Owners of hotels and lodges in Mysuru are believed to be considering an option to lodge complaints against hospitality aggregator OYO for allegedly delaying payment of their dues.

The Hotel Owners’ Association of Mysuru, which met recently to take stock of the situation, has appealed to the owners of hotels and lodges in Mysuru to lodge complaints with the jurisdictional police against the aggregator.

In a statement here on Tuesday, association president C. Narayan Gowda has also cautioned hotel owners in Mysuru against renewing their contracts with the aggregator.

While asking hotel owners to lodge police complaints immediately to recover their dues, he said a few hoteliers have managed to receive their payments in a few cases after approaching the police.

Already, three hoteliers in Mysuru had lodged complaints in different police stations including Lashkar and Metagalli, Mr. Gowda told The Hindu. Other hoteliers, who are silently suffering at the hands of the aggregator, will also be lodging complaints, he added.

Of the 400 odd hotels in Mysuru city, about 110 had entered into contracts with the aggregator. “But, we carried out an awareness programme and convinced about 50 of them against renewing their contracts,” he said.

However, he regretted that a number of new hotels and lodges coming up on the Ring Road and the outskirts of the city were “falling into the trap” of the “false promises” of the aggregator.

The aggregator had enticed many budget hotel owners in Mysuru into entering into a contract, he said, before accusing the aggregator of cheating hotel owners by giving away the rooms at a very cheap prices to guests.

OYO rejects association’s charges

Hospitality aggregator OYO has rejected the charges made by the Hotel Owners’ Association.

“The allegations against OYO brought to our notice are baseless and motivated. We are a customer-first company, and are proud of our ability to make good quality hotels available to consumers at the right price point, and will not bow down to the unreasonable demands of vested interest groups, a majority of which are owners running competing properties, instigating and intimidating independent hotel owners associated with OYO, and creating false public uproar,” a statement from OYO spokesperson said.

Describing itself as a chain of leased and franchised hotels, OYO said it has included transparent payment protocols under which owners of properties leased and franchised by them will receive 18% of interest on delayed payments as part of its recently rolled out OYO Partner Engagement Network (OPEN).

The statement also claimed that OYO had partnered with over 18,000 hotels and asset owners across India including 642 added this year. “Overall OYO’s retention is as high as 99.5% across the chain in India and South Asia,” the statement added.