to the Atlanta area where he returned to journalism, coming to work at Asian Hospitality in 2016.
AT ONE POINT in his life, Ritesh Agarwal had 30 rupees in the bank. Today, as the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, he is one of the youngest billionaires on the planet.
“Sometimes, when I go to bed, I ask myself, ‘Is this all for real?’ Because exactly 10 years ago, I didn't imagine any of it,” Agarwal said.
Agarwal founded OYO in 2013 as a provider of full-stack technology products and services. Today it serves more than 157,000 hotel and home storefronts in more than 35 countries including India, the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia. Near the end of last year, it completed its $525 million acquisition of G6 Hospitality from Blackstone Real Estate.
In April, Agarwal and his newly appointed G6 CEO Sonal Sinha attended the 2025 AAHOA Convention & Trade Show in New Orleans. They met with other business leaders and more than 300 of their franchisees, and Agarwal spoke on the View from the Top panel. Agarwal and Sinha sat with Asian Hospitality Editor Ed Brock for an interview, the video of which is embedded here and summarized below. The interview also can be found in our May issue.
Humble beginnings
Agarwal said the story of his beginnings in the hotel industry is similar to those shared by many AAHOA members.
“I started by being the front office of one of the hotels. I cleaned the back office, cleaned the bedrooms, did the work, and most people would have imagined that I'd be lucky if I scraped by and get that one property, and rightfully so, because I had no logical reason to succeed,” Agarwal said. “But I have learned the difference between somebody who makes it versus not is only how desperately they wanted this as an outcome. They're willing to work hard, they're going to put their perspective, they're wanting to learn everything, and that's what I did.”
Starting OYO was definitely a challenge, he said. It was worth the work, but future entrepreneurs should maintain realistic expectations.
“I love the outcome, but the process, while I enjoyed it, I think it's hard, right?” Agarwal said. “Often people, when they start companies, they are told that the reason you should start a company is you will have no boss. You realize very quickly, your customers are your boss, your suppliers are your boss, your lender is your boss, your equity partner is your boss, your team members are your boss, your external business partner is your boss, your city is your boss. Everybody expects accountability from you and hence you have to be comfortable to be accountable to a large number of people.”
However, Agarwal said that with that responsibility comes rewards.
“You get to solve exciting problems. You’ve got to create great outcomes, and I feel like the outcome is well worth it,” he said.
Agarwal and Sinha brought this philosophy into executing one of the company’s largest transactions so far, its acquisition of G6.
Keeping the light on
In December, Oravel Stays, OYO’s parent company, completed the acquisition of G6 that was announced in September. Sinha was named CEO, with Tina Burnett continuing as chief development officer, the company said at that time. The company plans to add 150 hotels to the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands next year and accelerate G6 Hospitality's growth through technology integration, property upgrades, and market expansion.
Agarwal and Sinha said the process to make the acquisition began in 2019.
“We've known G6 for a few years. It's an iconic American brand loved largely not just by customers, but also franchisees to be a part of this ecosystem,” Agarwal said. “OYO, on the other hand, had figured out its ability to drive the best digital revenue for our franchisees. So, our perspective was, we could take the best of both worlds.”
When the bidding process began, Agarwal called Sinha for his opinion.
“The moment Ritesh called and said, ‘Okay, this is what I'm thinking,’ we had this conversation where we thought, we'll do it someday, and now is the day,” Sinha said. “That was the feeling I had. We know the power these two platforms have. OYO being a tech platform, we know how to run a mobile app. We know how to distribute with multiple agencies. That's the tech strength that OYO brings. We have more than 500 engineers back in India, and they do a lot of coding.”
OYO aims to invest $10 million to enhance G6’s digital assets, including its website and app, targeting a quadruple increase in apps before summer. The company will use digital targeting, focusing on high-intent customers through direct partnerships with Google and Microsoft.
“Our primary commitment today is to make sure our current franchisees make so much more. We just came out of the first quarter. I'm happy to share that when the industry declined year-on-year on revenue, we have delivered three and a half percent up year on year,” Agarwal said.
Maintaining optimism
As the U.S. economy continues to rock from President Trump’s tariffs, even though some are on hold, Agarwal said he remains optimistic about doing business in the U.S. During his panel AAHOACON2025 discussion, he talked about meeting Trump in New Delhi when he was visiting and getting a good impression of the two countries’ relationship.
