This is the story of when OYO CEO Ritesh Agarwal doubled as the cleaning crew and front desk manager

In a recent interview, OYO CEO Ritesh Agarwal spoke about his experience during the early days of his career. He opened up about the time when he used to not only be the boss of his own hospitality company but also double as the front desk manager and as the cleaning staff when the need arose.

He dropped out of college when he was still a teenager, which later proved to be a good decision. It made his eligible for the Thiel Fellowship, created by billionaire Peter Thiel.

Agarwal became the first Asian recipient of the fellowship grant of $100,000, which enabled him to return to India and start his hospitality business OYO.


When he had just returned from his time at the Thiel Fellowship and he had just started OYO, he would fill in for any role that there was an a need for, he would often fill in as hotel staff, or cleaning crew or even customer care.

In an interview with Biz Tak, Ritesh Agarwal spoke about the time when he went to clean a hotel room, only to find an angry customer waiting there. “Unhone badi daant lagayi ki 10 minute ho gaya (He scolded us because we were late),” the CEO of OYO recalled.

He said the customer assumed that Agarwal was part of the cleaning crew and reprimanded him over the delay, which occurred because Agarwal and his team was cleaning another room.

He recalled a time when when he had cleaned a customer's room and he was so impressed with his work that the customer tipped him Rs 20.


He took the opportunity to not only reminisce about how far he has made it in his career, but also to highlight the importance of the people who fulfill these tasks, housekeepers, desk managers, and other staff, especially in the hospitality industry.

“The real stars of the hospitality industry are the front office managers, cleaning crew, receptionists and behind-the-scenes staff who ensure guests have the best possible experience during their stay,” he wrote while sharing a snippet from the larger interview on Twitter.

Agarwal has also spoken about the early days of his career in 2020 in an interview with Humans of Bombay, when he said: “During those initial days, I even worked as part of the hotel staff -- servicing rooms, babysitting and even playing UNO with customers -- sometimes, being tipped for it all as well!”