I’m always surprised by the penetration of travel apps. In a country a where intercity travel is still far from common place why do people even bother keeping a hotel booking app on their phone? Wouldn’t you rather save that space for something you use more regularly? Maybe hotels.com’s market share confirms that theory.
Apps like Rooms Tonite & NightStay that focus on immediate near term bookings are finding it difficult to scale. The proposition makes a lot of sense from a supply perspective, if I was running a hotel — why wouldn’t I want to sell my last minute inventory at discount prices? May as well sell a room while you still can (some of course worry about brand perceptions but given enough time, they come around).
From a demand perspective how ever — it’s a bit different. How often do you need to travel on short notice that you’d keep an app for that on your phone? Also, with most hotels running far below occupancy — getting a room last minute isn’t exactly a struggle.
I’m not surprised by OYOs penetration, if people are going to download and keep a hotel booking app in India, it makes sense that it should be in the budget segment.
Airbnb’s meager penetration is more representative of India’s cultural hesitations than a demand for their product. As a people, we’re still uncomfortable letting out a room in our homes to strangers or renting one from a family we don’t know. Much of Airbnb’s demand in India is driven by foreign tourists. Local travelers are still getting used to the concept and gingerly testing it out — usually over a villa in Goa. This is slowly changing, an increasing number of guest house and B&B owners I speak to are catching on to the advantages of being on the platform. Ironically enough, apart from bookings, most talk about the superior quality of clientele.
Thanks for your time,
Ashish
- Team KG
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You can reach me on ashish@kalagato.com