“I think the relationship, people to people, between India and the U.S., has been incredible,” Agarwal said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited the U.S. right after President Trump's inauguration, building on their existing relationship. Agarwal s
“I think that there is a unidirectional sentiment of more investments from India to the U.S. and the U.S. to India. I don't think that's changing anytime soon. And the good thing is we are less impacted by tariffs,” Agarwal said. “I'm an entrepreneur. I'm an optimist by definition, because we have American hotels, mostly American customers, I'd say over 95 percent of our customers are domestic and American workers. If you combine three of those, we have very little impact from the tariffs.”
Agarwal said the company already is investing $10 million in G6’s technology stacks and it is hiring sales and marketing people. They also are recruiting and expanding on various different divisions.
“There are people who supported me, who supported others, and we all feel like we want to give back, right?” Agarwal said. “What better than Shark Tank, which millions of people watch, it's probably one of the most watched business shows around the world?”
Peachtree adds six hotels to third-party platform.
Five are owned by La Posada Group, one by Decatur Properties.
Third-party portfolio totals 42 hotels.
PEACHTREE GROUP’S HOSPITALITY management division added six hotels to its third-party management platform. Five are owned by La Posada Group LLC and one by Decatur Properties Holdings.
La Posada’s hotels include Fairfield Inn Evansville East in Evansville, Indiana; Fairfield Inn Las Cruces and TownePlace Suites Las Cruces in Las Cruces, New Mexico; and SpringHill Suites Lawrence Downtown and TownePlace Suites Kansas City Overland Park in Kansas, Peachtree said in a statement.
It also assumed management of Decatur Properties’ Hampton Inn in Monahans, Texas.
“Our third-party management business is experiencing growth and these six hotels demonstrate the trust owners are placing in our team,” said Vickie Callahan, president of Peachtree’s hospitality management division. “We have experience managing hotels and managing operations for partners who have entrusted us with their assets. We are committed to protecting asset value, driving results for partners and delivering a strong guest experience.”
The division manages hotels across brands and markets nationwide, the statement said. It operates 115 hotels across 29 brands with 14,212 rooms in 27 states and Washington, D.C. The additions bring its total third-party operations to 42 hotels.
Callahan said the team uses scale, operating systems and brand relationships to optimize revenue, control costs and improve guest satisfaction.
Atlanta-based Peachtree is led by Greg Friedman, managing principal and CEO; Jatin Desai, managing principal and CFO and Mitul Patel, principal.
In July, Peachtree launched a $250 million fund to invest in hotel and commercial real estate assets mispriced due to capital market illiquidity.
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The Highland Group: Extended-stay occupancy, RevPAR and ADR declined in August.
Room revenue rose 0.4 percent, while demand increased 2.2 percent.
August marked the second time in 47 months that supply growth exceeded 4 percent.
U.S. EXTENDED-STAY OCCUPANCY fell 2.1 percent in August, its eighth consecutive monthly decline, while ADR declined 1.8 percent and RevPAR dropped 3.9 percent for the fifth consecutive month, according to The Highland Group. However, total extended-stay room revenue rose 0.4 percent year over year.
The Highland Group’s “US Extended-Stay Hotels Bulletin: August 2025” noted that summer leisure travel has a greater impact on the overall hotel industry than on extended-stay hotels.
“August’s performance metrics further indicated that economy extended-stay hotels are weathering the hotel industry downturn better than most hotel classes, especially at lower price points,” said Mark Skinner, The Highland Group partner.
The 2.1 percent drop in extended-stay hotel occupancy in August was the eighth straight month of decline, the report said. Occupancy declined more than the 1.3 percent drop STR/CoStar reported for all hotels. However, extended-stay occupancy was 11.3 percentage points higher than the overall hotel industry, consistent with long-term late-summer trends.
The 1.8 percent decline in extended-stay ADR was partly due to a larger share of economy supply in August 2025 versus August 2024, the report said. Economy extended-stay ADR fell for the first time since May 2024 but outperformed the 3.4 percent drop for all economy hotels reported by STR/CoStar. Mid-price extended-stay ADR also declined, while upscale extended-stay ADR fell more than upscale hotels overall.
