India's 25-year-old hotel billionaire eyes a US expansion
這位25歲的印度酒店億萬富翁計劃在美國擴(kuò)張
In just six years, Ritesh Agarwal has gone from a college dropout to one of India's youngest billionaires.
短短六年時間里,里特什·阿加瓦爾從一名輟學(xué)大學(xué)生變成了印度最年輕的億萬富翁之一。
At 19, he founded budget hotel chain OYO in the city of Gurgaon, just outside India's capital. Now, at 25, the entrepreneur has grown the brand globally and is looking to expand his empire in the US.
19歲時,他在印度首都郊外的古爾岡市創(chuàng)立了經(jīng)濟(jì)型連鎖酒店OYO。如今,這位25歲的企業(yè)家已經(jīng)在全球打造了自己的品牌,并打算在美國擴(kuò)張自己的(商業(yè))帝國。
While India is OYO's biggest market, with 18,000 locations, its presence in China is quickly catching up, with nearly 13,000 OYO hotels across 338 Chinese cities.
雖然印度是OYO最大的市場,擁有18,000家分店,但它在中國的影響力正在迅速發(fā)展,在338個中國城市擁有近13,000家OYO酒店。
And the company's distinctive red and white logo can also be found on hotels in the United Kingdom, Indonesia, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.
在英國、印度尼西亞、菲律賓和阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長國的酒店上也可以看到該公司獨特的紅白標(biāo)志。
The United States, however, is where Argawal sees the next big opportunity.
不過,阿加瓦爾認(rèn)為美國是下一個巨大的機會。
"The US is one of the largest hospitality markets, both in terms of [domestic] and international tourism, and therefore presents a huge opportunity for us," said Agarwal.
阿加瓦爾說:“無論是國內(nèi)還是國際旅游,美國都是最大的酒店市場之一,因此對我們來說,這是一個巨大的機會。”
The company already has 200 US locations, but Agarwal wants more. In August, OYO bought the 657-room Hooters Casino Hotel in Nevada, which he has already rebranded as the OYO Hotel & Casino Las Vegas.
該公司在美國已經(jīng)有200家分店,但阿加瓦爾還想要更多。今年8月,OYO買下了內(nèi)華達(dá)州有657個房間的豪特賭場酒店,并將其更名為拉斯維加斯OYO酒店暨賭場。
The Hooters Hotel purchase isn't normally how OYO does business, though. In its large portfolio of hotels worldwide, only two locations are company owned. The rest are franchised or they are locations where OYO leases the hotel from the owner.
不過,通常情況下,豪特酒店的收購并不是OYO做生意的方式。在其遍布全球的大型酒店投資組合中,只有兩家酒店為公司所有。其余的是特許經(jīng)營的,或者是OYO從所有者那里租賃的酒店。
Its hotel partners become "affiliates" while OYO provides management, branding, uniform service experience and guarantees a higher occupancy rate.
其酒店合作伙伴成為 “子公司”,而OYO提供管理、品牌、統(tǒng)一的服務(wù)體驗,并保證更高的入住率。
OYO charges the affiliates a fee for these services -- typically a percentage of the hotel's gross margin.
OYO向子公司收取服務(wù)費用(通常是酒店毛利率的一定比例)。
Each hotel has the OYO logo boldly splashed on the outside. Room rates across its markets range between $15 to $150 per night, with $30 being the average global room rate.
每家酒店的外部都印著醒目的OYO的標(biāo)志。該公司各個市場的房價在每晚15美元至150美元之間,其中30美元是全球平均房價。
A college dropout with a big idea
一個有大想法的大學(xué)輟學(xué)生
OYO was initially born in 2012 as an online service called Oravel Travel that aggregated budget hotel room listings.
OYO最初誕生于2012年,當(dāng)時是一家名為Oravel Travel的在線服務(wù)公司,專門匯總經(jīng)濟(jì)型酒店的客房信息。
"It was like an Airbnb concept," said Bejul Somaia, a partner at venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.
“這就像是空中食宿的概念,”風(fēng)險投資公司光速創(chuàng)投的合伙人貝尤爾·索馬亞說。
Somaia first met Agarwal after he was accepted for a Thiel Fellowship in 2013. The two-year program created by PayPal founder Peter Thiel awards $100,000 in grants to entrepreneurs who either skipped or dropped out of college so they may pursue an innovative business idea.
索馬亞第一次見到阿加瓦爾是在2013年阿加瓦爾獲得泰爾獎學(xué)金之后。貝寶創(chuàng)始人彼得•蒂爾)創(chuàng)辦的這個為期兩年的項目,向那些為了追求創(chuàng)新商業(yè)理念而跳級或輟學(xué)的企業(yè)家提供10萬美元的資助。
"You don't often see Indian entrepreneurs selected for it, so we took notice of Ritesh," said Somaia.
“你不會經(jīng)??吹接《绕髽I(yè)家被選中,所以我們注意到了里特什,”索馬亞說。
But Somaia wasn't all that impressed by Agarwal's business idea.
但索馬亞對阿加瓦爾的商業(yè)理念并不是很滿意。
"I told him it wasn't the right model for India. The sharing economy model is a challenge in India because of inconsistency in quality and safety," said Somaia. He suggested a better approach was to find a way to standardize and upgrade the supply of rooms and give it a uniform branding.
“我告訴他,這不是適合印度的模式。共享經(jīng)濟(jì)模式在印度是一個挑戰(zhàn),因為質(zhì)量和安全不一致。”他建議,更好的辦法是找到一種方法,使客房供應(yīng)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化和升級,并賦予統(tǒng)一的品牌。
Agarwal recognizes that he still has a lot to learn. "I am only 25, but I am lucky to be surrounded by some of the best talent and leaders who push me to do better," he said. "I have always believed in the big picture and aiming high. I will keep trying."
阿加瓦爾意識到他還有很多東西要學(xué)。他說:“我只有25歲,但我很幸運身邊有一些最優(yōu)秀的人和領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者,他們促使我做得更好。”“我一直相信大局和遠(yuǎn)大目標(biāo)。我會繼續(xù)努力。”