Admin | 07th Aug 2025
Have you ever booked a budget hotel and been shocked at how different it looked from the pictures? Well, a teenager from India once faced the same issue and instead of just complaining, he built a global business to fix it. Welcome to the inspiring, slightly filmy, but 100% real story of OYO Rooms aka India’s budget hotel king.
Let’s rewind to 2013. A 19-year-old guy named Ritesh Agarwal, from a small town in Odisha, was staying in budget hotels across India. But he noticed a common problem: poor service, no standards and very confusing prices. So what did he do? He decided to fix India’s hotel problem himself. At 19! He first launched something called Oravel Stays (kind of like Airbnb), but then realised India didn’t need more hotel listings, it needed better hotel experiences. So he launched OYO Rooms, which stands for “On Your Own”. The idea? Partner with small hotel owners, standardise the rooms, give them branding and technology, and boom, you have clean, affordable, trustworthy hotels. That’s how the story of OYO Rooms began.
Here’s what made OYO different:
● It didn’t build new hotels but it helped fix and rebrand existing ones.
● It used apps and tech to manage bookings and improve service.
● It gave travelers a clean room, Wi-Fi, AC and a normal bathroom with no surprises.
All of a sudden, inexpensive travel in India became popular and simple. People loved it. So did hotel owners. And investors? They couldn’t throw money fast enough!
OYO didn’t stop at Indian cities. In a few years, it reached Malaysia, UAE, China, UK and even the USA.Ritesh went up to become one of the world's youngest billionaires. Talk about startup goals! He even bought back company shares worth $2 billion to stay in control. Not bad for someone who once failed his engineering entrance exams.
Every great startup story has drama and OYO’s no different. When COVID-19 hit, travel stopped. Hotels shut down. The business took a big hit. But OYO didn’t give up. They pivoted (a fancy word for “changed direction”) focusing on long-term stays, rented apartments and improving safety with “Sanitised Stays.” That’s what makes this a real startup success story of not just growth, but comebacks.
Ritesh didn’t have fancy degrees or big money. What he had was an idea, guts and a problem he wanted to solve.
Here’s what we can all learn from him:
● Age doesn’t matter. Passion does.
● Don’t just build a business but solve a real problem.
● Use tech to grow faster.
● Be ready to change when things go wrong.
At Startup Funding India, we love stories like OYO’s because we help make them happen.Do you have a business idea but are unsure where to begin? Need funding or mentorship? Just like Ritesh had the courage to begin, you can too and we’re here to support you every step of the way.