OYO’s £50M Investment Fuels UK Hospitality Growth with Premium Hotels & Jobs
OYO, A HOSPITALITY technology company, aims to invest $62 million or £50 million in the UK over three years to expand its premium hotel portfolio, supporting 1,000 jobs in the hospitality sector. The company is upgrading its UK portfolio by acquiring premium inventory and securing long-term leasehold and management contracts.
OYO is in advanced talks with large hotel chains and real estate firms for asset management deals, the company said in a statement released to Indian media.
"OYO's investment in premium hotels will not only strengthen our tourism infrastructure but support our 'Showcase Britain' initiative, helping to boost economic growth as part of our Plan for Change," said Poppy Gustafsson, the UK's minister for investment.
OYO operates more than 200 budget hotels across 65 UK cities, with clusters in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Brighton. The company also plans to open more than 40 premium self-operated hotels through leasehold contracts this financial year. It has onboarded 18 hotels under this model and plans to add 22 more in cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bristol, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Puneet Yadav, OYO UK country head, said OYO entered the UK in 2018, leveraging a successful global model.
"While we continue to cater to the budget segment, we are now focused on expanding through leasehold agreements and management contracts with premium properties," Yadav said. "Additionally, we plan to introduce several of our popular European brands to the UK market, further diversifying our offerings and meeting evolving customer needs."
Founded in India in 2012, OYO expanded domestically before entering Europe, the U.S., and the Americas in 2019. In 2024, its parent company, Oravel Stays Ltd., entered the UK premium segment with SUNDAY Lansbury Heritage in Canary Wharf.
SoftBank holds 46.62 percent of OYO, while founder Ritesh Agarwal owns 33.15 percent.
In December, OYO completed the acquisition of G6 Hospitality, operator of Motel 6 and Studio 6, from Blackstone Real Estate for $525 million. The deal added 1,500 franchised hotels across the US and Canada, expanding OYO’s North American portfolio. OYO also restructured G6’s executive team, appointing Sonal Sinha as CEO and retaining Tina Burnett as chief development officer.
Gautam Swaroop, CEO of OYO International, said OYO will keep investing in key G6 business areas, including supply, account management, corporate sales, brand standards, offline marketing, and security.
"Over the years, OYO has successfully leveraged capabilities developed in India—technology, revenue management, e-commerce, procurement, legal, finance, and HR—and will extend these to the G6 business as well," he said.
G6 Hospitality recently selected HotelKey, co-founded by Aditya Thyagarajan and Fareed Ahmad, to upgrade its technology across U.S. and Canada properties, making it the core property management system for all Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations.
The IPO-bound company, reportedly filing its Draft Red Herring Prospectus in March, posted its first net profit of $26.76 million in 2024, with adjusted EBITDA up 215 percent to $106.30 million from $32,79 million in 2023.
