India’s largest Hospitality firm, OYO is on an expansion spree after launching its operations in 350 cities across India, Nepal and Malaysia. The latest operations embarked by OYO is in UAE hospitality space. It has secured over 10 full-inventory franchised and operated hotels comprising of 1100 rooms across cities of Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah. Company hopes to scale up to create capacity of 12,000 rooms in 150 hotels and all seven Emirates across UAE by 2020. The firm also plans to set up a hospitality training academy in the region. The room rates will start from 150 dirhams.

Welcoming over 25 million visitors in the World Expo 2020 and commenting on the expansion plans across Middle East, OYO Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal said,

“With over 170 countries committing to the World Expo 2020, the hospitality sector in the Middle East, and more specifically UAE, is poised to grow substantially and with our market learning and expertise we are ready to tap this opportunity.”

Manu Midha, regional lead of OYO Hotels, UAE, asserted,

“We are really excited about the opportunity offered by the UAE. This expansion, therefore, is in line with our quest to support the country’s hospitality ecosystem and creating infrastructure for asset owners to grow and run successful businesses, all of this while ensuring high standards of quality.”

Recently it had secured funding commitments of worth $1 billion from Japanese conglomerate, SoftBank in a drive to become China’s largest hotel chain. Over 100,000 jobs has been created in India and 60,000 in China. OYO started its function with four properties in London last month.

Revolutionising budgeted and mid segment hotels by exploring its operational capabilities and technological expertise, the chain is expected to create over 4,000 direct as well as indirect jobs for UAE natives by the end of 2019. Dubai Tourism has predicted the hospitality space in the region to experience a steady growth with a 10.2 percent compound annual growth over the next two years.