In order to sustain the current crisis, Softbank-backed Oyo Hotels & Homes is extending furloughs for some of its Indian employees by six months, Oyo said. The move is in line with the rising coronavirus cases in the country, creating uncertainty on the reopening of hotels in the near future.
“Recovery in business was taking longer than expected following India’s nationwide coronavirus lockdown that was largely lifted in June. The country is among the startup’s biggest markets,” Oyo said.
“The situation remains uncertain … we don’t quite know when our occupancies and revenues will recover to pre-COVID levels,” Rohit Kapoor, Oyo Chief Executive Officer for India & South Asia, said in a blog post.
Since June, Oyo, once among the world’s largest hotel chains by room count, was seeing up to 30% of its pre-COVID occupancy levels at Indian hotels, Kapoor added.
In April, Oyo furloughed some of its Indian employees till August 2020 with all onboard employees to take a 25 percent salary cut for the April-July period. Now, the Gurugram-headquartered startup adds that the Indian employees affected by the furloughs could choose a voluntary separation or remain on leave with limited benefits until end-February 2021.
However, the pandemic has severely hit all businesses in many ways, but the hospitality sector has been the worst hit with global and domestic travel coming to a near-halt and showing no signs of picking up in the distant future.
The pandemic could cause travelers to choose boutiques and home rentals over large hotels for the foreseeable future, Oyo founder and group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said in an interview with Reuters.
As the coronavirus testing in India ramps up, the number of cases are increasing each passing day, ranking the country second to the United States on the list of the world’s most affected nations, with total domestic cases leaping to nearly 4 million, which has hit travel and outdoor activity.
–AN
