Tag Archives: Makemytrip

Seychelles Tourism Board recently organised ‘Appreciation Evenings’ in New Delhi and Mumbai for its key travel trade, airline and hotel partners to thank them for their support. The tourism board also gave away appreciation awards to those travel agents and tour operators who have significantly contributed to the increase in awareness and tourist arrivals to Seychelles from India. Awardees in New Delhi included Destination Travel Services, Makemytrip, TUI and Travstarz. In Mumbai, Holidays Box, Vacations Exotica – Balmer Lawrie, Ottila and Air Seychelles were honoured. Hallmark Elite and Escape Holidays from Ahmedabad were also awarded. Patsy Moustache, Acting Charge de Affairs, Seychelles High Commission congratulated the tourism board team and the travel trade partners for their support.  This was followed by a destination update. Sherin Francis, CEO, Seychelles Tourism Board, was not present at the events but she sent out a message that said, “When we started the India office in 2013, there were just around 2,000 Indians visiting Seychelles. Last year we touched 8,000. This number may seem small in comparison to the several thousands of tourists visiting other destination. But keeping in mind the exclusivity of the destination, our limited marketing budgets and most importantly the short period of time, we are proud of this achievement. The numbers this year so far show similar trend as last year and we are positive that we will cross our target of 2016. Though Seychelles remains the ultimate romantic destination we have seen several families, small MICE groups and adventure sports enthusiasts choosing the islands for their holiday.”

MakeMyTrip has launched its alternative accommodation platform – Rightstay. The application is an independent platform from MakeMyTrip App and is currently available on Android and web. It provides alternative stay options like villa, residential apartments, homestays and guest houses. RightStay enables customers to rent unique places that offer great, authentic experience at affordable prices. With RightStay, MakeMyTrip intends to disrupt the homestay and non-hotel stay options segment. Talking about the new business, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO-India, MakeMyTrip, “The alternate accommodations are going to be the next big thing and this segment has the potential to completely disrupt the online travel industry. We are in constant pursuit to provide excellence in the services and experience offered to the customers. Being the market leader, the onus of category creation is on us and Rightstay is a step in our measures towards the rapidly evolving accommodations segment in the country. We have deployed a dedicated team for Rightstay and we are committed to drive this business to great heights.” Commenting on the launch Deepak Tuli, Senior Vice President – Growth Business, MakeMyTrip said, “It is our constant endeavor to be the one stop destination for consumers’ travel needs. In search of authentic experiences, travellers are now looking for diverse accommodation options. With Rightstay, we want to be able to offer a ‘home away home’ experience to our customers. We hope to leverage the demand, traffic and brand advantage that we have and create a unique position for ourselves in the alternate accommodation category. We already have a head-start with more than 10,000 properties across 200 cities live on Rightstay.”

In an effort to tap into top technology talent in the silicon valley of the country, MakeMyTrip has inaugurated its technology center in Bengaluru. The new office is a milestone in MakeMyTrip’s 16-year journey in India and a true reflection of company’s vision of being reliable, efficient and at the forefront of technology. The company plans to recruit 300 people over a period of next 12 months. Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO-India, MakeMyTrip said, “Bengaluru is the Silicon Valley of India and it makes perfect sense for the pioneer in online travel to be actively present in the city. Our presence in the city is in line with the company’s aggressive growth plans and an increased focus on using technology as an enabler to make travel buying experience easier.  Bringing together e-commerce, data and analytics under one roof at the new center will help us in using technology as an enabler to serve the customer better. The rapid smartphone adoption and the app eco-system has necessitated us to offer personalized solutions and we will be using the Bengaluru facility in app development and data analytics. We now have over 23 million downloads of our app till date with last 8 million downloads coming in 2016 itself and being in Bengaluru will help us grow rapidly and be agile, especially in the fast changing technology world.”

