AMSTERDAM—OYO Hotels & Homes has acquired Danamica, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based data science company, with machine learning and business intelligence capabilities, specialized in dynamic pricing.
This acquisition is in line with OYO’s continued commitment to the company’s global vacation rentals business through strategic investments in technology products, processes and people, according to the company. In August, the company committed to invest $331 million (€300 million) in the vacation homes business in Europe, with a special focus on strengthening the relationship with homeowners and enabling them with resources, including technology investments, required to deliver chic hospitality experiences.
With the acquisition of Danamica, OYO will be able to drive top-line growth by leveraging dynamic pricing across all its brands—OYO Home, Belvilla and DanCenter, all of them already at the forefront of vacation rental pricing in Europe, according to the company. Additionally, OYO and its real estate partners around the world will benefit using data sciences for improved yield. Starting with Europe, Danamica’s technology innovations will benefit OYO’s global vacation homes business.
Maninder Gulati, global head, OYO Vacation and Urban Homes, & chief strategy officer, OYO Hotels & Homes, said, “Data sciences across pricing, AI and imaging sciences have been a cornerstone of OYO’s proprietary revenue enhancement technology. It is also a huge missing piece in the way the traditional vacation rentals industry is run. We are glad to have found Danamica, which has built expertise in these areas. Both Rune and Mads (Danamica’s co-founders) are extremely talented individuals and, together with their team, they have built a valuable IP that analyzes many years of data and pricing trends and provides logical and scientific recommendations, which will help us scale our vacation and urban homes business across Europe and other parts of the world.”
With the implementation of ML-enabled pricing and revenue management, customers will be able to book a vacation home at the best price, according to the company.
Similar to airlines, and ride-sharing companies, OYO has introduced dynamic pricing in the hospitality industry to create a level-playing ground even for an independent or small hotelier or homeowner, according to the company. OYO’s pricing, inventory allocation, and revenue management are driven by a machine learning-based algorithm for prediction and dynamic pricing. The algorithm analyzes 144,000 data points every hour and makes 60 million price changes every day globally with a prediction accuracy of 97%. It allows each asset to drive max RevPAR based on its micro-location and pricing to adjust dynamically to supply and demand, according to the company. In peak times, pricing adjusts to deliver high RevPAR; in low times, it also goes down to still allow for maximum customers to experience the product while increasing overall yield for owners.