OYO Hotels, South Asia's largest and world's fastest growing hospitality chain, has announced its partnership with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia.

As a part of this partnership, OYO will provide the ministry access to its technology suite, which includes OYO OS and Krypton technologies, to enable the ministry to deliver an elevated hospitality experience in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

With this initiative, the company has affirmed its commitment to support Saudi Arabia’s vision in 2030 to increase the number of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims to 30 million annually, and leverage technology to help ensure that thousands of pilgrims have access to quality, affordable accommodations during their visit to the holy shrine.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten, honourable minister of Hajj and Umrah, and Ritesh Agarwal, founder and group CEO, OYO Hotels and Homes.

OYO’s signature OS technology suite is an operating system that will assist the Ministry in managing inventory, procurement, as well as, provide for express check-ins and check-outs in the accommodations under its purview. The OS further offers apps for housekeeping and audits while introducing solutions for multiple accommodation management aspects like expense management, staff training and engagement along with performance management for the hotel staff. All these facets come together to deliver technology-driven efficiency for living spaces. Krypton is OYO’s mobile audit app that enables the timely audit of properties while assuring an excellent guest experience.

Under the MoU, OYO will work with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in enhancing, implementing and auditing the aspirational standards for affordable and quality accommodations in existing buildings in the holy city of Makkah, through the use of technology and proprietary applications. In the process, OYO’s technology suite group aims to create over 3,000 local employment opportunities and upgrade over 15,000 rooms.

Commenting on the developments, Agarwal said: “We are proud and honoured to have been selected by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to provide our best-in-class technology solutions as part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s commendable efforts to implement their 2030 vision. By leveraging our hotel operating competencies in support of vision 2030 and harnessing OYO’s world-class OS and Krypton systems towards upgrading living spaces for pilgrims, we want to be a key partner to the Ministry in helping welcome 30 million Umrah and Hajj pilgrims to the kingdom and assuring a comfortable and peaceful stay as they journey to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.” - TradeArabia News Service