A Market Research to understand the customer perception and attitude towards OYO rooms post COVID-19 pandemic

1. FGD Transcript
Topic: Perception of OYO in the minds of its customers
and how to boost sales post COVID
Focus Group discussion held on Zoom video Conference at 12:00pm on
23/08/2020
[Names of all the Participants have been redacted for confidentiality
purposes and the same has been replaced with participant Number]
Pallavi 2:04
A very good afternoon to all of you. Thank you for joining us today for
this important session. My name is Pallavi. And I will be accompanied by
Rohit. And we will be the moderators for this discussion session. My
teammates, say Sahajdeep, Raja, Rupesh and Sourabh who will be observing
the session and they'll help me with the notes afterwards. So a brief
synopsis for you to understand what we'll be doing and how we'll be doing
it. So today, we're going to discuss how you feel about staying in OYO
rooms post COVID. Our focus is to understand how your perception towards
hotel rooms in general and specifically towards OYO rooms in particular,
has changed after the COVID outbreak. Also, what can hotels do to restore
your trust in the system? It's going to be a friendly discussion about how
your priorities have changed and what Factors help when making the decision
of choosing a hotel before you travel.
Now, Rohit will continue with the general guidelines.
Rohit 3:10
There are no wrong answers but rather different points of view. Please feel
free to share your point of interest even if it differs from others what
have said, keep in mind that we are just interested in negative comments
as well as the positive comments. everyone's opinion is valued, so we will
listen respectfully to all the participants. At the same time, there are
some guidelines that each of us must follow to keep this tradition and
discussion running. Please refrain from crosstalk when one person is
talking. Wait until they're finished to speak up. Please turn off your cell
phones. We do not want any calls to interrupt our time together. Also,
please check your internet connectivity prior to this call. Please keep
your cameras and mic on at all the time during this half an hour of this
discussion. Also, we would request you to please talk in English so that
it's easy for us to decode or translate the recording later for our
transcript. So allow us, Pallavi to explain the confidential.
Pallavi 4:20
So, you've probably noticed that this zoom session is being recorded. We're
recording the session because we don't want to miss any of your comments
and discussions. So people often say very helpful things in these
discussions and we obviously cannot write fast enough to get all of them
down. So we will be on first name basis for now, but we won't use any names
in our report. You may be you may also be assured of complete
confidentiality. recordings of the sessions will be transcribed by our team
and your identity will be kept confidential. The insights from this session
will be used for completing the above mentioned report. we'll now begin
the group discussion so you already know me I am Pallavi each one of us
has our first name displayed on our zoom screen which you can use to refer

2. to each other during these discussions. We would now like for each of you
to take a few minutes to introduce yourself to the group
we can probably start with Participant3 and go around till everyone is
completed. Sure.
Hi Participant3.
Participant3 your voice is breaking
Rohit 5:44
Participant3 you can switch off your video if it is a issue so that we can
hear you properly.
Participant5 5:50
Yeah, just a moment guys.
Participant3 5:55
Yeah. any better.
Pallavi 5:59
Yes, we can hear You now,
you can switch off your video, so at least we'll be able to hear you,
Participant3 switch of your videos.
Rohit 6:32
So, I think Participant3 has some connectivity issue. Let's start
alphabetically. We can start with Participant1 Till then.
Participant1 6:43
Hello, everyone, I'm Participant1, your batchmate from the last one and a
half year approximately. So I assume that you know me quite well. I am a
Part of this discussion panel discussion as requested by Raja Babu. And
... I'll try my best to make this session as valuable as I can. Thank you.
Pallavi 7:08
Thank you, Participant1.
Participant2 7:11
Hi, everyone. My name is Participant2 . And I'm also one of your
batchmates. And I'll try to make this discussion as as valuable as I can.
So
Rohit 7:22
thank you Participant2. thank you for asking me. Hi,
Participant3 7:25
guys. Am I audible now?
