MakeMyTrip.com to be re-launched, adds mobile booking

Travel portal MakeMyTrip is in for a re-launch on Wednesday. A preview of the new website, available with agencyfaqs!, shows that package deals and hotels are the new focus for the company.

The hotels section is more interactive with user reviews, ratings and a map search with MapMyIndia. The application lets users not only search for specific locations in India, it also landmarks hotels in the vicinity. Once a user chooses the right hotel based on ratings and reviews, he can make a booking directly. The current portal has 1,500 hotels in its listings, but a company spokesperson had told agencyfaqs! on an earlier occasion that the number would go up 150 per cent after the re-launch.

Commenting on the need for a re-launch, Sachin Bhatia, chief marketing officer and co-founder of MakeMyTrip.com, says, “Ours was a first generation website. We felt that it was time to move ahead. The decision was also based on customer feedback we have been getting.”

More features will be added in the next month, adds Bhatia. These include a more advanced flight search and other functions using easy-to-navigate Ajax technology.

The site has been designed by the US office of the Canada-based design agency, Nurun, which has helped to re-launch the websites of Louis Vuitton, Home Depot, Evian and L’Oreal Paris.

MakeMyTrip has also launched mobile booking in a tie-up with mobile payment firm PayMate. The service will work by sending keywords to a short code (676778). For instance, sending the keywords FLY DELHI GOA 21 MAY will return the top five options for these parameters. Registered users of PayMate can make the booking directly through CitiBank by SMS and the rest can do so through IVRS (interactive voice response system), akin to what most banks have for tele-banking.

© 2007 agencyfaqs!