RevPAR fell 3.9 percent in August, the fifth straight monthly decline and the largest in 2025. The overall drop was greater than individual segment decreases because economy supply made up a larger share than in August 2024. STR/CoStar reported RevPAR declines of 5.7 percent for economy, 2.6 percent for mid-price and 2 percent for upscale hotels.
Revenue, demand and supply trends
Extended-stay room revenue rose 0.4 percent in August from a year earlier, The Highland Group said. STR/CoStar reported overall hotel revenue fell 0.1 percent and excluding luxury and upper-upscale segments, revenue fell 2 percent. STR/CoStar also reported August room revenue declines of 6.4 percent for economy hotels, 1.4 percent for midscale and 0.7 percent for upscale compared to August 2024.
Extended-stay demand rose 2.2 percent in August, the second-largest monthly increase in seven months. STR/CoStar reported total hotel demand fell 0.4 percent. Adjusting for the extra day in February 2024, extended-stay demand has grown in 32 of the past 33 months.
August was the second time in 47 months that supply growth exceeded 4 percent, the report said. Supply has risen about 3 percent year to date. Annual supply growth ranged from 1.8 to 3.1 percent over the past three years, below the long-term 4.9 percent average.
The 8 percent rise in economy extended-stay supply, with minimal change in mid-price and upscale rooms, is mainly due to conversions, as new economy construction accounts for about 3–4 percent of rooms compared to a year ago.
The Highland Group reported that economy, mid-price and upscale extended-stay segments led first-quarter 2025 RevPAR growth over their class counterparts. The report noted 602,980 extended-stay rooms at quarter-end, a net gain of 17,588 rooms over the past year, the largest in three years.
AHLA Foundation distributed $710,000 in scholarships to 246 students.
Nearly 90 percent of recipients come from underrepresented communities.
The foundation funds students pursuing education and careers in the lodging sector.
AHLA FOUNDATION DISTRIBUTED $710,000 in academic scholarships to 246 students at 64 schools nationwide for the 2025–2026 academic year. Nearly 90 percent of recipients are from underrepresented communities, reflecting the foundation’s focus on expanding access to hospitality careers.
The foundation awards academic scholarships annually to students in hospitality management and related programs, it said in a statement.
“Our scholarship program is helping ensure the next generation of talent has the resources to pursue careers in the hospitality industry,” said Kevin Carey, AHLA Foundation's president and CEO. “We’ve invested millions of dollars over the last several decades to recruit and support future leaders who will strengthen our industry.”
It provides funding to help students pursue education and careers in the lodging sector, the statement said. Award decisions are based on applicants’ academic performance, extracurricular involvement, recommendations and financial need.
In September, AHLA Foundation, the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education and the Accreditation Commission for Programs in Hospitality Administration announced plans to expand education opportunities for hospitality students. The alliance aim to provide data, faculty development and student engagement opportunities.
The U.S. government shut down at midnight after Congress failed to agree on funding.
About 750,000 federal employees will be furloughed daily, costing $400 million.
Key immigration and labor programs are halted.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT shut down at midnight after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on funding. Disputes over healthcare subsidies and spending priorities left both sides unwilling to accept responsibility.
The shutdown could cost America’s travel economy $1 billion a week, the U.S. Travel Association said previously. It will disrupt federal agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration and hurt the travel economy, USTA CEO Geoff Freeman wrote in a Sept. 25 letter to Congress.
“A shutdown is a wholly preventable blow to America’s travel economy—costing $1 billion each week—and affecting millions of travelers and businesses while straining an already overextended federal travel workforce,” Freeman said. “While Congress recently provided a $12.5 billion down payment to modernize our nation’s air travel system and improve safety and efficiency, this modernization will stop in the event of a shutdown.”
USTA said that halting air traffic controller hiring and training would worsen a nationwide shortage of more than 2,800 controllers and further strain the air travel system.
About 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed each day at a cost of about $400 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Essential services to protect life and property remain operational, CNN reported. The Department of Education said most of its staff will be furloughed, while the Department of Homeland Security will continue much of its work. Agencies released contingency plans before the deadline.
Immigration services are directly affected. Most U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services operations continue because they are fee funded, but programs relying on appropriations—such as E-Verify, the Conrad 30 J-1 physician program and the special immigrant religious worker program—are suspended. Houston law firm Reddy Neumann Brown said employers must manually verify I-9 documents if E-Verify goes offline, though USCIS has historically extended compliance deadlines.