Rohit 7:27
Yes Participant3, go ahead.
Participant3 7:29
Yeah. Hi, my name is Participant3. And I'm currently pursuing PGDM at Birla
Institute of Management Technology. I am a marketing student, and I take a

3. lot of interest in what's going on in the marketing world. And I hope to
contribute towards your discussion.
Rohit 7:48
Thank you, Participant3.
Participant3 7:51
Very Good afternoon,
Rohit 7:52
everybody.
Pallavi 7:56
Yes, Participant4 you go ahead,
Rohit 7:58
please go ahead
Participant4 8:00
Hi, I'm Participant4 Rathy your batchmate and am pursuing marketing as my
specialization and here to give you some insights, I hope this discussion
goes fruitful for all of us. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 8:15
Thank you. Thank you Participant4.
Participant5 8:22
Hi, I'm Participant5 Jaiswal. I'm pursuing pgdm at Bimtech, and my
specialization is marketing. Hope this discussion turned out to be valuable
for your project.
Rohit 8:38
Thank you, Participant5. Thank you.
Can we please go ahead.
Participant6 8:43
Have a good afternoon, everyone. I'm Participant6. I'm a Mechanical
engineer. I've worked with Godrej and boys for three years. The reason why
I'm specifying that is that during my tenure in Godrej and boys, I
particularly used to stay in OYO rooms. So Having stayed and being a
customer of OYO for a pretty long time, I hope I'll be able to add value
to the discussion as much as possible. Thank you.
Pallavi 9:11
Thank you Participant6.
Rohit 9:12
So before starting the discussion, I hope everyone has filled in the
questionnaire which was circulated.
Unknown Speaker 9:20
Yes, we have.
Rohit 9:22
Yes. Let's start with our discussion. So I would like each one of you to
take us through your journey of how you finalize and book hotels for your
trip

4. Pallavi 9:37
will we follow the same order? Yeah. Same alphabetically
And then in case someone is saying something and you have a point to add
or you think there's something you can discuss, please go ahead. And that
is how we can take it forward. Yeah. So
Participant1 will start, Participant1
Participant1 9:59
Yeah. So,
whenever we plan a travel, the first thing we try we decide is the date in
which month and which date we need to travel and the budget that we need
to spend and what percent what part of it will go to our hotel staying.
And according to the budget, we we do not usually restrict ourselves to
OYO rooms but rather look for hotels that are listed in mmt or other portals
as well.
OYO rooms are also listed in mmts.
One prefers to staying in OYO rooms as per my thinking is very when there
are two constraint when it comes to budget because OYOrooms are
comparatively cheaper to other hotel chains and
Pallavi 11:01
What features do you think are most important for you when you book a hotel
what features in a hotel are most important to you?
Participant1 11:09
I think its location is the prime importance is of primary importance. It's
for example, if you are in transit so how far the hotel is from the airport
or the railway station, that one thing and the if it is a longer stay, the
facilities the food and the cleanliness and everything will matter, but if
it is just an overnight stay, I don't think that might be of a concern for
the person who's staying.
Pallavi 11:35
Okay, so location is one of the major factors.
Participant1 11:37
Yeah, it depends on the purpose and the length of your stay.
Pallavi 11:41
Okay, and this is also a factor that would make or break your buying
decision as far as by booking a hotel is concerned,
Participant1 11:48
yes, when I'm in transit, I can also compromise with other features like
food might not be that great but that the hotel is near to the airport. I
will still prefer that hotel at the same price
Pallavi 12:03
can you move on to the next..
Rohit 12:04
What perception do you hold off OYO hotels, Participant1?

5. Participant1 12:09
As I already mentioned, OYOrooms are very budget friendly. And they are
found in every corner of the city like they're so widespread. So I think
budget constraint people should and they do go for OYO stays.
