 in Mumbai or in Delhi or even a small town in India, it's so much harder for me because I have only two or three months of cash left with myself. I'm very thankful to the MSME program of debt that has come in that will ensure that some of our hotel partners get some benefit in the near future in terms of liquidity. The second thing is being able to get demand and reduce costs while ensuring that you get the workers back are all critical problems at the same time and our hope is we can help our partners in these times to ensure that they can prepare for this work. My view is a lot of people are trying to run away from hospitality or travel as potential entrepreneurs. My belief is in this time there may be a few industries which may be booming like pharmaceutical and a few areas but because they are booming so many other entrepreneurs will also go there. Remember, hospitality, travel and various sectors which are challenged today will at some point of time recover. The question is not whether or not the question is when. So, entrepreneurs who enter this opportunity now will possibly see that the amount of challenges and risks are actually much smaller for them. So, it will be temporary pain but long-term gain. So, that's sort of how I think about the consumers and the partners in the hospitality ecosystem. Sure, I know and I completely agree with you and now that you mentioned that the hotels are going to look a little different but do you think from a people perspective also they're going to be lighter? I mean, less people trying to serve customers more technology. You know, we've been seeing these videos doing the rounds where Jeff in you know in Japan there are robots going to coming out and serving in your rooms. Do you think this is it was likely to happen sometimes in the future but it's now going to happen sooner? Yes, I believe in the hospitality industry my hotel partners including myself for a long time you know have sort of taken the view that personalized experience is more important than anything else. I do believe still that the good old world personalized experience will be critical but more and more parts of the hotel experience will get automated. For example, the kiosk at check-in has been a discussion for a long time but it just not come because people have taken longer for the transition. I believe that this world will accelerate it because of two reasons. One, because revenues are going to be smaller than pre-COVID, you have to learn operating the hotel with lower cost. Second, increasingly consumers will also want lesser number of people doing the touch-in and touching and the sharing of products by themselves. So I believe that given the combination of both of those things, I do believe that you know you will increasingly see technology becoming a core part of the experience. People will take some part of the benefit against lower revenue but I also do believe that people will take some part of the benefit and invest back for better safety and cleanliness and hygiene for the customer. So the customer feels safe. Abhi the biggest challenge for our hotel partners and for ourselves is to say that, apne sunao ga recently a lot of discussion about the Suraksha shop. I believe we need to make the Suraksha hotel happen. People need to feel, agar hum hotel me hain to hum surakshtit hain. That's the challenge for our industry and if we can enable that a lot of good things can happen I believe. Sure and I mean you know you just said that revenues are likely to be impacted. Have you forecasted what kind of revenue loss is likely to happen in the industry going forward? I mean in percentage or number terms or whatever it is that you're thinking of. So Ritu that is the one thing I wish anybody could tell me or any hotel leader knew it is anybody's guess because look today business leaders are not the only people who are making business decisions. A lot of decisions are coming right from the D.A.M. levels to the state levels. All we can do is prepare our business around it. So for example at OYO we have in India roughly 19,000 properties. We have cut those into literally sectors and colonies so that if any one of those become into containment zones revenue and operation should get redesigned immediately to be able to say that that one area everything comes to a pause. Right. So it's hard to say but there are early green shoots we are seeing that in markets like Europe we are seeing that there is you know because of summers a lot of people are traveling. In fact we are seeing in some countries a very very strong boost in demand. We are seeing U.S. in the south and the southeast which are fully open getting significant boost in demand. Right. In China of course there's been some improvement. In Southeast Asia primarily Vietnam and increasingly Malaysia we are seeing some improvement. So across the world there are signs of improvement. Today is the first day I hear that airlines have started flying. So I believe that as that happens there would be some green shoots in demand and we are also seeing some increased traffic since the lockdown 4. But remember hotels can only be open for specific purposes and that's what we are seeing the impact on. And when you say you know the green shoots are coming do you essentially see consumer now traveling more for work or more for leisure going forward at least for let's say till end of 2020. It's very dependent on countries we are actually not seeing a clear answer on that but let me try and give you a slightly you know detailed answer. So in countries like Europe we are seeing business travel being lesser and leisure travel being higher partly because it's summer season now. In U.S. and China we are seeing a lot more demand primarily for business purposes. Although it was a memorial weekend last weekend so a lot of people were out there holidaying. But that said I think in India you will see that the large corporates may have more and more zoom calls and VCs to make a lot of discussions and may reduce the amount of business travel. But the small business person I was talking to a customer recently who comes from Rottak to Gurgaon and he had he'll buy some stuff and would go back to Rottak. And that's his regular weekly program. He's not stopping his travel. He has to travel to run his business. So we feel that SMB's demand will continue to be strong but the big corporates but that I believe will be made up by means of manufacturing demand because we are seeing that in the industry there is more demand coming by. Sure. And mice itself is not happening right now. So that is going to impact. So you know I mean even the fact you know that