2020 has been a year of travel ironies – one far too many to count.  With air travel taking a backseat, and no guests walking through the hotel doors, the pandemic brought the entire world to a sudden standstill for months together. India saw one of the most stringent and longest lockdowns; however, on a brighter note, with the gradual unlocks across the nation, Indians have begun boarding flights and checking into hotels among a lot more movement across the country.

Every year, we at OYO, are excited to learn new insights about our guests’ travel interests. This year is slightly different – with some unique findings & some shocking revelations. We’re excited and thrilled to bring to you our third annual year-end travel index – OYO Travelopedia 2020. 

According to the index, while 2020 started on a happy note, with January 2020 (pre-covid) being the most travelled month, April 2020 witnessed most cancellations across the country owing to the government’s precautionary lockdown. Hospitality was one of the worst affected industries worldwide, however, with cities unlocking and global restrictions easing gradually, India topped the charts for OYO as the most booked country while Delhi clocked in the most bookings across the world in 2020. With the unlocking of cities, December 2020 emerged as the month that’s witnessing the most demand around the holiday season. 

Interestingly, a single user stayed at our hotels 128 times in 2020, showcasing complete trust in the brand to provide safe and hygienic accommodations by following all the necessary precautions. Another guest spent approx 50,000 seconds (13.88 hours) on our app throughout the year showcasing the desire to finally step out and travel. What’s also surprising is that one of our hotels in Shahjahanpur and another in Chennai witnessed an average occupancy of 100% since lockdown.

Detailed findings from OYOs Travelopedia 2020:

• Five reasons why people loved OYO during the pandemic:

• • Approximately 73,000 repatriated Indians completed their institutional quarantine at OYOs across India. Amongst these, most bookings were made by guests travelling from the Middle East, primarily UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar
  • OYO Care tied up with 24+ state ministries and 50+ government and private hospitals
  • The hotel chain housed 250,000+ hospital staff and asymptomatic patients since April 2020
  • 200+ sailors were safely quarantined at OYOs across India
  • OYO served 2500 pin codes in 2020

• India’s favorite holiday: Around India, the gradual unlocks led to a rise in consumer confidence to travel again safely. With majority bookings – the 02nd October or Gandhi Jayanthi long weekend and Christmas weekend were India’s favorite holidays to travel in 2020
• Lost & Found at OYO: Around 2112 people forgot their belongings at our hotels across India 
• Travel on my mind all the time: In 2020, 10:00 – 11:00 AM, 4:00 – 5:00 PM and 7:00 – 8:00 PM were the most popular hours for Indians to book their stays
• What’s new: Over 8.5 million new user bookings were made on our app and website in 2020
• India turns to spirituality: Puri emerged as India’s top pilgrimage destination, followed by Vrindavan, Tirupati, Shirdi, and Varanasi
• Chal Beach Chalein? Across India, without any surprise, the tourist hotspot of Goa emerged as the most booked beach destination, followed by Kochi, Vizag and Pondicherry
• Incredible India: Since India began unlocking, the northern cities of Jaipur, Udaipur and Agra are the most loved heritage cities for Indians
• A December to Remember: In December 2020, over 17 lakh people checked-in over the weekends. December 12, 2020 saw the most number of bookings (so far). The next estimated date is December 31, 2020 (bookings still coming in)
• Welcome 2021: At present, guests are opting to bring in the New Year across Goa and Himachal Pradesh, with the highest demand for 30th December 2020 and 01st January 2021
• Social Media trivia
  • Total reach: Across all our Social Media platforms was 204.8M
  • Most liked post: Inspired from the Netflix series with a cheeky caption ‘Peaky Climbers’ was our most liked social media post with 1 lac+ likes on Instagram
  • Most engaged post: Namaste Video on Facebook and Instagram with 3.14lac+ engagement

Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes, India & South Asia said, “We’ve all heard the saying ‘Safe Travels’ hundreds of times, but today, we understand the true value of those two words, with the entire whole world putting the age-old saying to practice. The findings of OYO’s Travelopedia is a testament that India is ready to travel again and we at OYO are here along with our partners ready to welcome them again. One of the most humbling things we found out that has stayed with me is that a guest has stayed with us 128 times this year, something that tells us that we are on the right path and that our customers have immense faith in us even in tough times. Things like these fuel our passion and I can confidently say that OYO is emerging stronger out of this crisis compared to when we entered it.  

While 2021 will be a new learning in itself, we’re hopeful that the changes we have brought in 2020 will set new precedents in the travel and hospitality sector and we are completely motivated to work towards providing safe stays to all our customers.”

India unlocks travel across India

Additionally, the data revealed that Delhi NCR, Karnataka, Telangana led the pack as the most welcoming states in the post-lockdown world. Also, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad ranked as the most popular cities among business travellers while Jaipur, Goa, Kochi were travellers’ favorite domestic leisure hotspots. 

We’re delighted by the immense love shown to us throughout this year. Thank you for choosing us and making us part of your journey every time.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year, filled with love and safe travels!