Participant4 12:29
And so I'll continue and for me I guess while we plan a trip or something
we don't usually go for OYO's when we are going on a family trip specially
because according to my perception, I don't think so that OYO's are made
for family stay. I don't think so. So that's why and even though we have
stayed in OYO with my family also once or twice, but that was just because
we had no other option. It wasn't a place where we don't have good hotels
or Something so that is when we tried we tried the OYO first but if we see
then I guess we look for probably me for specifically for me I look for
something which is more known and OYO's i don't think so that oh every
place have known OYO's or something so I do prefer hotel chains rather than
OYOs.
Rohit 13:24
Participant2 as you told, we understand but how has oyo rooms performed
based on the features we have talked about
How has OYO performed for you?
Pallavi 13:35
Sorry I didn't get you can please repeat that?
Rohit 13:37
I am saying that how has OYO performed based on the features you described
about OYO for you guys?
Participant4 13:47
What I do look for is that the place that I'm staying in is like as
Participant1 said that for her location matters the most, I guess for me
cleanniness matters the most. So I don't consider OYOs to be very clean
and very safe in that way so but if you go to a hotel, maybe they'll give
you better facilities than that
Rohit 14:08
thank you Participant2. So I think we can move ahead with Participant3
Participant3.
Participant3 14:20
Yeah. Hello. Am I audible? Yes.
Pallavi 14:22
Yeah, Participant3 just take us through your journey of booking and finalize
booking a hotel room What all do you..
Participant3 14:29
I am pretty avid customer of OYO, I would say. now with respect to
vacationing. So I will tell you how I categorize it. One is when I'm out
with my family, and two is when I'm out with my friends, right? So what
happens is when I'm out with my friends, first and foremost requirement is
that we have to be budget conscious, right? When we're planning a trip,
what we're trying is probably cut it short. And lets say if it's a three

6. day four day trip, we'll try to put it into four or 5000 per person. Right.
Now, when that happens, we can definitely go in for an OYO. But from a
vacationing perspective, the problem with OYO, is that the location that
they provide, for example, if I'm going to the mountains, they would
probably not have the best locations. Yeah. But then if it's indoor, let's
say I am going in for indoor party or a city, say night stay, or something
like that. I would definitely go in for the OYO. Why? Because, one, it
provided me a range of options. Whether I start from OYO rooms, which is
the cheapest, then I probably might go on to collection or townhouse or
whatever. So I can select whatever range I want, what of what suffice My
budget and then accordingly may opt it. So I'd like to differ from what
has been said a little earlier. Wherein people have said that OYOs may not
be as hygiene or clean as the other tells. I tell you why because the
perception is that OYO rooms, which is the most economical one will
definitely have less features. It's bound to have that. But then if
someone's looking for if someone's comparing, let's say, let's say, touch
or feel with Paris or lemon tree with respect to an OYO rooms then it's
not the right comparison, it has to be compared with a townhouse for that
matter, you know, you pay much lesser with for almost the same amount of
features. feature wise OYO rooms has given the best possible things in I
think India's requirement consideration said because the basic needs like
Wi Fi, etc. There is no fuss about it. You simply go in very, very small
check ins and checkouts. And there's no unnecessary questioning, there's
no problem. It's a very smooth and simple process. But But my only and only
problem with OYO, Since I booked so many I think I've probably 200 Ithis
thing the main problem that I've found is that is customer service, you
know, so there have been times when I have been stranded for two hours or
so talking on the phone in a certain location with these customer service
guys. And they are pathetic, pathetic at customer solution. Yeah. They
really don't have any idea about how to do it and how do they cater to. I
think that should cover everything
Rohit 17:57
Thank you Participant3.
Unknown Speaker 18:00
It's
Pallavi 18:01
so good to know you have such a vast knowledge about the hotels. Thank you.
We can now move on to the next participant.
Participant5 18:14
Yeah, so for me while booking a hotel some more important factors ation.
Planning, one factor
is one
falls out based on the services the hotel provides while you're staying
there. Because like it really makes or breaks your experience of the hotel.
