Indian hospitality company Oyo has bought Australian short-term rental platform MadeComfy in a deal valued at over $50 million. This marks Oyo’s entry into the Australia and New Zealand market, expanding its already global presence and adding to its growing list of acquisitions.

Last year, Oyo acquired the Motel 6 and Studio 6 hotel brands in U.S. from Blackstone for $525 million in an all-cash deal.

A source confirmed to Skift that the MadeComfy acquisition was made in a cash-and-stock agreement through vacation rental platform – Belvilla by Oyo. The approval came through a extraordinary general meeting of Oyo parent Oravel Stays, which passed the deal unanimously.

About MadeComfy

MadeComfy was started in 2015 by Quirin and Sabrina Schwaighofer, a husband-and-wife team to help landlords rent out their properties on sites like Airbnb, Booking.com, and Stayz. The platform not only lists the properties but also helps with things like price changes, guest check-ins, and even arranging photographers and cleaners to make the listings more appealing.

The company has been operating in Australia and recently expanded into New Zealand. It currently manages more than 1,300 properties and works with nearly 100 real estate agencies.

Oyo plans to keep the MadeComfy brand and retain Quirin and Sabrina Schwaighofer as co-chief executives. The goal is to expand across Australia and New Zealand, and potentially into other countries where Oyo already operates.

MadeComfy’s Financials

This is reportedly the second-largest deal in Australia’s short-term rental tech sector. The biggest was when HomeAway bought Stayz for $220 million in 2013. It also beats Next Capital’s $48.2 million purchase of Alloggio in 2023.

MadeComfy had raised around $20 million from investors over the years. These included Commencer Capital and BridgeLane. The company nearly collapsed during the pandemic when travel halted overnight, but it managed to survive and bounce back.

In 2023, a $10 million fundining helped MadeComfy with a tech and analytics upgrade, and supported its expansion to New Zealand.

“Over the past decade, we’ve built MadeComfy into a platform that truly understands the dynamics of short-term rentals in Australia and New Zealand,” Quirin Schwaighofer, co-founder and co-CEO of MadeComfy, said in a release.

“Joining forces with Oyo gives us the global scale and technology muscle to take that vision further, faster.”

Australian law firm Maddocks advised MadeComfy on the deal. “This was a complex, cross-border transaction, and we were proud to see a successful outcome achieved,” said Rahil Patel, corporate partner of Maddocks.

As the travel industry recovers and grows, companies like Oyo are betting that well-run, tech-enabled platforms like MadeComfy will play a big role in the future of short-term stays.

Hotel chains in India are increasingly moving away from signing individual properties in favor of multi-property development agreements. This shift comes as the country’s hospitality industry experiences rapid growth driven by rising demand.

The Indian hotel sector is expected to cross INR 1 trillion ($11.7 billion) by the end of the current financial year and reach INR 1.1 trillion ($13 billion) by 2026-27, according to risk management and monitoring platform Rubix Data Sciences.

Occupancy rates are also increasing, projected to reach 73% by 2026-27, up from 68% in fiscal 2024 and significantly higher than the pandemic low of 35%. This is largely due to demand consistently outstripping supply.

This demand-supply imbalance is a critical factor driving long-term strategies across the sector.

Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian noted that limited supply growth relative to demand is a global trend, including in India. “This is a positive attribute,” he said.

Accor chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin called India “an untapped market.” He said there are less than 200,000 brand

Key Points

• Delta Air Lines clarified it does not use AI to set individualized airfares based on personal data, following criticism from lawmakers.
• The airline uses AI, via a partnership with Fetcherr, to assist in dynamic pricing for a growing portion of its domestic flights, but claims all fares are determined by market dynamics and are publicly available.
• Lawmakers and officials have expressed concerns about potential predatory or ‘surveillance’ pricing, prompting Delta to stress its commitment to fair, competitive pricing and data privacy.

Summary

Delta Air Lines has publicly stated that it does not use AI to set individualized prices based on personal customer data, responding to recent criticism and inquiries from U.S. lawmakers. The airline acknowledged using AI technology, through a partnership with Fetcherr, to assist analysts in setting fares for a portion of its domestic flights, with plans to expand this use. However, Delta emphasized that fares are determined by market competition, not personal data, and all prices are transparently published, aiming to dispel concerns about privacy and potential predatory pricing.