while the trends look a little positive what is it that you're really telling or how are you mentoring your business partners. I'm sure you know they are also feeling very anxious right now about how to do things and then of course you know there is this threat of COVID and containment and zones and so on. So how are you really mentoring them guiding them to you know hang on there stay strong. So this is something that I feel a lot of your viewers will also find interesting because a lot of them are building new businesses and all our businesses which are successful and are trying to grow that even larger. I think today is a very anxious time for a business owner across industry because you don't know when the world is going to reopen customers are calling you but they're saying that well I don't know whether I have the income to be able to continue buying products. It's a very anxious time for everybody including my business partners right. We have in India over 19,000 business partners so all of them are at homes now and they are worried about business cup up the saga what will it mean and so on. So what we did so we have started by massive engagement programs. So every week we are touching base with all of our partners we are running a sambandh program which is fully digital in nature and so on and so forth. The first thing that they're worried about is so 50% of our owners are owned properties and 50% of owners have leased or you know in some form they have taken properties from a property owner. From Oyo perspective our focus has been very simple. How do we make sure that for the leased owners we can help them explain what can be a win-win situation in which they can work with their hotel owners and create more value in the times to come. On the other the second thing that our partners are focused about is cost of tip. Third thing they're focused about is people because a lot of people have gone back how do they get them back. Fourth which is the biggest challenge is how do I get the demand back. All four of these we're trying to provide support with partners in every manner possible. Beyond this as you may have heard while typically until 2019 mid we had a great relationship with our partners we had some challenges that came up towards the last quarter of last year with some of our asset owners. We are also using the last three months as a bridge to be able to work with our partners and build deeper relationships with them by simplifying our contracts our reconciliation statements and so on by means of which when we come out of COVID we can together work towards ensuring that we first survive this crisis but then hopefully thrive and come out stronger when the world starts traveling all over again. Sure and I think if they're able to sort of hang on and stay strong at least for these couple of months and I think then things will move forward you know then they'll be good bouncing back happening but I mean having asked you that do you feel the future of budget business hotels looks a little different than what it has so far do you think they look smaller do you think they look more technology you know service or what changes do you see happening I mean what are your future hotels going to look like new hotel properties that you'll set up from here on. Sure look I think from my perspective I believe that as the new generation of hotel business for a business owner it's going to be fundamentally different from where it is today at least for the next six to twelve months or maybe a little bit more because on one side you have to spend a little bit of more expense for running your hotel and serving your customers to make them feel structure but on the other hand you need to prepare for a world of how do you ensure that in some form or the other you can create disproportionate value when the world comes back if you look back our world has seen many crises go back to 9 11 for six months people literally stopped flying or if you take a crisis like SARS when somebody some companies in China really like the flight and the airline business did not remain at all but for people who were able to survive and intelligently make sure that they are taking good decisions not just for business but also good decisions by heart it will create significantly more value for instance for a lot of our hotel owners we are focused on ensuring that how do they treat their people is also critical for example some of them may be forced because of the underlying situation where they need to send their staff on leaves for instance but we're trying to request our partners to still share some ex-gratia of 30 40 percent something like that by means of which employees have some income in the times to come or for instance try and ensure that people are able to get some kind of income to be able to see through the crisis the second thing that we have seen is engaging with you know significant amount of companies because we have seen for the first time this is not just a pandemic this is also in some form or the other a recession so earlier a company which would say that I would I want to spend 3 500 rupees or 4 thousand rupees for staying in a hotel those people are now willing to sort of choose a hotel for 1500 rupees or 2000 so going back and talking to all your past customers is valuable because who knows which of those customers are looking for a service like this at this part of time sure and I mean on a larger on a more macro level I see a lot of comments pouring in from our delegates I think what they really want to know is how how have you sort of largely you know on a more macro level what is it that you have learned from this crisis and how do you sort of see those learnings going forward in your business for the future of Hojo so look I think let me begin from a perspective of the last few years I think in the year of 2019 this was one of our fastest growth here we saw growth you know from a few thousand hotels to 40,000 hotel partners many homeowners and so on we serve 41 million customers a lot of good things happen but we also learned from our rapid expansion from our customers we learned that our customers were happy that they got good prices they got a reliable experience because of which large amount of our customers were repeat or word of mouth users but the same time some of the customers were unhappy they were unhappy because sometimes they reached or landed at hotels even though very small percentage they reached a hotel and they could not get a check-in in the same room that they had booked or for instance some of the customers did not like like regardless of the percentage of customers