Bailbrook Lodge to come under Oyo brand and operation

Oyo is set to manage and rebrand Bailbrook Lodge hotel in Bath after Irfan Chaudhary took over the 10-year lease of the property last month from Patron Hotels.

The 15-bedroom property, which is rated four stars under the AA’s guest house category, is Oyo’s first Bath property and the group plans to invest “significantly” into the business. Oyo has more than 175 hotels across the UK, representing more than 4,500 rooms.

Jeremy Sanders, head of Oyo UK, said: "We are delighted to be working with Bailbrook Lodge and officially launching Oyo Hotels in the Bath area. We hope this is just the start as we seek to develop new partnerships and grow business for other independent hotel owners in the region."

Richard Thomas at Christie & Co, who brokered the deal, said: “The Bailbrook Lodge hotel is a fantastic business in a great setting and credit must go to the outgoing business owner for meticulously developing and maintaining such a great product.”

Founded by chief executive Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, Oyo is India's largest hospitality company with regards to number of rooms. The company is backed by investors including AirBnB, SoftBank Vision Fund, Greenoak Capital, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, Hero Enterprise and China Lodging Group.

When it launched in the UK in October 2018, the group's first market outside of Asia, it announced it had £40m from investors earmarked for its UK expansion plans, as it invests in upgrading and branding its member properties.

Independent hotels pay a service fee to join the Oyo brand, while Oyo invests in the branding and upgrades to the property and takes over the revenue management of the hotel. Oyo franchises, ‘manchises' (a franchise and management model) and leases properties.