‘What a year’: OYO clocks highest bookings in 90 pandemic weekends on New Year – Mint

“What a year 2021 has been! For the world, for travel & for OYO. It was so different yet so familiar. Now that the dust has settled from the biggest weekend of the year, here are some interesting OYO tidbits from the holiday,” he said in a tweet today.

He also wrote on LinkedIn: “Thank you to over a million people who booked more than half a million nights with us this New Years. For all of us at OYO, it was a busy NY (new year).”

Also read: OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal shares lessons he learnt from the past year

In a series of tweets, Agarwal said 58 per cent of people booked hotels via OYO on the same day for New Year. The percentage of OYO bookings made on the same day for New Year’s eve for December 31, 2021, was 58 per cent, it was at 61 per cent in 2020, 57 per cent in 2019, 63 per cent in 2018 and 55 per cent in 2017, he wrote, adding that it was higher for entire FY21 at 69 per cent.

As per Agarwal, OYO grew from the tech platform built for its hotel and home SMBs. “I’m amazed by what thousands of OYOpreneurs hv (have) achieved,” he said, adding that in 2015, OYO had footprints in 127 cities and 1,229 storefronts, all in India and 1st in Malaysia. In 2021, OYO Hotels is present across 10,000 cities and 159,000 storefronts, 35 countries. “Building products from India to the world,” he said.

Talking about lessons learnt from the year gone by, Agarwal said: “In 2021, we also learnt many lessons to better customer experience. Even with all the love we get, I must acknowledge that we have improvements to make. And this year, I am personally focused on making an impact on this front.”

Pointing to the fresh surge in COVID-19 cases, he said, “Let us all brace for what 2022 has in store for us. And while 2020 and 2021 have been hard-hitting, we have seen that we will all take every opportunity to indulge in what we all love – travelling and exploring the world around us.”