To be honest, I haven’t tried either brand.
But the game of capital is on.
OYO is grown from India with series B ($100mn), C ($90mn), D ($250mn), E ($1bn) led by SoftBank. Huazhu has participated between D and E; Grab, Didi, Airbnb has participated in Series E separately.
From my understanding, OYO is pursing a model that provides minimum standardization with the least cost while getting data and digitalizing management.
The most valuable thing OYO provides is the traffic (if any), which is where OTA’s profits come from and where hotel chains are good at.
The brand itself tho, doesn’t have much power. China’s overall hospitality standard is higher than India’s I think (with players like Jinjiang, Huazhu, etc.)
OYO’s rapid expansion in China might make it worse.
But it is really big – said to have 10k+ hotels and 450k+ rooms on its website.
It now has a three-tier branding: 轻享，智享，尊享
Branding-up and providing more values is really important. Hotel owners may end up with less profit in the long-run.
It’s like imperialism in the hotel sector.
The traditional hotel sector in China has reacted with their own exploration in “light franchise” (but might be late for this game).