The Department of Labor will halt its Office of Foreign Labor Certification, freezing labor condition applications for H-1B visas, PERM applications and prevailing wage determinations, India’s Business Standard reported. Its FLAG system and related websites will also go offline. Immigration lawyers warn of ripple effects, since USCIS depends on DOL data. The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals and administrative law dockets will also pause.
Visa and passport services at U.S. consulates generally continue because they are fee funded. If revenue falls short at a post, services may be limited to emergencies and diplomatic needs.
Reuters reported that the disruption could delay the September jobs report, slow air travel, suspend scientific research, withhold pay from active-duty U.S. troops and disrupt other government operations. The funding standoff involves $1.7 trillion in discretionary agency spending—about one-quarter of the $7 trillion federal budget, according to Reuters. Most of the rest goes to health programs, retirement benefits and interest on the $37.5 trillion national debt.
According to The New York Times, unlike previous shutdowns, Trump is threatening long-term changes to the government if Democrats do not concede to demands, including firing workers and permanently cutting programs they support.
The U.S. led global travel and tourism in 2024 with $2.6 trillion in GDP, WTTC reported.
India retained ninth place with $249.3 billion in GDP.
The sector supported 357 million jobs in 2024, rising to 371 million in 2025.
THE U.S. LED global travel and tourism in 2024, contributing $2.6 trillion to GDP, mainly from domestic demand, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Europe accounted for five of the top 10 destinations, while India ranked 9th.
WTTC opened its 25th Global Summit in Rome with research showing investment reached $1 trillion in 2024, led by the U.S., China, Saudi Arabia and France.
“These results tell a story of strength and opportunity,” said Gloria Guevara, WTTC interim CEO. “The U.S. remains the world’s largest travel and tourism market, China is surging back, Europe is powering ahead, and destinations across the Middle East, Asia and Africa are delivering record growth. This year, we are forecasting that our sector will contribute a historic $2.1 trillion in 2025, surpassing the previous high of $1.9 trillion in 2019. As Italy hosts this year’s Global Summit, its role as a G7 leader showcases the importance of tourism in driving economies, creating jobs and shaping our shared future.”
The U.S. kept its top position, but international visitor spending is expected to fall by $12.5 billion in 2025, limiting growth to 0.7 percent. China, the second-largest market, contributed $1.64 trillion in 2024 and is forecast to grow 22.7 percent this year. Japan, the fifth-largest market, is expected to rise from $310.5 billion to nearly $325 billion.
Italy, which hosted the summit and is a G7 member, contributed $248.3 billion in 2024, driven by international visitors and the meetings and events sector. Germany, the third-largest market, contributed $525 billion. The UK generated $367 billion despite a fall in international visitor spending, while France and Spain added $289 billion and $270 billion. Europe’s growth was supported by both cultural and modern sectors.
India contributed $249.3 billion in 2024. In June, WTTC reported international visitors spent $36.09 billion in India in last year, up 9 percent from 2019.
Jobs on the rise
Travel and tourism supported 357 million jobs in 2024 and is expected to reach 371 million in 2025, increasing its share of global employment, the WTTC report found. By 2035, the sector is projected to support one in eight jobs worldwide, adding 91 million positions—most in Asia-Pacific—and accounting for one in three new jobs globally.
Uncertainties over trade tariffs and geopolitical tensions could limit sector growth in 2025, the report said. Travel and tourism’s GDP contribution is forecast to rise 6.7 percent, returning toward pre-pandemic averages but still outpacing the 2.5 percent growth projected for the global economy.
The sector is expected to contribute $11.7 trillion, or 10.3 percent of global GDP and add 14.4 million jobs, bringing total employment to 371 million, or 10.9 percent of global jobs. International visitor spending is projected to fully recover, rising 8.6 percent above 2019 levels to nearly $2.1 trillion, while domestic visitor spending is expected to rise 13.6 percent to $5.6 trillion. Annual growth for 2025 is forecast at 10 percent for international and 5.1 percent for domestic spending.
In May, WTTC projected the U.S. stood to lose $12.5 billion in international travel spending this year, falling to under $169 billion from $181 billion in 2024. The council said U.S. needs to do more to welcome international visitors rather than “putting up the ‘closed’ sign.”