Room
aggregators may soon purchase property in
Noida and property in other cities as well in their attempt to shift from
an earlier partial inventory model to a full inventory model. While in the past
room aggregators such as OYO rooms swore by a partial inventory model, today,
after having burnt through a large amount of cash in a short period of time
such companies are also considering a full inventory model of renting rooms to
customers. The difference between a full inventory model and a partial
inventory model is quite simple, in a partial inventory model a room aggregator
takes charge of only a few rooms in a hotel and adds features such as Wi-Fi
with a service such as breakfast served in the morning and places such rooms
for rent under its own brand. In a full inventory model, however, a room aggregator would take charge of an entire
property, train its staff; brand the rooms and then rents out rooms to
customers who may book rooms online using the company’s app. The ownership of
the hotel or property remains unchanged even when a room aggregator takes
charge of an entire property.
Many
visitors to Noida have spent some nights in the city in rooms which have been
provided by room aggregators, many new projects
in Noida have rooms which have been rented to room aggregators who have
benefited tremendously from business travelers who were looking for inexpensive
lodgings. While builders in Noida build units for households and are not in the
business of constructing homes for the sole purpose of renting rooms or “beds”,
as aggregators term them, to business travelers, room aggregators have gone one
step towards become builders by taking on the management of entire properties
for the purpose of renting them out. Of course room aggregators are not yet
builders since they only take over the management of existing properties or
hotels which lead them to incur additional
expenses such as training the staff and the general upkeep and maintenance of
the property, they share the earnings from their business from such hotels with
the owners of such property in Noida and with the owners in nearly thirty
cities where many room aggregators are present. Hence room aggregators don’t
own the hotel, in a sense, they rent it
and then rent it further to guests. However,
unlike a partial inventory model where aggregators only rented a few rooms in a
single hotel, a full inventory model means they rent every room in a hotel or
establishment.
Problems
faced by room aggregators who rented a few houses which were in developments
with luxury
flats in Noida was that other room aggregators too advertised at such
locations and thus stole some business and lower the perceived brand value of
room aggregators while also leading to some confusion among travelers who
rented rooms. Additionally, guests who
lived in such flats in Noida complained of poor treatment by those who worked
at such residential property in Noida as well as by hotel staff where rooms
were rented. Thus the full inventory model may prove to be the right model for
room aggregators to follow as even though it is more expensive than the partial
inventory model customers prefer it over a partial inventory model as the
entire property is in the hands of a single company and customers who stay in
rooms at such hotels or developments are assured of courteous treatment by
staff along with the prompt service which is expected from a well-run
establishment.