You don’t have to look far to see why: well over half of our travellers in India are either there before the hotel is ready or still in their room past the hour. MakeMyTrip has made a product of that. For a little more, you can be sure of your time at over 10,000 Indian stays and 1,000 in 20 countries abroad.
The demand-supply gap hotels could not fix
If you look at the numbers from MakeMyTrip for flights, trains and the like, 53% of home-grown tourists are in by 9 in the morning and 54% won’t be out until after 3. But for the most part, a hotel will have you waiting on a room until 2 and want you out by noon or so.
It’s the same story outside India. In places like Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi and New York, over 50% of guests come in before 8 am even as the hotel holds its ground at 2 or 3 pm. Some in Japan won’t let you in before 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
All too often, you end up shelling out for another night just to have a few hours in the morning. If you’ve been on a red-eye to Thailand or Vietnam with a family or on business, or have put in an overnight on a bus or train, you know how long that wait can be.
What the new feature changes
MakeMyTrip has put some give into the booking process. When you make a reservation, you can lock in a three, six or nine-hour window for your check-in or -out. No more hoping for a front desk to do you a favour at the last minute.
They have it up and running at 10,000 hotels, villas and homestays in India, as well as 1,000 in 20 spots overseas like Dubai, Bali and Kuala Lumpur. There is a charge for the privilege, and it will depend on where you are and how long you need.
To take the guesswork out of it, the site will suggest a time that fits with your flight or train. It makes of a once-upon-a-time, if-you-ask-nicely kind of request something you can pay for and count on.
Early signals from users
So far, 77% of the slots being booked are for an early check-in, with the rest, 23%, for a later one, says MakeMyTrip. In the company’s view, this is proof of where travellers are most put off: the hassle of an overnight arrival or a morning landing.
“Price and location will always matter, but you’re also seeing flexibility and having your access confirmed become a factor in the booking process,” says Abhishek Logani, MakeMyTrip’s chief business officer for hotels.
A way to make time pay off
There is more to it for MakeMyTrip than just being handy. By putting a price on early or late access, they can pick up some extra commission, boost their gross booking value, and keep customers coming back by being at the heart of the trip.
The company sees the upside for its whole ecosystem in these terms:
– Commission on new, time-based slots
– More value per stay
– A stickier customer base
– Making off-peak rooms work for you
Hotels are in on it as well. “Our partners are now making money from something that was previously a non-starter,” Logani says. It’s a way to put some structure on inventory that would otherwise be sitting around in the early hours or late at night, instead of leaving it to the whims of the front desk.
You used to have to call the property and put in a good word for an early check-in or to run out the clock on a room. It was a maybe. Even if they let you in, there were no guarantees; it hinged on what was open at the last minute.
What has changed
MakeMyTrip has taken that guesswork out of the equation. You book it, you pay for it, and you know where you stand. It spares you the trouble of shelling out for a whole extra night when you only need a couple of hours.
“We’ve made it a sure thing, so you can put to rest a problem you’ve had to make do with in the past,” Ankit Khanna, the CPO for hotels and growth at MakeMyTrip, puts it.
With a rollout of this size, MakeMyTrip is in a position to set the standard for OTAs in India. They are touting it as one of the biggest of its kind, and it is already live for stays at home and in places like Dubai and Bangkok.
They have more in store for the next few quarters, both in terms of properties and markets. Should it catch on, you can expect the likes of them to have to follow suit, making a flexible check-in a given in your search results and not a roll of the dice at the counter.
It’s a simple proposition for the traveller: you get the hours you want, with no fine print. For the hotel and the platform, it’s about turning what was once dead time into a line of revenue, in step with the way people are travelling now.
