MakeMyTrip Sees Increase in Homestay Bookings for Cricket Venues Across India
Cricket holds a special place in the hearts of Indians, going beyond just a game and becoming a deep-rooted passion. This is evident whenever the Men in Blue play or during the IPL tournament. Dedicated cricket fans go to great lengths, traveling to distant states and even countries, to witness their favorite cricketers and teams in action. With the upcoming ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 taking place in India, the excitement has reached new heights. Not only are fans eagerly anticipating the event, but businesses are also seeking to benefit from it in every possible way. MakeMyTrip, for instance, plans to capitalize on this opportunity by expanding its inventory of homestay properties in select cities. This move aims to meet the high demand expected during the cricket season, which is anticipated to attract a large number of fans to these locations.
The requirements of the cricket season
Parikshit Choudhury, Business Director, Alternate Accommodation & Customer Contact Group, MakeMyTrip, said, “We have seen a significant increase in searches for homestay properties in selected cities across the country for October and November. This is a good sign and shows that cricket fans are more willing than ever to explore homestay options.” To meet the demands of the upcoming cricket season, MakeMyTrip has created a new feature that displays the distance of the homestay from the city’s cricket stadiums, allowing fans to book their accommodation accordingly.
The online travel agency has also ordered a “Host Your Home Cell” service and a dedicated support staff available 24×7. This enables the smooth joining of hosts who want to list their homes as homestays in MakeMyTrip’s homestay service.
“A large number of homestay properties in cricket centers in October and November are still available for cricket lovers at affordable prices. Historically, our efforts to increase penetration have focused on the leisure market, but now we are also focusing on business cities. It will benefit the host and the traveler as India prepares to be immersed in cricket fever,” Parikshit added.
MakeMyTrip using artificial intelligence services
In May, MakeMyTrip announced that it and Microsoft are working together to bring the benefits of AI to the travel industry. In a statement, MakeMyTrip said that to make travel planning more inclusive and easy, it will introduce a voice-assisted booking system in Indian languages. This task is supported by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cognitive Services, which talk to the user to provide personalized travel recommendations based on their preferences. curates vacation packages based on varying inputs like occasion, budget, activity preferences, travel time, and even helps book these vacation packages.
