Booking.com is bullish about the remaining part of the current fiscal despite headwinds. The Amsterdam-based OTA, which essentially focusses on hotel bookings, has introduced flight bookings in India, with plans to double its offering. The company, which recently launched its research centre in Bengaluru, also plans to hire 100 people by the end of this calendar year. It also plans to introduce Hindi language on its portal.

Speaking to businessline, Santosh Kumar, who was recently appointed as the Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Bookng.com, explained that India has performed very well despite micro and marco headwinds of increased ATF prices and higher ADRs.

“Travel demand is strong in many markets, and that is reflecting in India as well. We are seeing strong demand in domestic as well as inbound and outbound travel.  In line with the current performance, we think Q3 and Q4 for this fiscal will perform very well, so, we have a healthy outlook, and are bullish that India will perform very well in the next two quarters as well.”

Deep diving into the segments that are performing well for Booking.com, Kumar said that since the Amsterdam-based OTA has traditionally focussed on hotel bookings, this segment continues to perform best for the company. Within this, alternative accommodations are picking up. “One-third of all hotel bookings come from the altaco segment for Booking.com, the trend is similar in India as well.”

He further added that Booking.com has recently started offering flight ticket bookings and taxi bookings on its Indian portal. “At Booking.com, our aim is to provide ‘connected trip vision’. We plan to double our flight offerings over the next few months and perfect our taxi booking segment by having competitive pricing. Along with this, we also plan to strengthen our experiences offering.” 

Indian OTAs also offer bus bookings, however, Booking.com doesn’t provide the service in India. Kumar said that it could be one of the services that it could explore in future without giving a timeline. 

When asked what are the other features that Booking.com plans to add, Kumar said that India is among the top 20 fastest growing markets for Booking.com and is on a high priority list, and keeping that in mind, the company is moving towards localisation. As a first step to this, it plans to add Hindi language, followed by others in the future. 

A fortnight ago, Booking.com announced that it is opening of a new Center of Excellence in Bengaluru. This is the second of the company’s Centers of Excellence to launch globally. The center will offer myriad opportunities in FinTech, IT and other functions, including roles in infrastructure engineering and architecture, software and financial systems development.

When asked about the company’s hiring plans for this center, he said: “At first we have a mandate to fill in 100 positions over the next few months, followed by more as and when required.”

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