Hospitality aggregator OYO has refuted allegations of the Mysuru Hotel Owners’ Association that indiscriminate discounts had resulted in a decline in profitability despite increase in occupancy rates of member hotels.
The association on Tuesday also threatened to boycott and dishonour bookings made through the hospitality aggregator to protest what it termed as predatory pricing and deep discounts.
However, OYO in a statement released here on Wednesday refuted the allegations and said that such claims were completely inaccurate. It said that certain individuals and vested groups were threatening and using anti-competitive means to artificially jack up prices against market dynamics and charge customers exorbitant prices for budget accommodations, while not upgrading customer service to the quality of OYO Hotels.
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The statement said OYO will continue to engage with its asset owners on a one to one basis, to resolve issues if any and the company condemned what it described as the misplaced demands of the organisations. “On an average, every asset owner associated with OYO has seen an increase in occupancy from 25% to 75% in the first three months of operation as an OYO branded property,” it added.
The OYO said introduction of dynamic pricing had helped create a level-playing field even for an independent or small hotelier by franchising them. The push back on adoption of these forward-looking business practices will be detrimental to the stakeholders while for customers this will result in the unavailability of quality accommodations at affordable prices, it added.
Referring to threats of cancellations or dishonouring bookings made through OYO, the release said it will be against the contractual arrangements, and could lead to legal liabilities on these individuals.
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“More importantly, we are concerned about how this will create inconvenience for guests, and impact travel and tourism,” said the release.