UAE Tycoon Khurram Shroff Makes Offer To OYO Homes Division

UAE-based tycoon Khurram Shroff said on Thursday he has reached out to OYO Hotels & Homes and all its employees, with a plan for funding and restructuring the hospitality brand.

Shroff, chairman of IBC Group and Gallery Suites in Dubai has contacted the founder of OYO Hotels & Homes, one of the fastest growing tech start-ups in hospitality, after reports that the company has had to scale back expansion.

Shroff said he is proposing to take on employees who might otherwise find themselves out of a job, adding that he has made an open offer to buy out the home division from OYO.

“We will join hands with these thousands of deserving employees – offering them jobs with Gallery Suites in India and UAE,” he said.

Indian hotel giant Oyo said last month it is cutting 1,000 employees, or 10 percent of its local staff, as it battles multiple allegations including bribery and pressure from Japanese backer SoftBank to cut costs.

An Indian newspaper said 2,400 jobs would go in total and that the firm, which has expanded aggressively in Asia and the Middle East.

Shroff’s Gallery Suites Vacation Rentals, based in Dubai, announced in Augustthat it had tied up with OYO Rooms in a AED18 billion deal to manage around 10,000 holiday homes in India and the UAE, a contract which is now being restructured.

He said the Gallery Suites team has been working closely with OYO Hotels & Homes over the last year and has developed a good relationship with the company and several of its staff.

“We (Gallery Suites) are restructuring the contract with OYO to just have an OTA relationship because they have 40 million users on their App, so they are going to just provide us their demand of users. Our intention is to find positives in the emerging circumstances, by issuing an open letter to hire their employees, and possibly an open letter to purchase OYO’s Home division,” Shroff said.

OYO Hotels & Homes is the world's third-largest and fastest-growing hospitality business of leased and franchised hotels, homes, and living spaces.

Founded in 2013, the chain operates thousands of rooms, vacation homes and hotels in several countries including India, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, the UK, and US.

IBC Group, based in the UAE since 2014, focuses on private equity investment in real estate, art and proptech.