Why Booking.com looks to check-in into 'complete trips'

AMSTERDAM: From once having just as many ‘international quality’ hotel rooms as Las Vegas, India now has a large travel industry with many ‘winners’. So how does Booking.com plan to tackle this challenge? According to its global CEO Glenn D Fogel, the way forward is to go beyond hotel bookings.
India offers a great opportunity to us and with our ‘connected trips’ vision, we plan to go big in the Indian market, Fogel said while interacting with media persons at the global digital travel platform’s 65,000 square meters headquarters in Amsterdam recently.
“Our aim is not just to help travellers to book the perfect stay, but also enable them to have the best possible trip from beginning to end. From booking the trip to the entire experience — including flights, car rental, taxis (pre-booked & ride-hail), attractions, public transport and insurance — we aim to bring better value both to our customers and to our partners,” he said.
Booking.com’s research indicates that 40% of Indian travellers seek a connected trip experience, prioritising factors such as booking multiple aspects of their trip and flexible cancellation and refund policies, in addition to cost when choosing digital travel platforms.
Fogel said many years ago, the number of rooms of international standards in India was about the same as in Las Vegas, unusual for a country of over a billion people. “Now that has changed and there are just a huge number of great hotels...,” he added.
“Look at the demographics. You look at the size of the Indian market, you see the increase in GDP per person, and people are going to want to travel. Also, you see, and this is something that’s very, very interesting, in terms of where the market was and where it is now.”
Travel expenditure by Indians across domestic and foreign trips is projected to grow from $150 billion in 2019 to $410 billion by 2030 according to the Booking.com and McKinsey ‘How India Travels Report’.
Similarly, the number of aggregate trips is expected to rise from 2.3 billion in 2019 to 5 billion by 2030. As spontaneous travellers, with an average booking window of only 29 days, Indians seem to be travelling to urban cities, spiritual hubs, or emerging leisure destinations, with nearly all trips (99%) booked to domestic locations such as Varanasi, Kochi, and Coimbatore.
When asked about the tough challenge Booking.com might have to face from the companies which are already doing well in the local market, Fogel said, "First of all, there doesn't have to be just one winner. There can be many winners. Travel is such a big industry that there is more than enough for all of us to do very, very well. I believe we will do well based on our track record.”
“I've made this company, been able to change our business models, adapt new technologies, incorporate them into how we do our work and produce a better result for our customers, who, as I mentioned, are the travellers and our partners. And by doing that, continuing to do that over and over again, you develop trust, you develop loyalty. And over time, I believe that is why we will continue to progress. In the next 24 years, I think it will be even more exciting and more beneficial than the last 24 years," he added.
Booking.com is continually strengthening its product offerings in India. For attractions, it currently partners with Klook, Musement and Viator India to provide a wide array of experiences for Indian travellers.
Late last year, they launched the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, marking a projected USD 250 million investment over five years (2022 - 2026), with an expected creation of 1,000 jobs in that period. The Centre of Excellence provides Booking Holdings access to specialized and highly skilled talent, supports projects powered by new and emerging technologies, leverages industry best practices and fosters collaboration opportunities across all Booking Holdings brands including Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, OpenTable and Rentalcars.com.
In 2023, they also launched the Hindi language option on Booking.com, making its platform accessible to more Indians as well as in 46 languages and dialects worldwide.
(The writer was in Amsterdam at the invitation of Booking.com)