being less than 1 percent or 0.5 percent we have taken it upon ourselves during this crisis to ensure that we go back and fix both of those challenges very very significantly on the other side for our partners we grew very significantly we were able to bring significant occupancy lift for our partners we brought loyalty for our partners by means of repeat customers from us and we brought technologies but we needed to simplify our deal structures and our reconciliation statements and in both of those earlier OEO's accounts person will engage with the hotel owner or the asset owner in terms of discussions now our development person business development person is trained to be able to discuss and agree upon various details so we feel when the sea has turbulent times and storm the fishermen comes and repairs their net so we are using this as an opportunity as fishermen who were on the sea but when we saw that there was some or the other kind of storm we were able to come back and repair our nests sure you know another question to you is that I mean you know obviously you've got properties across the world and you've got them in India, China, US and so many other places what particularly because China is now absolutely clean while India is still going up the curve when it comes to COVID what learnings from China do you think you want to bring to India or to some other parts of the world so first off I think India did a great job in starting a lockdown very very early I think a lot of countries took longer before they figured out how tough the situation is I understand that it has brought economic hardships to a lot of people including to our own business but I feel like our country's leadership says Jan B or Jahan B I think Jan Bachana was more important and I think all the right decisions were made for that I think China has of course started coming back but remember there is still a long way to go before China reaches pre-COVID levels I do believe though that there are learnings from some of the global markets like China, Denmark etc that we can bring here some of those include active social distancing hotels making sure that in offices you can prepare for a world where you can work with lesser amount of central AC because central air conditioning has been found as a potential risk how do you ensure I think in India one of the big strengths we have is the Arogya Setu app in a lot of countries people have done it by means of papers but papers you know are not as controllable but Arogya Setu app is so much more easier to be able to use it's I was seeing it's probably one of the most downloadable app downloaded apps in the world so I feel a lot of these things that India is doing for the first time at scale across the world will itself create a lot of replication and we are ensuring that you know we are working towards ensuring that a lot of OYO hotels and their staff all have the Arogya Setu app all have the PPE and the safety measures as required just so that whenever the world opens up again our hotel partners can potentially welcome customers with open open hearts sure so we have some audience here so some of them are asking when do you think the hotel industry is likely to bounce back like 100% I don't know what would that be 100% after some time but I mean would love to have your views on this so most people give an answer which is very large scale right so most people give the answer of saying that the date salba the revenue will start coming back I actually feel that it is the answer is slightly more nuanced than that somebody who's running a hotel near a factory site of a pharmaceutical company may actually already be at pre-covid levels but a lot of people who are running hotels in let's say destinations which are not seeing industries boom may see a much longer period of time so when will 100% hotels recover it's hard for me to say but it can range from anything between 24 26 months on the one extreme to six to eight months on the other extreme so from our perspective our focus is to try and ensure that whatever that is we try and ensure that we reduce the duration to get there but one of my suggestion for a lot of our friends in the hotel industry is that I know that your loans will be coming due end of the year or next year for covenant testing don't wait until then lots of banks are willing to make resolutions now even if your bank loans are coming due end of the year please reach out to your banks and start discussions for one time restructuring right now because but the one big thing that we can't stop is if a risk come from loans so while I know some of you may be taking advantage of moratoriums still discuss for the one time restructuring right now sure and I mean you know let me not just ask about the hotel industry for a minute but you know for all across for all startups and particularly for startups was still I would say you know very young and early days of their business what what advice would you give them so I think look I'm also learning as an entrepreneur we've made our own share of mistakes and we're learning from it from my perspective I think the focus for us is as under the first one is perseverance and having the ability to be able to in some form or the others see through the crisis is very critical I think a lot of people are seen through the scene through the crisis with patience but I think it's important that if you see through the crisis you will be also the first ones to see the benefits of when the world comes back so perseverance with the format of there is always light at the end of the tunnel is critical the second thing I would say is cash is king so please focus on cash don't you know hope that you're going to get cash from somewhere else but at the same time remember that your values will be tested the most at this point of time so it will also be critical for you to ensure that if you have you know partners banks etc keep talking to them as much as you can and share your situation with full honesty and work with them for a resolution absolutely and last but not the least is remember that you know in tough times is when great companies get built 2019 crisis is when a lot of good companies got built I believe that people who start companies now will be the people who will also potentially create some of the most successful companies in the years to come no I completely 100% agree with you on that one you know I know it's almost time but you know there's few things we love to know about you on the personal side also so you know everybody has been upgrading their skills at this time so what have you been doing on a personal front you know