Indian budget hotel chain, OYO Hotels and Homes, is entering the long-term housing rental segment in Indonesia by launching OYO Life today. OYO describes this as a “safe, standardized, and affordable co-living experience for students and young professionals”.
The OYO Life launch is part of the company’s USD 100 million investment into Indonesia, according to an official statement.
Long-term private rooms with shared facilities known as “kost” are a familiar concept in Indonesia and many Southeast Asian countries. It is considered to be more attainable for young people as it offers affordable living spaces in close proximity to their academic institutions or offices.
According to OYO’s internal research, approximately 70 million people in Asia live in a co-living space situation and one-third of them are from Indonesia. Moreover, a booming housing price in recent years meant many Indonesians are reluctant to buy property and choose long-term rental options instead until they can afford a permanent residence.
OYO Life accommodation is designed with a focus of convenience for tech-savvy young professionals and students and it is equipped with essential amenities including internet connectivity, television, regular housekeeping, and CCTV surveillance.
“In Indonesia, we were getting a lot of requests from asset partners to bring our full-stack hospitality solution to the Indekos (or kost) market. We are starting with 2,500 rooms across eight cities today and will aggressively expand this offering by targeting 10,000 rooms in more than 10 cities in Indonesia,” said Eko Bramantyo, Country Head for Emerging Business OYO Hotels & Homes, Indonesia, in a statement.
OYO Life targets to be the largest long-term rental player by the end of 2019. Indonesia is the third country where OYO Life launched, after India and Japan. In Indonesia, OYO’s regular hotel accomodation arm claims to have partnered with over 1,200 hotels and 27,000 rooms in 100 cities.