Oyo Hotels Cutting 20% Of India Staff, 65,000 Rooms Vanish From Website

Just over seven months ago, India’s Oyo Hotels proclaimed itself the world’s third largest hotel.

Now the Softbank-backed startup is cutting headcount in its home market by around one-fifth, as it struggles for profitability.

Valued at as much as $10 billion during December, the seven-year-old hotel management firm sent out letters of termination to an unspecified number of employees in India on Monday, with 26-year-old founder Ritesh Agarwal saying in an email to staff that the Gurugram-based company is “taking steps to optimise and strengthen our business,” as it enters the new year.

A report in India’s Economic Times cited unnamed Oyo officials as saying that the company, which had already cut its India staffing from an estimated 13,000 to around 12,000 people, would lay off around 20 percent more of its team, with more cuts on the way.

The reduction in force in Oyo’s India business comes just days after Bloomberg reported that the firm was laying off 5 percent of its 12,000 person team in China – its second largest market.

Ref: Property Report