MakeMyTrip Puts a Brave Face on Booking.com Encroachment

This year MakeMyTrip has shown double-digit growth in revenue for airline tickets, hotels and vacation packages. But the India-based company, operating at a net loss so far this year, is also beginning to see the effect of global giant Booking.com ramping up its hotel inventory in the country. MakeMyTrip founder and chief executive Deep Kalra said that in India's premium segments — such as four-star, five-star, and major chain properties — Priceline Group-owned agency Booking.com is adding hotels at a rapid pace. "Booking is not a company which we take lightly," Kalra said during his company's quarterly earnings call earlier this month. While MakeMyTrip has an advantage in domestic bookings made by Indians and in outbound travel, Booking.com has an edge in its big inbound business to India. It also has far more marketing and engineering firepower. Flights Versus Hotels, Price Versus Loyalty There's another difference: Booking.com drives the vast majority of its bookings from lodging while MakeMyTrip generates most of its reservations via airplane tickets. Kalra said this dynamic works in his company's favor, as Indians — as do travelers in many countries — tend to shop for air tickets before other components of a trip. He conceded that MakeMyTrip needs to prioritize cross-selling consumers who buy air tickets from it to also reserve hotel rooms in the same purchase cycle. That work can't come soon enough. In June, Booking.com placed a flights tab for the first time in memory on its homepage. The flights tab links off to a Booking.com-branded flight-metasearch site powered by sister company Kayak. Kalra added that MakeMyTrip has strong brand recognition with Indian consumers and his company plans to invest more in that. He said market research shows that, while many consumers comparison-shop on multiple sites, they will ultimately book with their preferred online brands. On the other hand, many travel executives in oth