have you been reading a book or watching a movie tried e-gaming industry you know I think one of the things that's become very popular I have seen recently I haven't played it but I have heard is ludoking which is very popular I think these are examples of how Indian games will become very popular in the times to come but at this point of time look this has been a crisis time for a week we have had to unfortunately for low sum of our people we've had to see significant drop in revenue so I think tough times is when you come closer to your people so my biggest focus has been speak to as many people of our company as possible whether for load whether current try to make disproportionate decisions by which they know that I'm I'm I and our management are trying to do the best by them and for me that is the biggest source of energy I feel most of my team members are more optimistic than I am so whenever I speak to them I ask up look like the industry opposite people say that look I believe it's going to come back in six months or nine months or something like that so I feel they are very optimist they're speaking to customers and partners directly I'm focused on speaking to them our customers and our partners learning from them and ensuring that that becomes my source of optimism and energy but all of that said I think anytime I get I have tried watching back one of my most favorite documentaries which I call the men who built America it tells how us was civil war striven where there was no money in the country it was very difficult and they had to take loans from Europe to see through the crisis yeah great entrepreneurs in us became some of the leading people who made us into a superpower I hope is generation with a lot sorry or entrepreneurs knickling is crisis it just say key India and you know countries around us will become leaders but India specifically and I believe that our neighbors like Bhutan Nepal Sri Lanka and others will also prosper because of India's rise in the times to come sure absolutely and you know finally let me ask you this you know I mean considering that you raised so much capital and I think we're getting I've heard seeing this question here that you raised so much capital what is it think what is it now you believe about yourself has helped you raise so much capital what do you think you go out and say what impresses investors and how can particularly now when times and money as you said is going to be tough to come by and you know you have to everybody even investors will sit on their cash so how how do you think startups should actually go out and raise capital now sure look I think it's important to remember I recently shared this a unicorn we could be Sunicornta which means that you know companies start from the very tough times you have to struggle you have to make sure that you serve customers partners well and everybody believes that the struggle is done when the capital comes in the struggle only begins then so that's the first perspective that is we've learned our lessons right from the very early days by by talking to our consumers partners and ensuring that we learn from them or as I need to go back to the same people due to whom we are what we are the second bit which is about how would I suggest raising these are printing cash like never before so there is always going to be capital available for good businesses it will be hard and it will be expensive but you will get the capital one of my suggestions for people who have big businesses or slightly bigger businesses is to consider that kind of capital for people who are really just starting please consider the SIDB scheme that has come out I have heard that it is very very attractive and it is backed 100% by the government of India and third the VCs and the angels are still writing checks they believe that this is the time where they can get lower valuations as an entrepreneur if you wait to see another day that's when your valuations will matter so don't be very worried about the evaluation. Sure yeah well we hope to see some new unicorns new unicorns being born out of COVID so some one final message you would like to give to all the startups and all young entrepreneurs and I mean you know we've had a job loss regardless of I'm sure not this is not what companies want but it is still there this could also be a great opportunity for a lot of people to actually start their own business they're wanting they must have been wanting to do it but this could just be the app time so what are you going to tell them to do how should they plan themselves better my I have only two look first of I am learning myself in our business but the only two things I would share number one is remember that great companies are built out of perseverance so don't give up if you're seeing this crisis this is the time to put your chips together and fight for the big battle and second yesterday I was talking to an agriculture entrepreneur he was telling me how a lot of digital technology savvy people have gone back as migrants to the villages yeah and he was saying those people are starting their own small businesses because they know what apps people use in cities they want to make things in villages which usually there was a big divide between urban centers and villages so you're absolutely right that a lot of people can start companies today and remember we have nothing to lose a lot of people don't have anything to lose they have only anything to gain so worst case the first time you won't be successful but best case you will build a fantastic business out of it so I think today entrepreneurs have the best opportunity and they should put their best effort behind it I believe the same about us we have challenges we are faced with some of the biggest challenges but we are prepared to make sure that we overcome those and we will overcome those with our customers partners and our employees explaining us and working with them to make sure that we become a better company and better people sure you know that that's a wonderful thought that you're leaving us with Ritesh and you know it's not about how low your record is but what record you will break that is really what counts in a situation in times like these and we hope that Oyo and under your leadership continues to do big records and bigger more diversification and puts us as a country on a global scale so thank you very much for joining us today thank you and to all the delegates thank you for joining this conversation if you have questions please join us or write to us on LinkedIn or Facebook and we make sure that your questions are answered thank you once again Ritesh