Oyo’s parent Prism checks into premium stays with new brand ‘CheckIn’ ahead of IPO

For years Oyo has been shorthand for budget travel. Now its parent Prism is making a bigger wager: to convince travellers to trust it with premium stays, a segment that commands higher prices, fatter margins and could redefine the company’s image ahead of a long-awaited IPO.

The economics are hard to ignore. “The premium segment commands 56% of total room revenue despite representing only 34% of supply,” says Dimple Shastri, operations partner at Stratefix Consulting. “Luxury properties achieve ADRs (average daily rates) of 15,655–16,797 compared to budget hotels at 3,581, a five-fold differential that’s actually widening. Oyo clearly recognises these superior unit economics.” She adds that premium properties make up only 17% of India’s branded hotel stock (about 29,000 keys out of 170,000) suggesting plenty of headroom for growth.

Taking advantage of this gap, Prism has carved out its higher-end portfolio into a separate vertical, CheckIn. Ritesh Agarwal, founder and group chief executive officer of Prism, framed it as a natural evolution at the time of its launch. "It delivers two key benefits: the assurance that every property meets rigorous standards of quality and service and the convenience of accessing diverse premium options without the need to navigate multiple channels,” he said. “Just as Oyo became synonymous with budget travel globally, CheckIn will serve as our global house of brands for premium hotels and homes."

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