MakeMyTrip announced the launch of Instant Refunds, that allows immediate refund and notification to the customer about the same instantly after the booking is cancelled. The company has already started processing instant refunds on hotels and domestic flights and will be extending this to its other offerings shortly. On an average, it takes about three to four days to process refunds and till then customers keep speculating whether or not will they get their money back and whether it will be the correct amount or not. With MakeMyTrip’s new feature of Instant Refunds, as soon as the customer cancels his or her booking, the company processes the refund, and confirms the refund instantly. The customer is offered two refund options upon cancellation of the booking. For those who immediately need the refund amount they can opt to transfer the refund to their MakeMyTrip wallet, which will be processed and transferred instantly in the wallet for immediate use and for customers who are not looking at refunding the amount to their MakeMyTrip wallet, the refund will be processed instantly by the company and the amount will be reflected back in their bank accounts as per the bank’s policy. Speaking about the new feature, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and CEO – India, MakeMyTrip said, “At MakeMyTrip we have always focused on enhancing the overall customer experience and therefore have constantly developed customer friendly innovations relevant to their travel needs. Refund processing is an area of concern that needs an overhaul in all segments, especially eCommerce platforms. With the new feature of Instant Refunds, we are taking the lead in eliminating a key pain point for customers transacting online. We believe that this initiative …

MakeMyTrip has partnered with BookMyForex, a marketplace for retail foreign exchange and private remittances, to offer foreign exchange to its customers. Customers booking international travel products can subsequently purchase their foreign exchange with BookMyForex at the click of a button on MakeMyTrip platforms – website or mobile app. This will enable them to take advantage of BookMyForex’s live and finest rates that are updated every three seconds and enjoy door-step delivery of their foreign exchange products in over 200 Indian cities. Mohit Gupta, Chief Operating Officer – Online, MakeMyTrip said, “We are pleased to tie-up with BookMyForex for retail foreign exchange and look forward to adding to our existing travel solutions offerings. Being the pioneers in the online travel sector and as category leaders, the onus of growing the sector is on us. By partnering with BookMyForex, we are firmly establishing ourselves as the ultimate destination for the full suite of travel products.” Sudarshan Motwani, CEO, BookMyForex.com said, “BookMyForex has the unique ability to compare thousands of forex rates and service quality metrics across hundreds of banks and exchange companies.  Our platform is able to determine the bank or moneychanger offering the best rates and service in every city and every neighbourhood. Thanks to this partnership, we will now be able to extend the benefit of our platform to MakeMyTrip customers and connect them with the most ideal forex vendors in real time. Through the association, we will be able to tap the large international customer base of India’s largest OTA and help them buy all travel-related forex products at one single destination.”

India is the eighth best source market for Tourism Australia, said Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia. He added, “We crossed the 200,000 arrivals landmark in 2015, A$ 1 billion spend, and improved our ranking to be the eighth-largest inbound market for Australia from 11th rank in 2014. The Tourism Forecasting Committee (TFC) is predicting 245,000 visitors from India for 2015-16 and a 12 per cent increase over 2014-15.” There were 187,000 visitors from India in the first 10 months of 2015, bringing the total for the year-ended October 2015 to 2,27,000; an increase of 18 per cent relative to the same period last year. For the year ended September 2015, Indian visitors contributed A$ 1.1 billion to the Australian economy; an increase of solid 34% over the previous year. Tourism Australia has unveiled its latest advertising campaign in collaboration with its key distribution partners – Cox & Kings, Mercury Travels, Kesari, MakeMyTrip, Yatra, TUI, Vacations Exotica, Kulin Kumar Holidays and SOTC. The integrated advertising campaign will retain the brand theme ‘There’s Nothing like Australia’ and put the spotlight on the country’s attractions.

Travel website Ctrip.com has invested $180 million (about Rs. 1,200 crore) in MakeMyTrip. The deal was done in the form of convertible bonds, Ctrip.com said in a statement today. “With the investment, we will have a place in the rising online travel market in India,” said Liang Jianzhang, CEO, Ctrip.com. The partnership will benefit both companies, as there are many similarities between China and India’s online tourism, state-run Xinhua quoted Deep Kalra, CEO, MakeMyTrip. Founded in 2000, MakeMyTrip is the biggest online travel agent in India. Tourism grew by 10 per cent in the country last year, according to research company PhocusWright. Online sales rose 16 per cent last year. Ctrip.com said the move will make it easier for Chinese tourists to visit India. Over 100 million Chinese tourists visited abroad last year spending billions of dollars. The increasing numbers of Chinese tourists abroad made India and number of countries to woo them with easy visa access. India has extended the e-visa scheme to the Chinese tourists.