OYO, a global travel-tech company has made five additions to its leadership team, with Sonal Sinha being appointed as Chief Operating Officer – International and Rachit Srivastava taking over as Chief Operating Officer of OYO Vacation Homes (OVH) in Europe.
Shashank Jain has been elevated to Head of Technology and Online Revenue, while Pankhuri Sakhuja will head Traum-Ferienwohnungen, OYO’s listings business in Germany – besides the flex-space business Innov8 – with Ashish Bajpai becoming Head of Revenue and Global OTA.
In his new role, Sonal Sinha will oversee OYO’s international business operations, and revenue and spearhead strategic initiatives across the US. As the business head for the region, he will play a pivotal role in steering the company’s growth and expanding its footprint across the country.
A chartered accountant by education, Sonal joined OYO in 2015 and has since made a substantial impact across various finance functions. In his previous role as CFO – International Business, he led initiatives to enhance business margins and established critical frameworks for financial controls, including tax, accounting, and reconciliation. During his tenure, Sonal has been integral to OYO US’ impressive performance and rapid storefront growth post the pandemic.
Rachit Srivastava was earlier serving as the Head of the VRMC (Vacation Rentals Management Company) business for OVH, where he played a crucial role in ensuring strong EBITDA performance and supply growth. In his new role, Rachit will continue to leverage his expertise to deliver growth and customer satisfaction across OYO’s European vacation home portfolio.
Shashank Jain, who led product development for customer acquisition and retention on OYO’s own channels, will also oversee direct revenue and marketing for all hotels and homes. With a continued focus on GenAI, Shashank will leverage technology to improve customer service and growth across markets. Over the last seven years, Shashank has been central to OYO’s technological efforts, including helping launch apps for the company’s European brands, DanCenter and Belvilla by OYO.
Pankhuri Sakhuja, who has been managing the OYO workspaces vertical and hotels acquisition from the central office for some of OYO’s overseas markets, will now also take on the role of business head for OYO’s Germany-based vacation home listings business Traum-Ferienwohnungen, besides being formally appointed as the head of the workspaces business.
Pankhuri, who joined OYO in 2018, helped scale OYO’s Capital O brand and led key expansion initiatives across multiple regions, mainly the rapid growth of the workspaces business. She is an alumnus of ISB Hyderabad and IIT-BHU and had stints at Unilever, Rivigo and Myntra-Jabong before joining OYO.
Ashish Bajpai will lend his expertise in driving OYO’s revenue growth through both direct and indirect channels and working to widen the visibility and distribution of the group’s hotels and homes around the globe.
An IIT-Kanpur alumnus, Ashish was earlier Head of Loyalty, Retention and Customer Experience, relaunching the company’s loyalty program, Wizard, as well as playing a major role in starting the Super OYO program, which helped customers choose hotels offering the most consistent experience on the platform. Over his seven-year stint at OYO, he has successfully held multiple roles across various regions where OYO operates.
OYO Founder & Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said, “As we pursue our growth objectives, agility and decisive action remain at the core of our strategy. Our leaders are continuously adapting and expanding their roles to stay ahead of evolving market dynamics and drive our business forward. I congratulate Sonal, Rachit, Shashank, Pankhuri and Ashish on their new roles. Having been with OYO for a significant period, they understand OYO and its values and have been critical to our success.”
Global COO and Chief Product Officer Abhinav Sinha will be moving into an advisory role starting January 2025. Parallelly, he will explore new opportunities for his own startup venture, leveraging his decade-long experience at OYO where he worked across India, the US and Europe, and led multiple functions including field operations, online growth, product and technology.
A graduate of Harvard Business School, Abhinav oversaw OYO’s commercial and business operations verticals, building and scaling a product-first culture to ensure sustainable growth. Over the last decade, he has been central to OYO’s global expansion, including its foray into the US.
Ayush Mathur, President – OYO Europe, will be moving on to build his own startup. Recently in charge of OYO’s holiday parks business in Europe, Ayush joined OYO in 2014 and held various positions in the company, including Chief Supply Officer. Ayush’s responsibilities will be taken up by Rachit.
“At OYO, we take great pride in having cultivated an entrepreneurial culture where several OYOpreneurs have gone on to build their own ventures. As Abhinav and Ayush embark on a new journey, I extend my best wishes to them and look forward to collaborating with them in their startup founder avatar and will support their new business endeavors,” Ritesh added.
OYO has emerged as a significant contributor to the country’s burgeoning startup ecosystem, with more than 60 former employees successfully establishing their own startups following stints at the company.
