MakeMyTrip opens up its hotel inventory to offline travel agents

• MakeMyTrip has announced a new platform that focuses on travel agents called myPartner.
• Through this platform, MakeMyTrip will enable travel agents to offer a variety of travel choices and travel booking convenience for their customers.
• Meanwhile, with the hope of a vaccine in the near future, Rajesh Magow, CEO, MMT said that there are many encouraging signs in the business already.

India’s largest travel aggregator MakeMyTrip has announced a new platform that focuses on travel agents called myPartner. Through this platform, MakeMyTrip will enable travel agents to offer a variety of travel choices and travel booking convenience for their customers. Currently, the platform is limited to hotels.

The premise of the platform builds on the simple notion that India’s travel agents too need to go online with the coronavirus pandemic. The company’s top management said that there have been early shoots in the business since the reopening of the economy but for the sector to grow, everyone – online travel aggregators, travel agents, hotels, and more need to come together.

“There are hundreds and thousands of properties in India and abroad, and it is impossible for a travel agent to have a one-on-one equation with each of them. In a world which is digitized, the information is also democratized,” said Vipul Prakash, Chief Operating Officer, MakeMyTrip.

The company is currently not charging a subscription fee to the travel agents. However, Prakash shared an overview of the scope of the market, saying that 20% of the overall room nights booked in India today are done by travel agents.

Going the omnichannel way

Prakash said the country’s thousands of travel agents have a deep understanding of how India travels and how they can make the customer experience better, and the consumer trusts them. OTAs in general, he added, holds the strength that they have built an inventory and relationship with hotels and partners. “myPartner launch brings these two things together. They have the demand but struggle with the supply – this is the right time to collaborate. So all our inventory will now be available for travel agents to book,” he said.

With the latest offering, MMT is looking at an omnichannel business approach.

MMT’s hope for the industry’s revival based on the pent up demand

For the whole of 2020, the travel and tourism industry has come to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic. And avid travellers have had to take a backseat and control their wanderlust. MakeMyTrip earnings results for the April-June quarter also showed the extent of the impact that this pandemic has had on the travel and tourism industry. MMT’s revenues fell by 95.5% from $141.7 million to $6.3 million.

But with the hope of a vaccine in the near future and things settling down, Rajesh Magow, CEO, MMT said that there are many encouraging signs in the business already, and it will only get better.

“By the end of this fiscal year, overall the business will touch 65-70% of pre-COVID levels. For the domestic market, 50-70% is the estimate, for international, it will be lower. But the caveat here is that the COVID situation keeps improving. The activity is going to be more and more positive from hereon, and there will be a pent up demand once the vaccine is announced,” said Magow.

SEE ALSO:

India's startup founders are opting for money in the bank instead of high valuations as they look to survive this pandemic

Without Huawei and ZTE in India, Airtel and Vodafone-Idea's battle against Jio to become tougher