Apart from that by the hotel,
like the size of rooms also matters
then one more factor is budget So if you're going

7. out of city, while you're vacationing, maybe with your family, definitely
your budget will be more if you're with your friends, the budget will be
less. So, yeah, these are the most important factors basically, apart from
that,
when I'm talking about OYO,
I like the services they provide to the owner. So it doesn't really matter
if I'm staying there for a longer period of time or for a shorter period
of time, especially if you're staying at a townhouse. I think they have a
good service. Apart from that, if they're providing everything that I
mentioned before, like location, then it's great, but like Participant3
pointed out, one of the major drawbacks is actually the customer service.
So yet they really need to work on that because I myself have been stranded
a few times because of that. And then Apart from that, I think the best
thing about OYO here is the ease of booking a room. And the ease of
navigating through their website. So if you compare it to any of their
competitors, any of the comeptitors, best is provided by them. And I think
that's a major reason that they're
attracting more number of customers and booking from somewhere else maybe.
Yeah, that's it.
Participant3 20:29
could i add just one more point. Yes Participant3, please go ahead.
So that's because Participant5 said he was alking about customer service.
Another thing that I'd like to point out is recently what has happened,
I think for the past, one year or so, what has happened is my ......standard
so I personally try to do research and understand why is it happening and
what's the problem? What is happening? OYO as a company is getting a bad
word of mouth. I'll tell you why because the hotel owners, they do not get
their retainers on time. So what happens is they're working on a let's say
a normal large person owns a lodge or whatever he has to have, he has to
have his basic operational fund right. But if he does not make 10 lakh
rupees, which is his retainer. In that case, it's difficult for him to work
so what he does is.... when I call up say that I have made a booking he
says Sir, I we are not taking bookings from OYO, you do it through some
other app or you come in and pay the money. We can't take one the payments
to you and two not accepting OYO. And we have told OYO that we don't want
to continue further with them but they keep listing us so that is a major
problem which is... creating negative word of mouth.
Rohit 22:05
Got it Participant3. Go Participant4
Participant4 22:10
So as Participant3 mentioned earlier, even I consider traveling options. I
mean choosing hotels in in respect with whom I'm traveling, I don't travel
alone and never traveled alone. It's mostly with my friends or family. When
it's my family, they have a perception about oyo room being dark and fishy.
They don't trust it at all. So with them, I would definitely not go for
oyo because they would definitely say a big no to it. If I have to travel
with my friends, and even for like for a day or two, I would definitely go
for OYO rooms because it's convenient, it's cheap, and you can it's in
the very prominent and prominent locations. So it's very convenient to book
it and you get any process itself. I never faced any issue as such as faced

8. by Participant3 and Participant5. So I think it's very convenient for me
at that time, especially in metropolitan cities as well but if we have to
travel to some prime locations like some locations like to Hill stations
or things like that I would definitely not prefer OYO rooms even with my
friends because it's not on the prime locations in adequate locations. I'm
also I think oil rooms even I faced that issue that it don't have proper
cleaning facilities they don't provide that proper nicely. And there's not
uniformity as such like in some hotels, you some oyo rooms you might find
that in some you don't. Like recently I went with my seniors in college in
college. And I think but there they had such a horrible service we had to
leave in between. That place was very fishy. So I think even if providing
services atvarious areas, but they should make sure that it's not at the
place which is very dark and fishy, because that could be very negative
for the oyo rooms as such.
Pallavi 24:10
So Participant4 when you say dark and fishy, what exactly do you mean the
location is not safe or services provided
Participant4 24:18
the location as well as the people who are staying there. So you might
experience very, you might have some bad experiences with them as well.
Like we had some I wouldn't mention that in detail. But yeah, that could
be really disastrous for anyone to just go out of your room and have that
experience I think that should also be taken care of that the person is in
right condition or not, because that things also matter a lot what kind of
people are living beside you?
