MakeMyTrip Steams Ahead Despite Growing Hotel Commission Protests
Photo Credit: The Park Somajiguda Hotel Hyderabad is one of tens of thousands of properties in India that have listings via MakeMyTrip, the country's largest online travel agency, which reported its latest financial results on Thursday. The Park Somajiguda Hotel Hyderabad
Skift Take
MakeMyTrip continues to drive more online hotel bookings in India, despite protests by some hotel owner groups about its allegedly excessive commissions. The company must tread carefully as it tries to woo online customers with discounts while maintaining good relationships with its partners.
Some hoteliers in India have begun singing from the same song sheet as hotel groups in North America and Western Europe as a chorus of complaints about online travel agencies has swelled up in recent months.
But the complaints were drowned out Thursday by a report of strong financial results from India's leading online travel agency group, MakeMyTrip, which continued to take online market share at the expense of hotel direct bookings.
In December, hoteliers drew national media attention and viral social media posts on the WhatsApp platform to their complaints against MakeMyTrip Group.
About 270 hotels in Ahmedabad, a city in northwestern Gujarat state, said they would "boycott" MakeMyTrip and its sister brand GoIbibo — two portals that together form the country's largest online travel group.
"There was a time when online booking portals used to charge only 15 to 18 percent as commission," said
