India: Global hotel and vacation rental chain, OYO Hotels & Homes, has made a number of significant appointments and additions to its leadership team.
Current CEO for the hotels and homes business in India and South Asia, Aditya Ghosh, has joined the company’s board of directors, where he will work alongside OYO Hotels & Homes founder and Group CEO, Ritesh Agarwal, and Baja Corporation founder and CEO, Betsy Atkins.
Other industry experts including SoftBank Vision Fund managing partner Munish Varma, Lightspeed India Partner Advisors partner Bejul Somaia, and Sequoia Capital India Advisor managing director Mohit Bhatnagar, also make up the board of directors in the company.
The recent appointments of independent director Atkins and CEO Ghosh to the Board show OYO’s increasing commitment to bolstering its governance on the corporate side of the business.
During this one-year stint at OYO so far, Ghosh has led the hotels and homes business team in India and South Asia and implemented several programmes to strengthen operating metrics and customer experience, which have tripled its asset owner community from 5500 to more than 18000 hotels in the meantime.
In his new role at the board, Ghosh will focus on five key areas: safety and security, customer experience, corporate governance, revenue management and stakeholder communications.
Ritesh Agarwal told Exchange4Media: “Aditya’s strong business acumen, problem-solving capabilities, passion for building an organisation with strong corporate governance and a high performing work culture that thrives on principles of diversity and inclusion, makes him the perfect choice for this larger and more strategic role, at a global level.
“I am certain that this decision will greatly help OYO achieve its goals, globally. Like always, we are blessed to have leaders like Aditya who continuously step-up to bigger roles to ensure the company derives benefits from their wealth of experience in such a critical juncture of not just growth, but principled growth for the company.
“His learnings will be invaluable for all of us,” he added.
Ghosh said: “I am thankful to the board for inviting me into the August group to further build OYO as a global brand to reckon with, by not just growing fast, but growing right.
“You may have heard me repeat this past year, that one of the biggest characteristics about OYO is the opportunity that we have to create a truly global brand out of India – one that is recognised and respected the world over for positively impacting the lives of thousands of employees, creating millions of economic opportunities as well as delighting millions of guests with hospitality experiences across multiple price-points.
“The opportunity is all this and more, as we aim to set new standards of corporate governance and build a sustainable business at scale, with a clear path to profitability. I am, therefore, excited and keen to play a larger role and harness my experience in helping a public company operate well and ascribe to high standards of sustainable growth.
“I hope to actively impact the ability of this 20,000+’ OYOpreneurs’ strong organisation, around the world, to achieve its mission and work with some of the sharpest minds across various industries who are part of OYO’s venerable board, to guide the company, as it delivers against its values and promises to all stakeholders,” he added.
OYO has also appointed Rohit Kapoor, the current CEO of New Real Estate Businesses, as the CEO for the entire India and South Asia business. Having overseen the growth of OYO LIFE – the brand’s long-term rental housing portfolio in India – Kapoor will now be tasked with managing the team in charge of operations of over 18000 hotels across 500+ cities in India and South Asia.
Kapoor said: “This is a great opportunity as well as a humbling responsibility and I thank Ritesh and Aditya for the trust and confidence placed in me. Given the impressive performance of the hotels’ business in India and South Asia, I do have some big shoes to fill.
“I will do my best and Aditya has promised to be my guiding light in the process. In the last one year, the performance delivered, has been tremendous in not just scaling operations across 500 cities and 18000+ hotels but also delivering on sustainable growth with financial prudence.
“I look forward to working with Aditya & Ritesh during the transition period and also working with each one of the 10,000+ strong OYOpreneur community in India & South Asia as we lead by example and set new standards of excellence for OYO and the hospitality industry at large,” he added.
Agarwal continued: “I congratulate Aditya for being a great thought partner and look forward to his continued support and guidance to OYO and its leadership team.
“I am also excited to announce the appointment of Rohit Kapoor as the CEO of the entire India & South Asia business. Rohit has been with OYO now for over a year now, and in the last 12+ months, he has worked closely with me on various strategic initiatives across businesses.
“I am certain that OYO India & South Asia will continue to grow from strength to strength under his able leadership,” he added.
For more information about the additions to the leadership team, visit the OYO Hotels & Homes website here.