Pallavi 24:49
True? True. So So once we move ahead with the discussion, we will also be
in fact if you filled our form you would have seen we have mentioned
Question about who's staying next to you?
Participant4 25:02
Yes, yes, I mentioned that clearly in that as well.
Rohit 25:06
Thank you Participant4. So let's go ahead with Participant6.
Participant6 25:12
Well, talking about OYO , we understand that there are two types of
customers for you, people who are on transit want to stay for one night or
two nights probably for a business meeting or something, or a person who
wants to stay for a stay for quite a long time. So OYO has understood
understood this problem, and they provide a variety of solutions. One is
OYO rooms and the other one is OYO townhouse or for that matter OYO rooms.
So for me as a customer, when I make use of OYO rooms, what I see is
practicality and affordability, it is probably just for one night. So what
I'll see is I'll just look at the options that are available online. And
then I'll just go with whatever is most practical for me the locality what
is the price that they're offering. And I try to maximize the features as
much as possible. But in the case of OYO homes, it's completely different.
I don't look for affordability at this point of time, because most of the
time what happens is for people who are staying for a long duration of
time, it's mostly sponsored by the company. People don't stay in OYO homes
for a long duration of time. So at that time, affordability is not a point
of concern. What matters is safety, security and reliability. So I would

9. rather choose OYO homes that I know that I've stayed before the owner is
quite, you know, friendly of sorts. If I'm able to get food on call. These
are the things that I actually see when I'm booking oyo homes if I'm
planning to stay for quite a long duration of time. Now talking about my
problems with oyo rooms is that the first thing that I face in oyo rooms
is I'll probably spend some one or two hours just to see & Decide which
oyo room I have to go and stay in. For example, I'll just browse the app;
oyo being a pioneer in this form of aggregator business model. The first
thing that comes to my mind when I need to book a room is oyo, not any
other brand. So having said that, I'll go to the app, I'll see the pictures,
and then I boil down to one oyo room. Now what happens is when i go to the
to that oyo room, the pictures don't align with the reality. It's not it.
It's completely different from what I see in the pictures. And the other
thing, other problem that I face is, most of the times I go and avail the
service of OYO by Ola cab. So when I arrive at a locality, I leave the ola
cab . I hope that Oyo room, that i have booked is quite good and I can
finalize on it. But more often than not, it doesn't happen I'll have to
find some other oyo room on spot just because I didn't like the oyo room
that I've previously booked. The other problem that I face is Most of the
owners, what they do is the place is fishy, which they know, what they do
is they don't put the pictures of the facade in good oyo rooms, they put
the pictures of the facade. But in fishy oyo rooms, they don't actually
put they try to, you know, manage not to put the picture of the facade. So
I am hoping that locality in which this oyo is located is good, but in
reality, it's not. So these are the problems that I face. And now talking
about oyo homes for oyo home Godrej is a key account. All right. So oyo
home doesn't really care whether Godrej is releasing payments on time or
not, because they know Godrej will release payments at some point or the
other. But for the owner, as Participant3 mentioned, if he doesn't get
funds, the customer that that is staying in the oyo home is completely
being penalized just because he didn't receive the funds yet. So that part
of it needs to be sorted by oyo. Yeah.
Pallavi 28:56
So as far as i could make out
Participant6 location of the place is extremely important to you. correct.
Participant6 29:05
And, and and, and what is more important this important is transparency.
If you are promising that you will deliver something, then deliver it, the
alignment of what I see online and offline should be completely equal. If
I know that the oyo room is fishy, and if I still booked it, then fine. I
know that it's fishy, because I'm paying a lesser price. But if you're
portraying it to be a very good room, and then if I go and find it to be
very fishy, and that is not tolerated. ...disappoint. That's what I'm
saying. Correct? Correct.
Participant4 29:35
Okay, disappointment stays with you for a long time. You cannot change that
perception. No matter what you do. Once you get that, you know that what
they actually showed us and what we're actually getting, that's like a huge
slap on your face. The moment you see that.
