India’s largest hospitality chain OYO Rooms has been in constant talks as it has approached the health departments of various state governments, offering its hotels to be used as self-quarantine facilities on a pay-per-use basis. A proposal for subsidizing the cost is also being discussed with the Government.
The same has also been reconfirmed by an Oyo spokesperson. Through an email, he stated, “We have made an earnest outreach to health departments of all state governments to understand how we can leverage our network of hotels for providing pay-per-use or self-quarantine facilities for travelers, as advised by any state, central government authorities at a reasonable and affordable price.”
Facilities Offered by Oyo Rooms during Quarantine
As a part of Project Stay 1 which the company has recently launched, Oyo Rooms has partnered with Apollo Hospitals to develop and support accommodation requirements of suspected Covid-19 patients requiring quarantine/ self-isolation services. Apollo hospitals are partnering with selective hotel brands to create isolation rooms in hotels with light medical supervision for quarantine and creating a barrier before people come into the hospitals.
The major objective behind this project is to create isolation and quarantine facilities away from the main hospitals in cities across the country and reduce the burden on hospitals providing acute care. This, OYO has committed to offering sanitized beds and hospitality services in certain Covid-19 exclusive hotels that have been identified within the proximity of Apollo Hospitals in six cities, including, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. Starting with hotels in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, Delhi is the next city that we will be assisting Apollo Hospitals in.
Medical facilities Offered by the Health Ministry in Oyo rooms
As per the commitments and ongoing benefits provided by OYO Rooms, it is a great initiative being undertaken to support the requirements of the health ministry and medical fraternity at this time. For better implementation and result growth of this project, SBI & HUL are also directing their CSR efforts to support 50 percent stays in category 1 rooms. These OYO rooms are meant for those patients who cannot afford costly services. Category 1 room services would include lodging, medical care, and WI-FI. Also, to ensure pre-booking medical consultation, the rooms will be booked through Apollo Hospitals and will not be available for booking through the OYO app.
Founder & Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal recently commented about Project Stay 1, “We want to work with state governments and private institutions to problem solve and assist in the fight against COVID-19. Our partnership with Apollo Hospitals has been developed to ensure we utilize capacity where possible to create highly sanitized pay per use quarantine facilities under the guidance and supervision of medical professionals. This is an unprecedented situation that requires all of us to find new ways to work together and rise to the occasion. We are thankful for the support of SBI, HUL, our asset owners, and frontline teams that are making this possible.”
OYO Rooms are constantly making efforts to outreach more and more states to help the state governments to understand how most of its properties can be leveraged for pay per use quarantine facilities. Not just that, the company has also reached out to corporates and is fulfilling the lodging requirements of hospital staff, air and sea crew, and many such health workers who are at the frontline of India’s fight against coronavirus through a combination of OYO hotels or OYO LIFE offerings. For smooth function of these ongoing projects and initiatives, OYO Rooms has set up a helpline email ID (oyo_care@oyorooms.com) to take in the requests from relevant organisations and determine how best to support them.
Earlier, OYO Rooms were seen to help the Indian Government during the initial lockdown phase by accommodating incoming travelers who were found asymptomatic of Covid-19 but required immediate isolation as a precautionary measure.
A brief about Oyo rooms
Headquartered in Gurugram, Oyo Rooms is a chain of hotels, presently in a few cities and towns of India. The company is an affiliate marketing model that partners with hotels, banquets, hostels, PGs of the cities and offer lodging, food and hospitality services to its customers. The major service highlights of the company, include clean rooms, Wi-Fi, complimentary breakfast, AC, backup power, etc. at budget prices. Visitors can compare prices and ratings of various hotels and can book them using their app or website. In many cases, guests can book the same hotels through hotel aggregator websites or directly from the hotel reservations desk, often at the same price.
