Makemytrip.com Domestic Holidays click

Makemytrip.com Domestic Holidays click

Yatra.com is focussing away from online ticketing in search of better margins


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They display the wrong hotel picture. Never book holidays through travel websites,” warns an irate customer on the popular social network for reviews, www.mouthshut.com. “I had to stay at this hotel because of the travel website’s mismanagement,” adds another not-so-happy customer. Those who make their travel bookings online have a bagful of complaints which range from accountability to unpleasant hotel experience. These are challenges that bother Yatra.com, one of the two leading online travel agents in the country (the other being MakeMyTrip.com), which commands a share of around 30 per cent of the online travel market. The company is banking on holidays to improve its profit margins. But service and delivery standards need to match the promise.

The online travel business is growing at a fast clip. Portals saw transactions worth Rs 2,355 crore in 2007, Rs 3,600 crore in 2008 and are expected to log Rs 8,215 crore in 2010, according to PhoCusWright which comes out with regular reports on the online travel market. This does not include the large online ticket sales logged every year by the Indian Railways or other suppliers such as airlines on their websites. A large chunk of these volumes come from selling air tickets, where the margins are wafer-thin — between 2 per cent and 4 per cent.