Participant3 29:53
I also have one point here, where in Participant6 rightly pointed out that
It's important to understand what is the need of the customer when he's
booking an OYO, right? If we see, like, talking something about certain

10. oyos being fishy, or I dont experience that as Participant6 rightly
said....... they do not put the photo of the facade. And they don't put
the photos of the rooms. And probably there's some cognitive dissonance
within the consumers mind where this is what I was expecting, and this is
what I get, and so on and so forth. But what, what I personally see, let's
say when I'm looking at it from a practicality perspective, and I'm only
going to spend say, six hours in the night or eight hours the night party,
what I consider is, what are my requirements, right? I want to go party
with my friends, I want to drink, I want to chill out, play some music,
and I want to simply relax. Nobody tells me anything. That's my basic
requirement. And it has been really really affordable so that it does not
eat a part of my budget for party. Right. So, I think rightly as
Participant6 said, when people know that this is going to be fishy, fishy
might not be the right thing to say this may not be what I desire, right
then I have to make this choice as a consumer. Yeah. And and considering
what OYO has done in Indian market as well. Post stayuncle also came in
with the couple friendly rooms and so on. That is the biggest I feel market
for OYO, I'll tell you why. Because every time I go out of hundred 90% of
the booking are always couples. Yeah. And those couples are not seeking
out to have a great lavish room for themselves. They want a decent room
where they'll get food where they will get basic amenities, and they can
spend the night. So that is the main requirement, I think for us hit that
very, very effectively. And that is why they have been successful in that
particular...
Rohit 32:13
OK Participant3. Thank you. So we'll start with another question.
So everyone has used OYO beforehand, and everyone has got a quite a explicit
experience with OYO. So we want to know that Would you consider to stay
in an OYO in this COVID pandemic means post pandemic? Are you ready to use
OYO as one of your pioneer options? You'd want to go for hotels or no? So
let's start again in the alphabetical order starting with Participant1.
Participant1 32:48
So to answer in one word, I'll say no, because we have already discussed
enough and points have been highlighted how cleanliness is compromised. In
this era when in the covid 19 pandemic clanliness is of top most priority.
So, a friend of mine, he manages an oyo hotel and he talks very frankly to
me and he even said, if a bedsheet is visibly clean, then we don't wash
it, and we don't send it for washing, they just use it in some other room
because, you know, people are checking in just for a few hours and they
don't have time to, you know, check for the cleanliness and everything.
So, cleanliness is a bigger problem for OYO rooms along with how other
services especially food, most OYO rooms, the smaller ones do not have
kitchen and they the quality of food that they provide in the rooms is very
bad. So I ..they might have had some measures in place, just to win the
trust of the customers. But I'm highly skeptical about to what extent those
measures would be followed because we know that most of the oyo rooms are
outsourced, they're managed by the managers. They don't have a standardized
protocol that they follow just for the namesake, they might be measuring
the temperature or providing hand sanitizer in just one place or two. But
I don't think that there may there might be strict regulations in place
because because it is not centralized and people hardly bother.
Rohit 34:34

11. Participant1 what do you think can OYO do to improve upon these things.
any points, you would like to specify that on which areas on which areas
then they can work in order to convert your No into an Yes.
Unknown Speaker 34:50
Um,
Participant1 34:52
I think it's really difficult because we do not have a very good image of
oyo pre pandemic as well. So it would be a tough task for oyo to do. But
I think effective communication can help by highlighting actual footages
of videos of hotels where the sanitized sanitation is being carried out
and everything. So yeah, that might help to some extent.
Rohit 35:24
Thank you Participant1. Thanks a lot.
HI Participant2
Unknown Speaker 35:29
I guess so for me too the answer would be no, because I'm already not
satisfied with what oyo is providing. I mean, again, I'm talking about
hygiene, hygiene and everything. And as someone else pointed out, that
townhouse is something that you can compare with if you're comparing with
hotel chains also that I don't think so that townhouse is also that good.
