Author: HBI Staff | Hyderabad

As per reports, Oyo has furnished fake no-objection certificates (NOCs) for close to 70 hotels/properties to online travel agency (OTA) Booking.com, according to a report in The Economic Times. The NOCs were provided to change ownership of the properties listed with Booking.com from rival Treebo to Oyo, sources – including hotel owners, told the paper. Some hotel owners said they got to know of the matter after being asked about it by Treebo, who then also sent them the clarification from Booking.com. The OTA informed Treebo that after conducting necessary checks it had identified the NOC furnished by Oyo were…

With the ongoing global crisis of COVID-19, travel is close to nil and resulting in events being cancelled or postponed. The overall business environment has become gloomy for the travel and hospitality industry with no foreseeable solution in the near future. However, as the world grapples and tries to control the outbreak of Covid-19, India too, is undertaking a series of strong measures to keep the Corona numbers from rising. In a recently released statement by the India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) says that the bureau supports the efforts of the Government of India in handling the situation and also…

With the ongoing global crisis of COVID-19, travel is close to nil and resulting in events being cancelled or postponed. The overall business environment has become gloomy for the travel and hospitality industry with no foreseeable solution in the near future. However, as the world grapples and tries to control the outbreak of Covid-19, India too, is undertaking a series of strong measures to keep the Corona numbers from rising. In a recently released statement by the India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) says that the bureau supports the efforts of the Government of India in handling the situation and also…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing the nation at 10am on 14th of April, Tuesday, PMO has said. As the country nears the end of the state-mandated 21-day lockdown, it is widely speculated that PM will announce a possible extension of the lockdown. While many states including Punjab, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal and Maharashtra have already extended restrictions till the end of the month, there has been no such direction from the Central government yet. After a meeting between PM Modi and the chief ministers of various states, the broad consensus was that India may have to stay at…

The FAITH (Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality) had an urgent meeting with Ministry of Commerce yesterday to discuss measures on tourism exports. FAITH requested the Ministry of Commerce to request Piyush Goyal, who is both, the Commerce and the Industries Minister to take up the request for the survival support for the whole tourism travel & hospitality industry with the Prime Minster. Some of the points of discussion include rating the SEIS (Service Exports from India Scheme) at 10% and crediting it immediately on the basis of previous financial year, deemed export status, SEIS on gross forex…

(Source: Reuters) E-commerce is now limping back to life in India as the border closures, warehouse shutdowns and general confusion that initially accompanied the three-week shutdown order have eased. While still clearing a backlog of previously placed orders, most online retailers are accepting new orders, albeit with delayed deliveries and a limited product catalogue. Moreover, political coldness towards e-commerce, which many in India see as a threat to millions of brick-and-mortar retailers, has faded. While grocery stores and pharmacies are still open, it has become evident that Singh and the thousands of delivery workers like him have become crucial frontline…

According to ET, SoftBank-backed Oyo Hotels & Homes has laid off hundreds of employees in the US across divisions like sales, business development and HR since March end, recently sacked employees and company insiders told ET. As per some media reports, Oyo had previously laid off about 360 employees, a third of its then staff in the US, in February. Sources said the company’s capital investment on US hotels has come down to a quarter of what it was spending earlier, in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak. “Oyo is expecting a long lull in the US and is laying…

(Source: Reuters) A second stimulus package India is poised to announce in coming days will be worth around 1 trillion rupees ( 13 billion) and focus on help for small and medium businesses weathering the coronavirus outbreak, two senior officials said on Wednesday. Last month, India outlined a 1.7-trillion rupee (USD 22.6-billion) economic stimulus plan providing direct cash transfers and food security measures to give relief to millions of poor hit by an ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown. “The second package could be focused largely on MSMEs,” one of the senior government officials, with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters,…

According to Pymnts, Online food delivery platform Swiggy has raised USD 43 million as part of its ongoing Series I round to develop and expand its new businesses, according to multiple reports on Monday (April 6). New investors included Ark Impact, Korea Investment Partners, Samsung Ventures and Mirae Asset Capital Markets. Swiggy raised a total of USD1.42 billion across 11 rounds and has a valuation of more than USD3.6 billion. The initial Series I round in February raised USD113 million, led by existing investor Prosus N.V. with participation from Meituan Dianping and Wellington Management Company. “Swiggy has built a sustainable…

ccording India Today, The cascading effect of the global coronavirus pandemic is crippling the country’s tourism and hospitality industry at an “astonishing pace”, an industry body said. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) has come down by about 67 per cent annually in the January-March quarter, while for domestic tourists, the figure is lower by nearly 40 per cent, according to statistics published by the tourism ministry, the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) said. “Disruption due to coronavirus could result in 18-20 per cent erosion of nationwide occupancy across the hospitality sector, and 12-14 per cent drop in average daily rates (ADRs)…