OYO Hotels aims Saudi Arabia expansion in line with its mission to create over 5,000 Saudi jobs

Oyo Hotels & Homes is looking to expand its offerings in Saudi Arabia. With this expansion, the hospitality firm aims to meet its target of creating 5,000 jobs for Saudis.

The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and OYO signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in February 2019. Under this MoU, both of them agreed to explore co-investment opportunities, create new jobs and develop new sectors.

Ritesh Agarwal, CEO of Oyo Hotels & Homes, said, “We look at Saudi as a very strategic growth market. The partnership is very special for us and we want to continue to go deeper.”

Currently, OYO is managing over 80 buildings and properties in more than 10 Saudi cities, including Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Taif and Abha.

 “We’re in markets where having a great quality experience at the right price point really matters. Oyo has already created a significant amount of jobs for locals,” Agarwal stated.

He added, “We have promised to create over 5,000 Saudi jobs by the end of next year. We feel that we’ll exceed that by the second quarter.”

Founded in 2013, OYO is now present in 881 cities around the world, with approximately 850,000 rooms in more than 23,000 hotels.

The company is now considered the third largest hospitality chain in the world based on room count. It aims to be the world’s largest hotel chain by 2023, surpassing Marriott.