OYO reviews

When I was offered the job, the picture that was painted to me was that OYO was going to revolutionize the budget hotel space by updating 2 and 3 star hotels to make them desirable to a new customer segment. As a sales professional for the company, I would be responsible for all aspects of revenue generation including acquisition of new properties and customer segments as well as partnerships with hotels. I came to find out that none of that was true, there would not be a sales office being opened in my market and that my day to day was so mundane compared to what I thought. The daily activities consisted of driving up to 80 miles away and going door to door to about 40 hotels in a pre-defined zip code to some of the nastiest and worst smelling hotels you can imagine to ask if the owner would be interested in partnering with OYO. What we “sold” was called a revenue management and marketing agreement outlined on a 7 page contract which gave OYO full control over the hotel’s pricing and booking and in most cases OYO would put room prices below $20 a night, effectively ruining the hotel’s business. However our greatest offering to these owners was an investment of $2,000 per room to help bring their property up to standards. After most of the hotel prospects had been educated about this benefit, management inexplicably took away this offer in mid January citing that they did not want to be seen as a “financial institution.” This killed most deals in the pipeline. Contracts that were submitted to customers for review always expired within 24-72 hours to push false urgency and the sales tactics often reflected that of gym memberships or use car sales. In late January, 60-70% of the sales staff was laid off for “performance” after most had been in the role for about 60 days. In early April, another large portion of the staff was laid off due to “performance.” This was after stay at home orders were put in place due to COVID-19 as well as performance assessments were made a few weeks prior telling the sales staff what was required of them over the next 60-90 days with assurances that no layoffs would take place. The company has literally zero marketing. No marketing department, no creatives, no advertising. The logo looks like it was designed by a third grader who thought “hmm the word Toyota has OYO in it, why don’t I take those letters right out of that logo and put it on a bright red circle.” Most leaders are completely under qualified. Senior management from “central supply” were often pulled out of Big4 consulting backgrounds and had no leadership skills and no business leading a sales team consisting of dozens of people. Additionally, senior management would not take the time to see what was going on at the ground level and berated employees for not getting more deals done, even though their incompetence was a large reason for deals lagging. The company’s performance in regards to their contractual obligations is so substandard that they have received numerous lawsuits from hotel partners and some who have dropped out of the partnership altogether. The company was forced to cease operations in the state of California since they did not file the proper paperwork to register as a franchise in that state, something a business school freshman would have the foresight to do. OYO will either file for bankruptcy or exit the US entirely by the end of 2020. If for some reason they start hiring again, don’t even blink before turning down a job offer from them.