Kerala Hotel and Restaurants Association will hold a 48-hour strike beginning here on Wednesday protesting against hospitality firm OYO.
A release issued by the association alleged that the firm’s moves were destroying small and medium sized hotels. The strike will not affect those who had booked rooms already for Wednesday and Thursday. However, no new bookings will be entertained in city hotels, it said.
KHRA representatives accused the firm of adopting nefarious moves, including debt traps, to take over small hotels. Though the firm initially offers attractive prices, it reduces room prices drastically once it becomes dominant in the market. As it passes on this burden of discounts to hotel owners, small players were finding it difficult to operate, they said.
In a release issued here, the management of OYO stated that it will take legal action against any person or groups who try to cause disruption of business and inconvenience to both customers and asset owners.
It assured that there will be no cancellation of bookings.
A release quoting Ayush Mathur, Chief Supply Officer, India & South Asia at OYO, said that most of the boycott claims are being made by small vested interest groups with no property franchised with or leased to the firm.
“As franchisers, we continue to engage with our franchisee hotel owners on a one-to-one basis to resolve issues and in case we don’t reach a mutually acceptable solution, part ways amicably.”
