Oct. 15–DUBAI — Indian hospitality brand Oyo Hotels will create over 10,000 jobs in the UAE within the next three years as it aims to expand its footprint across all emirates and will also open a training facility in the country, a senior executive said.
"We have five institutes in China and 20 in India. We created 100,000 jobs in India and 60,000 in China. We hope to create jobs for tens of thousands of UAE natives who can get trained at this facility; once they are trained, they can choose Oyo Hotels or any other brand of their choice. We are scouting for a location to set up a hospitality training academy in the UAE. The training will be free," said Ritesh Agarwal, founder and CEO, Oyo Hotels.
The company currently operates 1,200 rooms in the UAE and aims to have 12,000 keys added to its UAE portfolio by 2020.
India's largest hospitality company hopes the number of hotels under franchise and lease management will reach 150 across the UAE by 2020. It currently operates rooms in Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah.
Agarwal said the company is trying to make sure that it can fulfill the capacity for 12,000 rooms that it intends to bring in by 2020.
"On average, we have to create capacity of at least 500 people a month which will translate into 3,000 to 5,000 on an annualised basis," Agarwal said in Dubai.
"There are so many companies who have been able to market Dubai across the world. For the common man coming from Asia and Europe, they find it difficult to find good quality living spaces. So, we lease the apartment and sell it through online portals and our platform at affordable rates. Nowadays, people don't want to spend money on hotels but on sight-seeing and new experiences," Agarwal said.
The group operates townhouses in India and the UK and will add townhouses to its UAE portfolio.
"With over 170 countries committing to the World Expo 2020, the hospitality sector in the Middle East, and more specifically the UAE, is poised to grow substantially and, we are ready to tap this opportunity. We've been at the forefront of the budget and mid segment hotel revolution in the markets we operate in," he said. — waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com
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