MakeMyTrip offers consolidated holiday packages to cash in on long weekends

Planning to go on a short holiday on a long weekend? MakeMyTrip (MMT) will soon offer consolidated packages allowing you to book a holiday in “just four clicks”.

Analysing popular search trends on its app, MMT has curated a list of domestic destinations one can drive to in three-four hours, or international ones that do not require a visa or provide one on arrival.

“We realised there was a major gap in the market when people try to make bookings for long weekends. Many people don’t even realise that there is a long weekend coming. By the time they do, it is too late. Most of us are time-starved and most of us don’t have the time to get into details. So plans fall through because there is no ready reckoner. With ‘Weekend Getaways,’ we will try to do your hard work and heavy lifting and serve it on a platter,” said Vipul Prakash, chief operating officer, MMT. 

MakeMyTrip has designed 400 packages covering 80-100 destinations, across different price points.

The online travel agent will have a separate link or tile on the the app which will start showing up two weeks before a long weekend. 

“It (the offering) is domestic and international. It can be two, three or four nights. We expect most of the bookings to be (for) three or four nights. 

From each of the cities we will have roughly 30-40 choices and they will all be different. Everything will be within a 2-hour flight or a 5-hour cab journey. Typically, it will be flight (or cab), a hotel and one attraction or adventure,” said Prakash.

For example, if the user wants to take a trip between Delhi and Rishikesh, Weekend Getaway will provide a package with a cab, hotel, and one rafting and one trek option, leaving the customer free to do what they like on other days. 

Or if the user opts for a trip to the wine valley in Nasik, Weekend Getaways will suggest one wine-tasting tour on one of the three-four days. 

If the journey does not include a flight, MakeMyTrip will provide two options — self-driving or an inter-city cab through the app or portal. Depending on whether a user selects to drive themselves or take a cab, the price of the package will be decided.

To map the destinations being offered, MakeMyTrip looked at historical data. “We looked at last two years’ search data on our app. If you see last August, we checked searches for which areas went up,” said Prakash. 

To keep it interesting for all kinds of travellers, 80 per cent destinations in the packages being offered are based on popular searches, and 20 per cent destinations provided are offbeat, such as Almaty in Kazakhstan.

The offering will be promoted via popular social media platforms such as Instagram.