OYO Budget Stay Platform: Product Improvement Plan, Priorities and Metrics
Company: OYO
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product Design & Strategy
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
OYO is a hospitality company whose app and website let travelers book rooms at budget hotels and homes run by independent property owners in its network. How would you make OYO better? Choose where to focus, describe the problems you would solve, propose and prioritize improvements, and explain how you would measure whether they worked.
```hint Choose one side and one moment
OYO has to satisfy both travelers and the owners whose properties it lists. Pick one of those sides, then find the point in their journey (search, booking, arrival, the stay, after checkout) where an improvement would matter most.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Is the goal more first-time bookings, more repeat bookings, or fewer complaints and refunds?
- Should I focus on travelers booking stays or on the property owners who list with OYO?
- Which market should I design for: OYO's core budget segment in India or its businesses in other countries?
- How much can OYO control at a partner property, such as housekeeping, staffing or check-in rules?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- A stated goal tied to OYO's business, with a deliberate choice of side and of a traveler or owner segment.
- Pain points grounded in how budget stays actually go wrong, from search through check-in to checkout.
- Improvements OYO can verify or enforce at properties it does not run, prioritized by impact and effort.
- Success metrics with guardrails that protect partner supply and the cost of any guarantee or refund policy.
- Risks and trade-offs, such as abuse of refunds, pushback from property owners, and delisting that shrinks supply.
### Follow-up Questions
- If you introduced a check-in guarantee, how would you stop guests from abusing it and keep property owners on board?
- Your change raises guest ratings, but some partner properties leave the platform. How do you decide whether it was worth it?
- How would your plan change if the goal were to make OYO more attractive to property owners instead of travelers?
Overview: A product improvement prompt about OYO, the budget hotel and homestay booking platform. It tests choosing between travelers and property owners, finding where budget stays go wrong, prioritizing fixes OYO can enforce at properties it does not run, and measuring success with guardrails.