when ET Magazine met Yatra president Sharat Dhall recently, he was reticent about the airline bookings business. He preferred to talk in detail about the hotels and holidays business. Hotels are the future of online travel for many reasons, he says.
For starters, they are a massive market, says Dhall. "It is not only about the five stars, but also budget, home-stay and one-star properties across the length and breadth of the country." In other words, the market is totally fragmented. The five-star hotel competes with a no-frills property, according to Dhall. "At the end of the day, both need to fill their rooms. Bottom line: there are so many of them, and they require a common platform." Translation: big opportunity for Yatra and other online travel companies.
In the case of hotels, internet travel companies have more to offer than their flight booking services. Customers can compare not only prices and destinations, but also a whole host of parameters such as star rating, quality of rooms, features, reviews of occupants and the like. In contrast, the airline part of the business is hardly growing, says Dhall.
Airlines, long used to losing money, are constantly looking to cut costs and improve margins. They noticed that travel agents, be it the physical and online variants, were doing very nicely at their expense. In no time, airlines began to cut the commissions they pay travel agents.
Airlines also became smart. They began to woo customers to book directly on their websites rather than price-comparison websites like Yatra. Not only are these websites easy to shop, but they also offer flights at least Rs 300 cheaper than a travel portal. They are also bumping up services. IndiGo, for instance, allows passengers to book a cab along with a flight.
30/06/13 Binoy Prabhakar/Economic Times
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
For starters, they are a massive market, says Dhall. "It is not only about the five stars, but also budget, home-stay and one-star properties across the length and breadth of the country." In other words, the market is totally fragmented. The five-star hotel competes with a no-frills property, according to Dhall. "At the end of the day, both need to fill their rooms. Bottom line: there are so many of them, and they require a common platform." Translation: big opportunity for Yatra and other online travel companies.
In the case of hotels, internet travel companies have more to offer than their flight booking services. Customers can compare not only prices and destinations, but also a whole host of parameters such as star rating, quality of rooms, features, reviews of occupants and the like. In contrast, the airline part of the business is hardly growing, says Dhall.
Airlines, long used to losing money, are constantly looking to cut costs and improve margins. They noticed that travel agents, be it the physical and online variants, were doing very nicely at their expense. In no time, airlines began to cut the commissions they pay travel agents.
Airlines also became smart. They began to woo customers to book directly on their websites rather than price-comparison websites like Yatra. Not only are these websites easy to shop, but they also offer flights at least Rs 300 cheaper than a travel portal. They are also bumping up services. IndiGo, for instance, allows passengers to book a cab along with a flight.
30/06/13 Binoy Prabhakar/Economic Times
