OYO Hotels & Homes to hit 50 UK properties this month

OYO Hotels & Homes has announced it expects to hit 50 hotels in the UK by the end of April.

Since launching in the UK in October 2018, the budget hotel chain already has 30 franchised and leased hotels across the UK in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Blackpool and Edinburgh. The UK was the group's first market outside of Asia.

The business, which is backed by investors including Softbank, Airbnb, Sequoia and Lightspeed, plans to invest £40m in the UK this year alone. It was announced earlier this week that Airbnb has taken a stake in the Indian hotel chain with reports suggesting investment of more than £76m.

Jeremy Sanders, head of OYO Hotels & Homes UK, said: "We are extremely excited to have launched in the UK, and are very encouraged by our progress so far. We are delighted to have already partnered with so many amazing independent hotel owners from across the country, and look forward to working with many more."

Since being founded in India in 2013 by 25-year-old entrepreneur Ritesh Agarwal, OYO now has more than 18,000 franchised and leased hotels across 10 countries, including India and China, and describes itself as the world's fastest growing hotel chain and the sixth largest hotel chain in the world.

Airbnb takes stake in Oyo >>

Indian hotel chain Oyo eyes UK expansion >>