Published on Sunday, March 15, 2020

Oyo offering cash sweeteners to attract new Japanese hotel partners

Budget hotel chain Oyo is offering a cash incentive to Japanese independent hoteliers hit hard by the coronavirus downturn.

Oyo wants to attract more hotels to its Japanese business and will offer a lump sum cash payment for new partners.

It launched the Oyo Partner Support Program which will run until further notice and will pay new hotel partners an upfront sum equal to a percentage of their revenue from the previous year.

Japan's tourism industry has been in free-fall with the two major inbound markets China and South Korea, all but collapsing.

There is also serious doubt about whether the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will go ahead as planned later this year.

"Japan is an extremely important market for Oyo and we intend to contribute to it over the long term. This is our response as a global hotel group to Japan's lodging industry in the time of crisis," saod CEO Ritesh Agarwal.

Despite having Japan's Softbank as its major backer, Oyo's entry in Japan was beset by staffing issues and disputes with hoteliers, and has fallen well short of initial growth targets.