Indian travellers prefer online booking for hotels: MakeMyTrip

Mumbai: Indian travellers increasingly prefer to book hotels online, according to a survey by MakeMyTrip. 97 per cent Indians prefer booking a hotel online while 77 per cent have already booked a hotel online through an Online Travel Agent (OTA), the survey said. Interestingly, 40 per cent Indian travellers said they have booked last minute hotels for same day check-ins while 14 per cent Indians have used a mobile app to book hotels.

The survey was done on MakeMyTrip’s customer database of over 3,000 people, aged between 18 and 40 years. The survey aims at understanding the behaviour pattern and preferences of Indians for booking hotels for their domestic and overseas travel.

Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Chief Financial and Operating Officer, MakeMyTrip said, “We launched this survey to better understand the hotel-reservation behaviour of Indian travellers, and the triggers and concerns that shape their decision-making process. The survey has some encouraging findings for OTAs such as the increasing preference and propensity for Indian travellers to research and book hotels online. However, the results also reveal that payment/data security continue to be the topmost concern-area for a majority of Indian travellers when booking a hotel online.”

The survey reveals that when it comes to hotel booking, Indians are the least brand conscious with only 14 per cent Indians preferring brand name while price, location and service top their preference list. Price is the key decision making factor for Indians booking a hotel in India (49 per cent) or overseas (60 per cent) while amenities are the least important factor when booking a hotel. Indians prefer hotel location (49 per cent) over customer service (44 per cent) when booking an overseas hotel while service (49 per cent) triumphs over location (46 per cent) when booking in India.

Indians favour three and four star hotels over luxury properties both in terms of preference and for actual booking in India and overseas. More Indians prefer a luxury property when booking overseas than in India, the survey said. Home-stays too continue to excite the Indian traveller with more Indians (26 per cent) preferring home-stays to service apartments (18 per cent).