OYO Hotels & Homes; a hotel chain, homes, and space startup; has appointed Raj Kamal as chief operating officer (COO) of the company’s vacation homes business in the UK and Europe.

Prior to joining OYO, he was global head of investments at PayU, the payments and fintech arm of Naspers Limited. The startup, founded by Ritesh Agarwal, in a statement said on Wednesday that this was as part of the company’s efforts to continue to invest in and attract world-class leadership to drive innovation and growth.

Raj Kamal will work closely with Tobias Wann, CEO, OYO Vacation Homes in the UK and Europe.

In the past two years, OYO has been on a scout for talents from across the Industry. The startup hired former Indigo CEO Aditya Ghosh in 2018.

OYO Vacation Homes is spread over 50 countries and has over 125,000 homes and villas under the management of OYO Homes, Belvilla, DanCenter, Danland, along with Germany-based Traum-Ferienwohnungen.

Maninder Gulati, chief strategy officer at OYO Hotels & Homes, said: “In a short period of time, we are making good on our promise of delivering world-class value to homeowners - guests from the world over create everlasting memories at these homes and we have delivered 25-30 percent more booking value over and above the existing value.”

In the last three months, the company said that it has hired 400 exceptional professionals to its team and widened customer reach.

First Published:Jan 9, 2020 12:13 PM IST