OYO Hotels & Homes, the leading global chain of hotels and vacation homes today announced the elevation and addition of Aditya Ghosh, presently CEO, India & South Asia for the hotels and homes business to the company’s Board of Directors. Aditya is joining Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes, Betsy Atkins, Founder & CEO, Baja Corporation and other industry experts like Munish Varma, Managing Partner, SoftBank Vision Fund, Bejul Somaia, Partner, Lightspeed India Partners Advisors, Mohit Bhatnagar, Managing Director, Sequoia Capital India Advisor among others, making it a powerful, diverse, and truly global combination. 

OYO has continuously been investing in further strengthening its corporate governance. The recent appointment of independent director, Betsy Atkins on the Board, who earlier invested in Yahoo and eBay and now Aditya, who hails with a depth of experience in running successful public companies, will both tremendously benefit the company. Aditya’s elevation and addition to a strong group of Board members come after his successful completion of one year in the company.  During this time, he took the hotels and homes business in India & South Asia to greater heights and implemented several programs to strengthen operating metrics and customer experience thereby more than doubling the asset owner community from 5500+ to 18000+ hotels in a short span of time. In his new role at the board, Aditya will provide strength of governance and leadership as OYO evolves into a truly global high performing company that scales sustainably on the path to profitability with higher expectations from consumers, asset owners, investors and employees. Aditya will focus on five key areas namely, Safety and Security, Customer Experience, Corporate Governance, Revenue Management and Stakeholder Communications. 

Reflecting on the development, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes said, “Aditya’s strong business acumen, problem-solving capabilities, passion for building an organization with strong corporate governance and a high performing work culture that thrives on principles of diversity and inclusion, makes him the perfect choice for this larger and more strategic role, at a global level. I am certain that this decision will greatly help OYO achieve its goals, globally.  Like always, we are blessed to have leaders like Aditya who continuously step-up to bigger roles to ensure the company derives benefits from their wealth of experience in such a critical juncture of not just growth, but principled growth for the company. His learnings will be invaluable for all of us.”

Aditya Ghosh, newly appointed Board member, further stated, “I am thankful to the Board for inviting me into the august group to further build OYO as a global brand to reckon with, by not just growing fast, but growing right. You may have heard me repeat this past year, that one of the biggest characteristics about OYO is the opportunity that we have to create a truly global brand out of India – one that is recognised and respected the world over for positively impacting the lives of thousands of employees, creating millions of economic opportunities as well as delighting millions of guests with hospitality experiences across multiple price-points. The opportunity is all this and more, as we aim to set new standards of corporate governance and build a sustainable business at scale, with a clear path to profitability. I am, therefore, excited and keen to play a larger role and harness my experience in helping a public company operate well and ascribe to high standards of sustainable growth. I hope to actively impact the ability of this 20,000+ OYOpreneurs strong organisation, around the world, to achieve its mission and work with some of the sharpest minds across various industries who are part of OYO’s venerable board, to guide the company, as it delivers against its values and promises to all stakeholders.” 

Aditya’s Dream Run @OYO continues:

Aditya’s contribution to the India SA business over the last one year has been commendable, to say the least, and no small feat. During his year as CEO, India & South Asia for OYO Hotels & Homes, he has been instrumental in:

• Introduction of safety and security as a core promise; establishing security and emergency response protocols, and onboarding seasoned safety professionals
• Enabling an evolved approach to decision making with a deep focus on the needs of the consumer at the centre
• Introducing new customer service procedures with enhanced Learning & Development programs
• Launch of Centres of Excellence
• Rebranding and repositioning of brands like Collection O and Silver Keys
• Launch of new products like SpotOn
• Optimising revenue management and pricing strategies which have resulted in the business being REVPAR accretive 
• OYO Wizard loyalty program crossing 5 million members 
• More than doubling the scale and reach of the hotel & homes business from 5500+ hotels to 18000+ hotels, 270,000+ rooms across 500 cities 
• Reorganising and revitalising Regional management with new leadership in 24 of the 26 Hubs and 4 of the 5 Regions in the country; 
• Reorganising the sales function, making it more cost-efficient and impactful under new seasoned leaders; 
• Growing the direct employee base from about 5600 OYOpreneurs to 8000+ today; 
• Enhancing gender diversity and inclusion in the workforce 
• Launching the industry-first OYO Partner Engagement Network (OPEN) program; Partner Advisory Councils and ClubRed for deeper engagement with Asset Partners
• Facilitating business advances to nurture the growth of our asset partners and infrastructure 
• Launching our community outreach program called OYOReach where we are beginning to create a deep impact in the communities we serve
• Committing investments of INR 1400 crores in India SA
• Guiding the India business firmly on the path of financial stability; 

OYO has also announced the appointment of Rohit Kapoor, the current CEO, New Real Estate Businesses as the CEO for the entire India and South Asia business. Over the last year, Rohit has been overseeing the growth of OYO LIFE – the brand’s long-term rental housing portfolio as well as other new real estate businesses in India. Rohit’s remit will now also span the operations of over 18000+ hotels across 500+ cities in India SA.

Rohit Kapoor, newly appointed CEO of OYO Hotels & Homes, added, “This is a great opportunity as well as a humbling responsibility and I thank Ritesh and Aditya for the trust and confidence placed in me. Given the impressive performance of the hotels’ business in India and South Asia, I do have some big shoes to fill.  I will do my best and Aditya has promised to be my guiding light in the process. In the last one year, the performance delivered, has been tremendous in not just scaling operations across 500 cities and 18000+ hotels but also delivering on sustainable growth with financial prudence. I look forward to working with Aditya & Ritesh during the transition period and also working with each one of the 10,000+ strong OYOpreneur community in India & South Asia as we lead  by example and set new standards of excellence for OYO and the hospitality industry at large.”

In the last six+ years, OYO has consistently built a culture of innovation and meritocracy supported by the organisational tenet of distributed leadership that empowers and expedites independent decision-making. OYO has not lost a single leader while continuing to attract top talent from the world over.  Aditya and Rohit will be working closely through the coming month to enable a smooth and seamless transition. As part of his new role, Aditya will continue to remain accessible whenever needed. 

Ritesh further added, “I congratulate Aditya for being a great thought partner and look forward to his continued support and guidance to OYO and its leadership team. I am also excited to announce the appointment of Rohit Kapoor as the CEO of the entire India & SA business. Rohit has been with OYO now for over a year now, and in the last 12+ months, he has worked closely with me on various strategic initiatives across businesses. I am certain that OYO India & South Asia will continue to grow from strength to strength under his able leadership.”