I have been there too, i was not satisfied their too. So I guess and for
me, the answer has been no and post COvid I guess first they need to work
on their own Things like they had some problems and issues before overdue.
So this should work on that. And I guess after that, we might consider oyo.
But for now, I guess I won't.
Rohit 36:13
Yeah, thank you Participant2
Participant3 36:17
my perspective would be irrespective of oyo or IBibiO or make my trip or
any personal...any private hotel also, right now, I am definitely not open
to actually go ifor hotel service. Because I am still skeptical about how
effectively the sanitization process is done. Although, for example, I've
seen OYO trying to promote itself where in Ritesh Agarwal himsef is going
in and so on, but the problem is, it looks pretty superficial And I and I
still, even if it's a 5 star, I won't get that comfort. I'm still skeptical
about going into a foreign place and staying right away. Because.. Because
I can't stay there throughout with a mask on, right? If I have to spend
the whole day I can't stay with a mask on so thats what for the cosideration
problem is
Pallavi 37:24
What is it anything specific that would change
your decision?
A point or two that that would might, you know, make you think, okay, maybe
I can stay.
Participant3 37:39
So I think right now post COVID .It is more about

12. at least right now. Exactly. At this point. It is more about the thought
process that we are in. For example, I'm going out to the market. And I
personally think it's fine, right? Because I have too. people are going to
the office because they have too. so its Just about a thought process
people have to believe one point when they finally go out and eat. They
started eating again out outside. Similarly, one point when they start
going out for vacations, that one point when the borders open, that'll be
the moment when people will start taking hotel rooms again for me personally
right now, there is nothing because it is not a feature built or a
functional problem. Yeah. It is simply a mindset problem wherein I am
skeptical about the whole thought. Yeah, yeah, that's all. okay.
Rohit 38:38
Is there anything Participant3
that oyo can do to break those borders
so that you find yourself comfortable
Participant3 38:47
they just need to keep assuring me as a customer that we are taking all
the necessary precautions probably have more of those videos wherein they
demonstrate what all they're doing and If I go and see from the most low
budget hotel to the priciest hotel out there, they are actually maintaining
those features. Those offices, then I think I would still probably consider
it.
Rohit 39:20
Okay, Thank you Participant3
Participant5 39:25
the stage for me. I won't consider staying at an OYO, in fact beat any
hotel. I wouldn't. I wouldn't consider staying at any hotel right now and
then unless it's an emergency, so like, definitely there's no vacations
right now there's no parties that I would go to,
to any hotel room at this point. So, yeah I won't consider it but apart
from that, if if I have to stay at a hotel at this point, because of any
emergency say then OYO wouldn't be my go to hotel to be honest because you
know, like Participant1 also pointed out the hygiene isn't that great and
most of the places if you go to hotel the kitchens are very crammed up,
and most The OYOs so even if you have to order the food there I'll be very
I'll be very sceptical while ordering food there right now then apart from
that yeah, that's about it but at this stage also if you've been asking
about it, there's something that OYO can do to change my mind. I wouldn't
say there's anything much because you know, I'll only stay there if I
really need to stay in a hotel if I need to. But yeah, maybe if they put
up some videos on their applications, the voters are putting in this put
up some videos showing how they're actually disinfecting and everything.
Rohit 42:07
That's okay. Let's move to Participant4.
Participant4 42:11
So, yeah, I was saying that even after post COVID you know my thinking
about living/ staying in a hotel wouldn't be my priority obviously, but
even if I have to consider, I would say if OYO rooms can convince me and
give me transparency about what protocols they are following also how they
are maintaining the cleanliness, I might consider, but I need that assurance

13. definitely. Also I need that I think you are also mentioned in form that
how frequently you want your rooms to be clean. So, not only different
Frequency but also whenever I wish that I wanted to be clean, I am ready
to give extra money for that because I understand how costly it can be for
them, but I need that assurance that they are not compromising at all on
cleanliness, if they give that I might consider OYO room but they have to
do a lot for it.
