By Anees Hussain
Travel tech firm Oyo on Tuesday said it has entered the premium resorts and hotels category with the launch of its new brand, Palette.
The company said the move is part of its efforts to make its premium property portfolio more versatile. “Palette resorts will be strategically located in popular leisure destinations across India, while also catering to business leisure or bleisure travellers looking for quick getaways and staycations,” Oyo said in a statement.
The company has started 10 Palette resorts on a pilot basis in cities like Jaipur, Hyderabad, Digha, Mumbai, Chennai, Manesar and Bangalore. It will add 40 more Palette resorts to its portfolio by the second quarter of the current fiscal. The expansion will encompass destinations like Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Amritsar, Shimla, Goa, Udaipur, Pune, Mussoorie, Srinagar and Kochi.
Owing to the rise of middle class and higher disposable income, luxury hotels and resorts segment is witnessing an unprecedented growth in India, Oyo said. Urban millennials and GenZ are seeking more authentic and unique experiences, and don’t mind spending extra to attain them, it added.
A recent Ficci report said the Indian luxury hospitality market is projected to grow at an annual growth rate of 12.8 % between 2015 and 2025. The pan-India premium hotel occupancy will witness a decadal high of 70-72% in FY24, according to an Icra report.
In April, Oyo said that it turned cash flow positive during the fourth quarter of FY23 with nearly Rs 90 crore surplus cash flow.
In March, Oyo refiled its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India under the pre-filing route. The firm had originally filed preliminary documents with Sebi in September 2021 for a Rs 8,430-crore IPO, including a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 7,000 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 1,430 crore.
In the run-up to its IPO, Oyo also trimmed down its employee count last year in December, firing 600 of its 3,700-strong workforce as it shut down a few products. At that time, Oyo that the downsizing had hit product and engineering teams, corporate headquarter and the vacation homes teams.