The 24-Year-Old Who Created A $5 Billion Hotel Chain In 5 Years

TheTravel

By Josh Coulson

Published Oct 4, 2018

Ritesh, a young entrepreneur, created a hotel chain worth $5 billion in the space of five years. His chain has already become the largest in India.

This 24-year-old entrepreneurÂ has created a hotel chain worth $5 billion in the space of just five years. His chain, Oyo Hotels, has already become the largest in India.When we need to book a hotel nowadays, a great many of us likely look to a hotel aggregation or comparison website. One place where we can just enter the name of the city we are traveling to, and a list of potential places to stay pop right up on the screen. Those listings can be orderedÂ by price, star rating, distance from the city center, and any other kinds of aspects.What the companies that own those sites don't particularly care about is the quality of those hotels, as many of you have likely discovered to your detriment. It's not a slight on them, as such. They are merely leaving it down to you to decide whether an establishment with a lower rating is worth paying less money for.RELATED: CHINA WILL INAUGURATE WORLD'S FIRST UNDERGROUND HOTEL IN AN ABANDONED QUARRYA young man by the name of Ritesh Agarwal decided five years ago that the system in place wasn't good enough. That's when the 24-year-old's journey to creating a $5 billion startup began when heÂ launched Oyo. You might have heard of it, especially if you have stayed at hotels in India and China. There are currently 10,000 Oyo hotels in India, and over 1,000 in China despiteÂ the company only moving into the country last November.

What sets Oyo and Agarwal apart from other hotel chains is the army of employees on the ground. More than 200 Oyo workers travel around India and China scouting out run down, belowÂ par hotels that the company can help. If those establishments do want Oyo's help, workers move in to improve the hotel, a makeover that normally takes around a month. Once complete, Oyo is entitled to 25% of the building's bookings, as simple as that.

Despite Oyo being worth $5 billion after just five years, Agarwal is showing no signs of slowing down. According to Bloomberg, his next target is the United Kingdom which would signal Oyo's first move into a developed market. Beyond that, Argawal wants his expansive chain of hotels to become the biggest of its kind in the world by the year 2023. Big goals, but achievable ones judging by the progress he has already made.