
Building OYO as an Uber, not an Airbnb, for Indian Hotels - taphangum
http://www.forbes.com/sites/saritharai/2015/08/06/why-a-21-year-old-is-building-oyo-an-uber-and-not-an-airbnb-for-hotels-in-india/
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rezistik
I don't understand this at all. AirBnB solves the quality control issue with
ratings for both sides doesn't it? I've never used Uber, but Lyft doesn't let
me pick which driver I get. Does Uber? If not then the last thing I'd want is
an Uber for hotels. AirBnB offers filters and search so I can find exactly
what I'm looking for, if OYO is the Uber for hotels is it just giving me a
random hotel in a radius? Why would I want that?

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mailarchis
I had a hard time understanding this analogy too from the title. The analogy
is used in terms of the core/most important value proposition. For Uber, it is
Predictabilty and for AirBnB Discovery.

In hospitality industry, the problem is not that of discovering hotels but
that of having a consistent experience(predictability).

The way Oyo addresses that by having designated Oyo Rooms in partnered hotels
which adhere to certain quality criteria like bedsheets, interior decor,
toiletries etc.

So, if you book a Oyo Room in a Hotel A or a Oyo Room in Hotel B, the
experience should be similar ideally.

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rezistik
Interesting...That's an oddly infectious way to build a brand. I don't mean
this negatively, but it sounds parasitic in nature. If Hotel A has 10 rooms,
and 2 of them are Oyo rooms, assumably with Oyo branding within, is it similar
to some form of subleasing?

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mailarchis
I don't think Oyo subleases the rooms, but instead has some kind of revenue
share agreement with the Hotels. One thing you need to consider is that that
they partner with Hotels that are small and independent players and do not
have their own brand.

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raymondgh
I stayed in a few Oyo rooms recently. It's pretty much the most convenient and
cheapest option for travelers when it works. Sometimes though, the hotel
overbooks and can't honor your reservation. Finding yourself on the foreign
Indian streets at night can really suck.

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vivekv
While I agree that standing on a foreign street anywhere on the planet is a
bad problem, I dont think overbooking as a problem has been addressed by
anybody efficiently so far. The only mechanism that exists today is the
feedback mechanism by the end user against the hotels.

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nc
Interestingly OYO is selling all rooms at a loss. In an effort to build demand
side market share.

A room on OYO that costs approx Rs. 1000 is purchased on a guaranteed basis
from the hotel at Rs. 1500.

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rahimnathwani
Related story, 2 months ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10180818](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10180818)

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sleepyhead
The comparison to Uber is completely invalid.

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doodlebugging
They may want to check the availability of the name OYO since it may belong to
a geophysical equipment manufacturer headquartered in Houston.

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unmole
Considering they operate excursively in India, I don't imagine they'd really
be concerned about being mistaken for a geophysical equipment manufacturer
headquartered in Houston.