Rohit 43:23
Thank you so much Participant4. SO, lets moe on to Participant6.
Participant6 43:29
Yeah, talking about being a customer and availing the services provided by
OYO, at this time of pandemic we like go for it or not actually depends on
how important it is to it is for me to stay in. If it is a business meeting
that I cannot afford to skip, then probably I will definitely be there.
I'll probably travel across the state And a person who has been infected
by OYO, sorry, COVID. Personally, I always think that COVID is overrated,
but the catch is, you can always be a carrier. It's not about you getting
infected, but you will bring that home. And that is the bigger worry here.
So what I think OYO should do is contactless check-in. Apart from COVID.
I've always felt that, OYO can deliver the services in a contactless way.
How can they imply this is just to probably have QR codes, which you scan
by your phone will make the locks unlock. Rather than going to the
reception, and then writing down your information, your personal details
and all of that. All of that is already available in the app, you can
probably just scan the QR code and avail the service. That's one the other
thing That the other group members have already told us to show the
protocols that they have been following. And the third thing that I would
suggest as a customer that you can do is to probably have a live feed in
their app, probably a map, which will show red dots saying the number of
people who have been affected in that locality. So what happened is, if
I'm trying to avail a service in that particular locality, I first see that
map and if there are no person affected in and around within three
kilometers or so, I probably think okay, I think it's safe to avail the
service. So I think all these things can be done by OYO in a very practical
way.
So I was saying I also saw it in the video ad only that wherein Ritesh
Agarwal himself was going around the hotel and saying this is a change in
protocols that we've done. So that's where I also saw it. Okay.
Rohit 46:37
Thank you, Participant3.
Participant6 46:45
Yes. So I was asking since these, both of them were talking about
contactless checking, oh, what do you think? How would room service work?
Yeah, yeah. See, to my understanding the virus per se won't last more than
24 hours if you if you leave it unaffected, all right. So what oh you can
do is probably if a person is occupying a room, they can block that room
and completely keep it sanitized for 24 hours until the next customer is
able to book the room. In this way, they can reduce the chances of a person
acquire or acquiring or being infected by COVID. This can be done and and
the regular things that they can do by sanitizing the room the things that
usually people probably sanitizing them, changing the mattresses and all
of that.

14. Participant3 47:59
My perspective on this would be one is a it's already been told that cooked
food anywhere does not contain any kind of virus that is there. So I am
anyway not afraid to go to a restaurant right now post I've eaten so many
places Domino's has been serving since. I don't know if before the lockdown
was and they never stopped. And there was no scientific proof that cooked
food and heated food actually contains any kind of virus. So I think I have
broken that mindset, that barrier in my mind to one important thing that
then you said, and I think which COVID can do is so this thing that Insta
pizza has recently done. What they're doing is they have a 24 hour live
feed of their kitchen. Yeah. wherein you can see at any point of time, what
is going on, how are they taking care of all the precautions and the safety
measures, Yeah. So I think it's something like that is Done. And if the
rooms are sanitized in front of the people when they are actually going
and availing that room, those things are actually have a much mental effect
on people and also return a much better word of mouth for them.
Participant2 49:21
I will also add one thing for the workers who are working in the place. I
don't know if you know this urban clap is doing this thing that all the
details of the person is coming to your place. They give it to you
beforehand. This was the temperature today This was the temperature three
days out and things like that. I guess they can do this too.
Participant3 49:43
Yes, very true.
Rohit 50:17
Thank you everyone. It was a very fruitful discussion which we have today,
the insights from discussion out very important to us, and finishing our
research. And we wish and thank you all for taking the time and sharing
your experiences with us. Thank you.
Thank you so much, guys. Thanks