Travel portals seeing bulk of hotel bookings on mobile site, apps

These platforms also account for one-third of flight bookings

In a clear sign of changing hotel and flight booking habits among Indians, travel portals like MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip are seeing about half of the hotel bookings coming from mobile phones, including apps, which now also account for a significant one-third of their flight bookings.

Moreover, bulk of the new customers are coming through such channels and not the website. Mobile booking is assuming a greater importance for these portals. For some of the portals, mobile site along with apps are accounting for over half of the traffic.

“Cleartrip's latest quarter reported an inflection point for our mobile-first customers, where over 60 per cent of our total traffic came from the mobile channels, overtaking our desktop channel for the first time,” said Subramanya Sharma, chief marketing officer at Cleartrip.

Cleartrip’s mobile app has seen over nine million downloads since its launch in 2012.

Portals say chances of retaining customers as well as their engagement works better in apps as compared to a web site. Sharma explains that an app on a customer’s mobile phone ensures that there is constant engagement. “At the maximum, a customer will have two-three travel apps on the phone and the loyalty is higher.”

MakeMyTrip too is witnessing a similar mobile growth story. Mohit Gupta, Chief Operating Officer (Online) at the portal says mobile bookings contribute about 30 per cent of domestic flights-bookings, and nearly 50 per cent of the total online domestic hotel transactions. Its app has seen 12 million downloads in four years.

One of the reasons behind the rising popularity of mobile site and apps for travel portals is the convenience it offers. “These apps allow customers to book flights, hotels and bus on the move, cancel their bookings, track the status of their refunds, send e-tickets and vouchers. It also allows them to locate hotels near to their current location, and provide attractive last minute deals for same day hotel bookings”, said Gupta.

The convenience is driving a year on year growth of 200-300 per cent for some of these apps in last one year. And, growth is not just restricted to cities.

“The rapid increase in penetration of smart phones (on account of falling prices) and better internet access has resulted in increased internet penetration. Such an increase across tier-II and tier-III cities open up these markets for companies like Yatra”, said Sharat Dhall, president at Yatra. Yatra's app has seen five million downloads since its launch in 2012.

Companies have also started allocating more resources towards mobile channels. Cleartrip’s Sharma said around 60 per cent of his company’s marketing and development budget is dedicated for mobile platforms, including apps.

“The company has been making substantial investments to strengthen its presence in the mobile space. We will continue dedicating more effort and resources towards enhancing our mobile users’ experience”, said MakeMyTrip’s Gupta.